What happens when the fossil fuels run out?

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I doubt we will completely run out. It'll get to the point where it is just too expensive to get them out the ground, so funding will move to other things. It's why fracking became a thing, previously that oil had been too expensive so no one bothered. Even now if oil keeps slipping to below 70$ a barrel some of those wells will have to halt production.

Fracking is less to do with fuel prices and more to do with energy security. The whole "fracking is cheaper than oil" thing has been discredited over and over again. The real reason why it's become so popular in the US and potentially the UK is that it reduces our dependence on countries like Russia for fuel.

Reply 21

SnoochToTheBooch

Fusion will be cracked sooner or later. Lockheed claims it's gonna do it within 10 years.
http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Compact-Fusion-Reactor-Within-A-Decade-Says-Lockheed-Martin2863.html

Whether that turns out to be true I do not know but it makes a change from the 40-50 year predictions that have been getting thrown around for decades.

Reply 22

The Socktor

Original post by Chlorophile

If we actually do run out of fossil fuels, the resulting effects on the climate will probably mean that running out will be the least of our problems. I very much hope that we will have shifted our dependency away from fossil fuels by that time.

Agreed. We didn't leave the stone age because we ran out of stones. :wink:

Reply 23

RF_PineMarten

A mix of nuclear and renewables will be needed. I don't care that fossil fuel reserves might last longer than we think, we already have access to more fossil fuel reserves than climate scientists are telling us it is safe to burn. Because of climate change we really need massive investment in renewables and use nuclear to help it along. For energy policy, business as usual is absolutely not an option.

Not only that, but a lot of new reserves discovered are in sensitive areas - like the Arctic oil reserves or reserves in rainforest areas where extraction has a huge environmental impact that many would say is unacceptable.

Reply 24

username1044970

By the time we run out of fossil fuels, it's possible that nuclear fusion reactors will have been constructed and operating by then.

Reply 25

Smack

Volunteer Team

Original post by Rakas21

It's a crisis that oil is $80 per barrel?

It's a crisis for some, i.e. oil producers. :tongue:

OPEC countries, plus Russia, all rely on oil being at least $100 a barrel to balance their budgets. If the oil price remains this low for a length of time, they'll be struggling to balance their budgets, and way well see civil unrest.

It's also a crisis for American shale producers, as their break-even costs are generally around $80-$90 a barrel. Given that most of these producers are also fairly small companies, they don't have the financial might to hunker down and survive a period of prolonged net losses on the barrel.

The same is true of the Canadian tar sands, and other sources of unconventional oil and gas. North Sea oil, and deep water oil also isn't generally that cheap to produce either.

And as the supply continues to increase relative to demand, oil will only likely get cheaper. And no-one's going to back down either by shutting in their wells. Mainly because once wells are shut-in it can be very difficult to get them open and producing again, mainly because of the unreliability of old equipment.

Instead, what will happen is that future projects get cancelled, and oil companies reduce their OPEX to a minimum, meaning they also cut back on their maintenance too. So when current assets' production declines, there'll be nothing coming online any time soon to replace them, which could in turn cause oil prices to dramatically rise.

Reply 26

Chillaxer

Original post by Gax

Humanity always finds a way :colonhash:

Does it? Why should our species be uniquely destined for survival? We're more intelligent than the dinosaurs, but maybe something more intelligent than us will take over after we perish, unless we take a different course.

Reply 27

McMicheal

Original post by Chillaxer

They say there is not long to go for oil and gas. There is for coal, but of course, if that takes over from the other two, it's time estimate will reduce drastically. Also, the estimates I've read are based on current per capita usage and population, and the population will certainly increase, and if usage trends continue, then per capita usage will increase too.
So picture a few hundred years down the line, we have a warmer world, and no fossil fuels.
We have the middle east and an ideology that doesn't like the west-how powerful will that become amidst the chaos? What kind of lives would we live? How much energy could alternative sources, hydro, wind etc give us, and how would it change our usage of technology? Will technological advance take a back seat, will we be forced to use no more advanced devices than now, or will what we have now be unsustainable with alternative energy?

Well we'll have to start using alternatives for oil based materials and only the military will have access to fuel. Unless we'll develop some reasonable alternatives that can power things like jet airplanes.

They'll continue drilling deeper and in more hard to reach places for oil till then, like Arctic, Antarctica hell maybe even start mining materials for fuel from space.

There are plenty of alternatives currently the most serious one for energy is nuclear power, but there's hydro plants, wind/solar/bio fuel plants that could supply energy needs of countries if implemented more widely. And when it will become too expensive to use fossil fuels, that's what they'll do. However it might slow things down, if we won't be able to fuel planes or meet energy demands.

There isn't going to be sudden chaos or like stop, when all the oil wells run dry. Things will change over time, countries who can adjust better will gain the upper hand during these times.

I'm more concerned about climate change, because it's not as simple as just getting few degrees warmer everywhere, it will **** things up big time and not everyone will be able to cope and adjust.

Reply 28

Chillaxer

Original post by McMicheal

They'll continue drilling deeper and in more hard to reach places for oil till then, like Arctic, Antarctica hell maybe even start mining materials for fuel from space.

I'm more concerned about climate change, because it's not as simple as just getting few degrees warmer everywhere, it will **** things up big time and not everyone will be able to cope and adjust.

If we are that advanced, we might colonize somewhere in space some time soon after.
The worst thing about climate change seems like the sea level rises to me. Dunno how well off Britain will be as an island, especially the low lying parts. Maybe it'll make the north rise to prominence again.

Reply 29

McMicheal

Original post by Chillaxer

I'm expecting that more people will move to places like Greenland, North of Canada, Siberia or maybe even Antarctica.

We are advanced enough to get around solar system and set up colonies over some planets, moons, however currently it's extremely expensive to get anything up in space and you'd need to bring quite a bit of stuff to establish a colony. There's health risks, cosmic radiation, but mostly it's about what's there to gain financially and there isn't much, it's not profitable to make a colony on Mars to mine something so that later you could send it back to earth. Going beyond solar system is impossible with current technologies, unless you'd build massive space ships where people after hundreds of generations would maybe reach another star alive.

Reply 30

Rakas21

Original post by Chillaxer

Can't really. Nowhere habitable in the solar system.

Yes, my house outside Leeds is at 220m so screw you guys. :colone:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 31

Chillaxer

Original post by Rakas21

Can't really. Nowhere habitable in the solar system.

Yes, my house outside Leeds is at 220m so screw you guys. :colone:

The North and Scotland will be better off through climate change.

Poetic justice maybe?

Reply 32

Chillaxer

Original post by McMicheal

We are advanced enough to get around solar system and set up colonies over some planets, moons, however currently it's extremely expensive to get anything up in space and you'd need to bring quite a bit of stuff to establish a colony..

What the ****? Atmospheric conditions?

Reply 33

Wait, what?

Original post by Drunk Punx

All of Scotland will go "I'm glad that Independence referendum worked out the way that it did."

HA. Hahaha. Ha. No

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Reply 34

Wait, what?

The world is more advanced than you're all making it out to be... If oil ran out tomorrow then yes; we would have a lack of energy and we would have to stop using as much energy (technology) as we are used to. However, we know the oil won't run out tomorrow, and we have good estimates of how long the oil will last, SO, when the oil does run out, renewables will just take over- renewable energy is a viable option, and we could easily power all electrical appliances with renewable energy all over the world- it would just take a lot of money to do so. The problem is transport- but electric cars are being developed and are becoming more sophisticated, soon they'll have long ranges and won't take forever to charge (my parents have a Prius plug in, and we aren't there yet [aka it's ****, but it's getting better]) and there's still alternatives such as hydrogen fuel cells, pressurised gas as a propulsion and scientists at Lockheed Martin announced that they're making a portable nuclear fusion reactor (woo!), so in answer to your question, when the lol runs out, we won't have to change the way in which we use technology, but the technology itself will adapt to the alternative fuel methods that will be used (and IMO should be being used now, and fossil fuels should be being phased out of use, dey R bad 4 environment)

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Reply 35

McMicheal

Original post by Chillaxer

What the ****? Atmospheric conditions?

What about them? just go underground in say Mars or make bio domes, and grow food, produce oxygen from plants, that you grow/feed with lamps, soil transported from earth and water that's being filtered on spot from what you brought along. You could then extract some water from Mars itself and try using Martian soil and decomposed stuff from what you brought with you.

The biggest issue here is how the **** you get every up from earth and down there, then you'd need to think of how to get stuff off of mars back to earth as bringing fuel to launch back from mars isn't really efficient.

Radiation, atmospheric conditions can be dealt with if you built strong enough bio domes or build underground. It's just that it would cost a whole lot to do that.

And lastly, what someone would exactly gain from making such I dunno trillions of dollars investments in their lifetime?

Reply 36

Rakas21

At this point its also worth noting that many early vehicles and subways were electric. Also, who in the 90's thought that we'd have hybrids from 02.

Reply 37

Drunk Punx

Original post by Wait, what?

HA. Hahaha. Ha. No

Considering a lot of the "economic pros" I saw with regards to the debate involved gas and oil, it's not an unsound judgement to make.

I'm glad you were able to highlight the key points and effectively summarise as to why you felt that my post was erroneous though, your Blue Peter badge is in the post.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 38

Wait, what?

Original post by Drunk Punx

The economic pros of the oil and gas in the North Sea are not Scotland's only chance of thriving on its own, they were just that- pros. And also, less than 2 months after the referendum, a whole new oil field has been announced, but that's here nor there in this discussion... With regards to this discussion- an independent scotland would be laughing if the world ran out of fossil fuels- scotland has Europes LARGEST renewable energy potential. So we would be selling energy to the rest of the UK and Europe. So hows that to as why your judgement was misinformed?

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Reply 39

Wait, what?

IMHO the world would be a better place if fossil fuels ran out tomorrow, give nature a chance to survive rather than destroying habitats and environments in the pursuit and usage of fossil fuels

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