hello folks
i have thought this for a long time but why does there seem to be no sense of urgency about the fact that we are running out of natural resources at a rate of knots? within our lifetimes, we are going to run out of oil? what are we going to do??? (runs around screaming with head in hands).

just thought i'd share my midnight hysteria...

:?

Then the governments would have to turn to different resources like vegetable oil, nuclear, wind and solar.:( The question is why are we still relying on fossil fuels.:huh:

Our climate and geography are very well suited to wave, tidal and wind power generation. The trouble is that they all need significant investment and would, for now, result in greater energy cost per kwh than fossil methods - so until we really run out, the government won't (maybe can't) pursue them seriously.

i am an optimist, but isn't civilisation going to descend into anarchy unless we have a contingency plan? no oil means no travelling by car or plane and no plastic....life will be completely different than it is now. but eerily, people don't seem that bothered. am i worrying too much guys?

:huh:

what are we going to do?... well for a start maybe we'll begin by appreciating the world around us... the fact that we have to look after the planet as it ultimately looks after us...

but then again we'll probably bury our heads in the sand, with our fingers in our ears singing "la la la... i can't hear you" and pretend that nothing is wrong the way we (the species) always tend to do and find something irrelevant to squabble over instead...

i am an optimist, but isn't civilisation going to descend into anarchy unless we have a contingency plan? no oil means no travelling by car or plane and no plastic....life will be completely different than it is now. but eerily, people don't seem that bothered. am i worrying too much guys?

:huh:
Nope, you're not worrying too much - it's the others who don't worry enough. I think exactly the same as you. I have just spent the last few weeks trying to explain why the Russian/Georgian gas dispute is soooo important - few people realise that when I was a kid (25ish years ago) we could rely solely on our own oil and gas fields to supply GB PLC. Now we have to import from all over the world, and very soon we will have our very own gas supply pipe from Norway. Great, Norway's got loads, but for how long once they start exporting it all to us and other countries. Then what happens. The supplies are finite.

That's one reason I can't understand why people are complaining about wind farms (back to the NIMBY accronym of the eighties, I suppose), but, for all their good points, they are not the definitive answer - we don't have enough continuous wind in this coutry - we still need other sources.

Fossil fuels are not the answer - has anyone seen how much coal it actually takes to supply just one power station for one day :-o

I haven't got any answers, but sure got loads of questions, and concerns. One thing is for sure, from the late 70's until now we have had it good, more of us have lifes little luxuries including cars, tellys, etc. but soon enough, we are going to start regressing back to when these were not everyday items, but exclusives for those that could afford them (or afford to RUN them, as will be the case).

hello folks
i have thought this for a long time but why does there seem to be no sense of urgency about the fact that we are running out of natural resources at a rate of knots? within our lifetimes, we are going to run out of oil? what are we going to do??? (runs around screaming with head in hands).
:?
Open the Mines back up.
Only thing, there will be no Miners left.

If you are scared of running out of natural gas then don't be.... eat more beans. :thumbsup:

thanks yorkie, i guess that's what i'm thinking too.....this is the peak of our existence and we will just have to regress. less car travel means less visits to see family/friends around the country , no holidays abroad....will have to think carefeully about where i want to spend my old age if i ain't gonna have the means of escaping at a whim!

and jake...be serious....no more resources means.....no more internerds!!! what YOU gonna do then eh?

:shocked:

and jake...be serious....no more resources means.....no more internerds!!! what YOU gonna do then eh?

:shocked:

Eat beans.... :hihi:

......:razz:

......:razz: There are many technological advances in the pipeline ( so to say ) like cold fusion.... although not perfected yet..... this will no doubt overtake nuclear science.... the Governments of this world are not stupid enough to let us reach "peak oil" without some sort of strategy.... thing is the major oil companies have bought a lot of this scientific breakthrough up and are already developing them with the huge returns they make already as a strategy for running the second phase of fuels which by all account should be greener than anything now.

At least it'll sort out the traffic problems.

Solar Panels, House Insulation, Windfarms, harnessing the energy of the sea, etc will not make a blind bit of difference in the short/medium term. The answer now HAS to be Nuclear Energy. This can provide all our needs for the forthcoming 100 years and longer.

More such Power Stations need to be built for that purpose.

With regard to the nuclear waste issue, rocket it up into a far distant place in the Galaxy, with no chance of return to Earth.

We are amiss if we put other non-provable existent entities before our needs.

Why wait, do the deed now.

They have managed to persuade bacteria to synthesise the important ingredient of plastic with no oil necessary I believe, so that might not be such a problem.

Energy obviously would be. Doubt they could persuade an electric engine to release energy quickly enough to power one. Could be wrong though.

Cold fusion seems like a bit of an outside bet, however there are other potential energy sources e.g. normal fusion - the Chinese are building a huge facility intended to create a miniature sun style thing to produce energy. An international project based in France is being set up with the same sort of idea, though I'm not sure if that's intended as a viable energy source in the same way as the Chinese one or just as a research facility.

Fusion sounds like a better idea than Nuclear to me... Saying blast it into space is okay except, it wouldn't happen. Burying the stuff or dumping it in the oceans is far cheaper, but potentially damaging. That said, I don't know how much choice we have about the nuclear thing as this government seem to have it pretty much settled that's where we're going.

Some new ideas for solar have been explored recently that could make it much more useful in the near future with luck.

There are many technological advances in the pipeline ( so to say ) like cold fusion.... although not perfected yet..... this will no doubt overtake nuclear science.... .Unfortunately, no one has actually invented a working model to perfect, it is all theoretical ATM (the ones publicised a couple of years back were never proved and have never been recreated).
the Governments of this world are not stupid enough to let us reach "peak oil" without some sort of strategy.... I admire your confidence in our leaders, it far outweighs my own