Comments on: Petroleum is Temporary http://rob.orangejack.com/2008/05/13/petroleum-is-temporary/ an inconsistent reminder that random is a constant Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:35:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: rob http://rob.orangejack.com/2008/05/13/petroleum-is-temporary/comment-page-1/#comment-75946 rob Tue, 13 May 2008 22:27:43 +0000 http://rob.orangejack.com/?p=2506#comment-75946 @Kevin : agreed. And that's kind of the point - we don't know when it runs out but the fact is that it will. Therefore finding other ways to power our stuff has to be on the table. I think the issues then begin to be raised about how much collateral damage does the hunt for oil create? Ie., drilling Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, dependencies on the Middle East, etc. It just came into perspective for me when it hit me that oil won't last. @Kevin : agreed. And that’s kind of the point – we don’t know when it runs out but the fact is that it will. Therefore finding other ways to power our stuff has to be on the table. I think the issues then begin to be raised about how much collateral damage does the hunt for oil create? Ie., drilling Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, dependencies on the Middle East, etc. It just came into perspective for me when it hit me that oil won’t last.

]]> By: Kevin Donahue http://rob.orangejack.com/2008/05/13/petroleum-is-temporary/comment-page-1/#comment-75945 Kevin Donahue Tue, 13 May 2008 21:41:05 +0000 http://rob.orangejack.com/?p=2506#comment-75945 What about synthetic oil? That's man-made, right? I think the reason that we don't have mass quantities of man-made "oil" is because there is still a substantial amount of oil available, so that cost to develop it doesn't yet make sense from a macro standpoint. The future is something other than oil, as you correctly point out. I'm just not sure how far into the future we're talking. The increase in the production of plastics eats oil reserves, so recycling is critical. The production of crops for fuel purposes is still a negative oil proposition, so that's gotta improve. There are no easy answers, but I know there are some really smart people out there who are going to given the opportunity to prove just how creative they can be. What about synthetic oil? That’s man-made, right? I think the reason that we don’t have mass quantities of man-made “oil” is because there is still a substantial amount of oil available, so that cost to develop it doesn’t yet make sense from a macro standpoint.

The future is something other than oil, as you correctly point out. I’m just not sure how far into the future we’re talking.

The increase in the production of plastics eats oil reserves, so recycling is critical. The production of crops for fuel purposes is still a negative oil proposition, so that’s gotta improve.

There are no easy answers, but I know there are some really smart people out there who are going to given the opportunity to prove just how creative they can be.

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