If oil runs out ...

[Millermoos]

if oil runs out are we going to go back to the Dark Age or survive on Renewable Energy?
Are Bio fuels, solar power, wind power, water power, energy from waste going to help us? Can you see yourself staying in aTipi, Yurt, or in the Energy Saving Toster Dome?
Millermoos

[Cathedral]

I have lived without modern conveniences before, it's not a problem going back to it if need be and that is kind of in my "Oh Shit" plan.

I've always been a fan of solar power myself. the wife and I toyed with the idea of buying a solar home at one time but it needed so much work, expensive work, that it didn't fit our requirements as a good investment.

There are alternatives providing society doesn't totally fucking lose it.

[Nitro Express]

My mom grew up without electricity. It means having lots of wood to burn and you spend lots of time spliting it. Horses will become as important as cars once were. Modern cities will become unlivable because the modern infastructure like water pumps and sewage treatment won't run. They will go back to being the polluted, sorded places described by Charles Dickens.

The skilled people who are needed to make a no electricity, no oil society work don't exist in large enough numbers. Technology and mechanization replaces the blacksmith, the cooper, and carpenters who were masters with hand tools a long time ago. Sure some artisans are left but in the past, there were hundreds of these people.

I think most modern people would starve to death or die in a stupid accident. If Lewis and Clark would have died without the help of the native Americans, think about how much more a bumbling idiot who's only skill is mastering Playstation games is in jeapardy. Darwin will eat his fat ass.

[Millermoos]

Yeh I have been thinking about Solar Power myself.
The problem with the oil price and availability made me reflect that we are quite spoilt in away, we can travel in very far away countries and lead a fairly easy life. I am appreciating more what I have got but at the same time it made me think that we are a fragmented society for ex I have to travel far to go to work, all my friends are in other parts of the city long gone are times when one use to work close to home and used to have friends close to home so if we had less oil or it became even more expencive one will be forced to think how they live and maybe that it's a good thing cos I feel we are treating mother nature as a dustbin, we don't think about things. I am currently learning more about recycling and alternative renewable energy to see if there are other possible options.
Millermoos

[Cathedral]

Change has to begin in the individual home, Uncle Sam isn't going to initiate it, that's for damn sure.

My mom dated a guy in the 80's that designed a carburator that cut his gas mileage in half, and he was driving a 65 Buick Wildcat with a 455 big block under the hood.
He'd spent a fortune and 10 years making this thing and he got better gas mileage than a freakin Pinto with it.
He was persued by some governmental agency with lots of interest in his little creation, they wanted to produce them and sell it to the public and made him an offer, and he took it.
They now owned it and it got buried, why?
Because it would hurt crude sales if people cut their fuel bills in half.

The Feds say they want new energy sources, but we all know that would directly impact the corporations that fund our government...it ain't going to happen until the earth dries up and says, "Hey, Fuck Y'all"....But it's too late by then.

So as far as energy goes, we are definately backed into a corner. thing is...it's the consumer, you and I, that are to blame for how bad it has gotten and it is the consumer that can control how it turns out.

Look, if they couldn't sell the oil in quantities like they are now it wouldn't be over $60 a barrel for crude.
The average cost per barrel should only be around the $35 to $45 range at best. anything above that is additional profit with zero kick backs to those buying the shit.

We have on our desktops a box (pc) which contains way more technology than was used in the entire mission control room that put men on the moon...don't fucking tell me we can't produce a viable renewable energy source that can reduce our oil consumption by at the very least, 50%.

But again, that change has to begin with the individual, and that isn't very likely until something disasterous happens.

[Bob_R]

[Jerry Falwell]

According to the Abiotic Oil Theory, oil is actually replenishable from a naturally occuring event in the earths magma. This theory is widely accepted in the East but has yet to catch on in the Western Hemisphere. According to this theory, oil will not run out.

[The Scatologist]

Everyone will use bicycles, and it would be faster anyway, with all the traffic problems nowadays.

In fact, I suspect that we would have more problems with the traffic resulting from overpopulation and everyone using cars, before we would even run out of oil.

We can always save the last few sources of oil, for airplanes, and cargo transportation and such.

Besides, the obesity rate would go down that way anyway.

[bastardog]

We could always take control of every known source of oil in the world by force and let the rest to live like cavemen.

That sounds familiar...

[Millermoos]

I would love to use a bicycle here in London but I fear I will get killed straight away as the traffic is quite bad. Cabs and buses cutting in the front of you + rainy weather that makes the ground very slippery, many of my friends have had bad accidents in the winter. I go by public transport as one does not need a car over here.
I am going to look into The Abiotic Theory and Cathedral is right by saying that change starts with the individual that's what I think as well . Someone I know as well is totally selfufficient energy wise over here I mean the whole house is self sufficient I don't know how he does it but it true cos I have seen the house and is bloody amazing and he has his own electric car and power generator he does not buy any electricity,heat, oil from nobody totally selfsufficient and he makes energy from vegetables and fruits and recycles water as well.
Millermoos

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by Jerry Falwell
According to the Abiotic Oil Theory, oil is actually replenishable from a naturally occuring event in the earths magma. This theory is widely accepted in the East but has yet to catch on in the Western Hemisphere. According to this theory, oil will not run out.

You're right, oil is plentiful and it is naturally created in the earth.
So in essence it is a lot like your corner gas station when it happens to run out of gas and then we have to wait for it to be re-stocked.

Thing is, it takes thousands of years for the earth to re-stock itself.
It is a very real scenario where we burn up all that is available to process now.
But we can just sit on the porch with Goober and wait a few Millenia for the fuel trucks to get rolling again, no biggie...

[Jerry Falwell]

Cathedral, you are right about it taking a long time. That's why I personally support my employer in their development of hybrid technologies. Actually, I wish they would invest even more money into it. They are currently putting the majority of their R&N money into Hydrogen engines. I think that this is YEARS away from becoming a standard in the auto world. Therefore, we should make what we have last as long as possible... Enter Hybrids.

[The Scatologist]

If worse comes to worse, we can always use Children Powered Vehicular Transportation.

[Bob_R]

Originally posted by EVH FANATIC

OK, this time I got it!

[Nitro Express]

I drove a prototype electric car once. It had four electric motors in each wheel and took off like a rocket. I would say an electric car is capable of better performance than a internal combustion engine. Since electric motors have so much torque, there is no need for a transmission or drive line. The wheel is the motor. It's just smooth excelleration.