The end of the Fossil Fuel era is upon us; what next-?

[jeager016]

Notorious for poor fuel economy and pollute the air terribly.
No pollution controls back then.

 

[tickingclocker]

Sure you can:

Bacterial Derived Plastics


And this is even more amazing:

E. coli bacteria 'can produce diesel biofuel'

Fascinating!!

 

[Radrook]

Nice to know, unfortunately, 1950's American cars are quite notorious for poor fuel economy. Unless, they swapped the old engine for new ones like diesel which should fit without problems.

The article isn't recommending the cars as fuel economy options. The article was posted to show that most of the world doesn't enjoy the luxury of our throwaway society. Instead they are forced to repair what they have and try to make it last as long as possible.

 

[Radrook]

Notorious for poor fuel economy and pollute the air terribly.
No pollution controls back then.

They have been FORCED to use those cars and try to make them last as long as possible.
Did you even read the article?

 

[jeager016]

http://www.greencarreports.com/news...eled-car-to-be-built-at-former-gm-truck-plant

Up to 80 m.p.g. and U.S. built.
Of course when the United Auto Workers get their hooks into
it and the Union forces the maker to pay $36 bucks an hour in
wages + benefits, the price will have to double.
Nice car for short errands and such but pray it doesn't get
into a wreck. Anything above 5 m.p.h. is sure to cause injury.

 

[jeager016]

Cute what?
A death trap trike with a body of sheet metal.
Still one step in one better direction than we've been headed in.

 

[jeager016]

My car is a Ford Edge S.U.V. & loaded with goodies.
Get's 30 m.p.g. highway. Sadly local driving isn't exactly
great at 24/26 m.p.g. city.
Considering what it is the mileage ain't terrible.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

My car is a Ford Edge S.U.V. & loaded with goodies.
Get's 30 m.p.g. highway. Sadly local driving isn't exactly
great at 24/26 m.p.g. city.
Considering what it is the mileage ain't terrible.

Fuel consumption per mile is probably less important than the number of miles one actually drives.

 

[timewerx]

Fuel consumption per mile is probably less important than the number of miles one actually drives.

Last time I had a car, I drove around 40 miles per day both heavy and light traffic, mixed city/highway. The old car I had did 35/45 mpg on rush hour city/highway. The average daily commute is close to 40 mpg. Can be over 40 if I drive a little slower.

On weekends, I sometimes did 250 miles to hangout with my cousins on the countryside.

So with the distance I traveled every week, the mpg saved me a lot of money. I don't make a lot of money to not worry about the mpg of my vehicle.

 

[tooldtocare]

I started this forum because I was/am concerned about our future energy needs. It is a win or doom situation that needs our attention before the squeeze hits the world’s economies. After reading the great ideas you folks have added to the discussion I am now confident solutions will be found before the economic meltdown takes place.

Thank you all for spending your personal time to put forward your ideas.

Having said that I have nothing to offer this discussion. All I ask is that you keep on keeping on until this issue is no longer an issue.

I will stop by from time to time just to see what’s new

I'm off to the mud fest discussions
Take care -

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Last time I had a car, I drove around 40 miles per day both heavy and light traffic, mixed city/highway. The old car I had did 35/45 mpg on rush hour city/highway. The average daily commute is close to 40 mpg. Can be over 40 if I drive a little slower.

On weekends, I sometimes did 250 miles to hangout with my cousins on the countryside.

So with the distance I traveled every week, the mpg saved me a lot of money. I don't make a lot of money to not worry about the mpg of my vehicle.

I have to admit to using lots of gas. I visit my 'hunting grounds' at least twice a week year around, a round trip of about 265 miles per trip (times 2). However I don't drive to work and I carefully combine shopping trips when possible. My old merc gets 25/19.

 

[Thursday]

The end of the Fossil Fuel era is upon us so what are we going to do next-?
Energy information Administration Official Energy Statistics from the US government
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/forecasting.html

The above report indicates that the US will be using primarily oil as our main energy source through 2030.

The world's total declared reserves are 1,317,400,000,000 barrels (January 2007).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves

World oil consumption 2005 is 80,290,000 barrels per day or 29,305,850,000 per year
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2174rank.html

Dividing annual consumption into total reserves gives us 44.9 years of oil supply at the current consumption rate.

That was eleven (11)years ago, we are not changing your habits and this spells doom for us all.

Do you have any suggestions--?

Libya will be an interesting place to watch.

• Libya’s current production rate is 1.8 million barrels of oil a day

• At that rate Libya will exhaust all its reserves within 63 years

• Existing oil fields undergoing a 7–8% decline rate

They have highways and freeways and use cars and trucks just like the rest of us do. But up until now gas was pretty much free. If there is going to be a drive to manufacture electric and hybrid cars for local consumption now is the time for Libya to use its cash reserves and invest in local production of the next generation power systems. At least in the US we have the cash and will to build a new future for America and the people are willing to do their part too. Anyway I hope people are trying to think this through? So far I have read some great posts from others in this forum and they have been great reading.

Thank you all for participating in this discussion—

We are centuries from the end of the fossil fuel era.

Leftist alarmism will fade away as reality makes a comeback.

Oil and coal are efficient methods to power our society. Over time we will develop better methods, but they don't exist now.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

We are centuries from the end of the fossil fuel era.

Leftist alarmism will fade away as reality makes a comeback.

Oil and coal are efficient methods to power our society. Over time we will develop better methods, but they don't exist now.

Our best approach (imo) is to,

Reduce human population.
Expand our forest lands.
Restore our grasslands.

 

[Inkfingers]

Nuclear.

Why go green when you can glow green instead.

 

[timewerx]

I have to admit to using lots of gas. I visit my 'hunting grounds' at least twice a week year around, a round trip of about 265 miles per trip (times 2). However I don't drive to work and I carefully combine shopping trips when possible. My old merc gets 25/19.

It's just a little longer than the trip I'm making a week, if I visit my cousins.

I was saving $200 on fuel on a heavy travel month than if I bought a bigger car or an SUV where I'll barely be able to use the utility. I mean I've regularly gone over dirt roads over mountains. Often, they forgot to put gravel and in rainy season, it would turn into a muddy mess and almost impassable for non 4x4s and I never got stuck on just my fwd subcompact.

$200 dollars is a big deal for me. It could have bought me a new laptop in two months (if I needed one) but sadly, the money is just spent on utilities. Like I said, I don't make much money. But if I get rich, I'll probably keep the habit, I mean I'm trying to invent energy-solving technologies and then I drive a V8 sports car, people might not take me seriously!

 

[timewerx]

Our best approach (imo) is to,

Reduce human population.
Expand our forest lands.
Restore our grasslands.

I also agree with reduce human population.

You know what number I came up with which would take away all the stresses of living while still not being endangered species? Less than 100 million. Actually, the number would be between 10 million and 100 million.

With such numbers, it would be possible to live completely off the land, assuming real estate became so cheap, everyone owned huge hectares of land. You can practically farm all of your food, even plant trees you could use as lumber for your home.

Most people could live entirely self-sufficient, not having to work for anyone. While still using advanced technology and upcoming technology like robots, everyone could live in luxury, no more poverty. We'll only need a small percent of the population, maybe a hundred thousand, working in scientific research to advance our technology and some form of government. It's certainly not going to be the same.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It's just a little longer than the trip I'm making a week, if I visit my cousins.

I was saving $200 on fuel on a heavy travel month than if I bought a bigger car or an SUV where I'll barely be able to use the utility. I mean I've regularly gone over dirt roads over mountains. Often, they forgot to put gravel and in rainy season, it would turn into a muddy mess and almost impassable for non 4x4s and I never got stuck on just my fwd subcompact.

$200 dollars is a big deal for me. It could have bought me a new laptop in two months (if I needed one) but sadly, the money is just spent on utilities. Like I said, I don't make much money. But if I get rich, I'll probably keep the habit, I mean I'm trying to invent energy-solving technologies and then I drive a V8 sports car, people might not take me seriously!

I have a good pile of dough for my retirement (and for possible future medical costs) but I live a simple lifestyle, and really enjoy it.

 

[tooldtocare]

We are centuries from the end of the fossil fuel era.

That just isn't true. All I ask is that you do a little googling. Get the known quantities of oil/coal/natural gas and then divide those numbers by the amount we are burning up now. It is not hard to do so please do it and then get back to use with the truth in hand

Leftist alarmism will fade away as reality makes a comeback.

An optimistic view may help you sleep but it will not extend our dependence of fossil fuels

Oil and coal are efficient methods to power our society. Over time we will develop better methods, but they don't exist now.

Time is the key here. By my calculations we have about 40 years at the current consumption rate. I will be long gone by then so why should I care-?

The fact is I have grandchildren and I do care for their future -

 

[OldWiseGuy]

That just isn't true. All I ask is that you do a little googling. Get the known quantities of oil/coal/natural gas and then divide those numbers by the amount we are burning up now. It is not hard to do so please do it and then get back to use with the truth in hand



An optimistic view may help you sleep but it will not extend our dependence of fossil fuels



Time is the key here. By my calculations we have about 40 years at the current consumption rate. I will be long gone by then so why should I care-?

The fact is I have grandchildren and I do care for their future -


View attachment 183365

What exactly does the pie chart represent?

 

[tooldtocare]

What exactly does the pie chart represent?

The pie chart represents the percentage we get out of each type of fuel/energy source. The chart states that we/the world gets 48.9% of our energy from coal.

Within 40 or so years hydroelectric, solar and nuclear will be all that is left on that chart.

Such is life -