How Much Longer Will Oil Last?

[Kyle]

This is quite a simple answer.

 

We will eventually run out of oil (Petroleum). Therefore, there is no way we can put an end to this. Oil is used to heat, homes,business's,car's,ETC.

 

There is a way that we can, save this fossil fuel. You can help just by converting & filtering grease, this is so easy you can do it out of you're garage! However, it also take's fuel to make fuel. We cannot recycle this fossil fuel forever, and it will soon run out. Our life in 40+ may change, to solar panel's. It is safe and effective and doesn't cause pollution. Thus, if we use solar panel's we, will still not have energy throughout the day. Even though, solar panel's save energy, throughout the day, we cannot keep up with the demand. If we stop buying out Oil (Petroleum) from different country's, they won't have any money, to make MORE, of these fossil fuel's that we use. What do you think?

[CraigD]

Hi Kyle – welcome to hypography! :) Please feel free to start a thread in the introductions forum to let everybody know something about yourself: you history, education, profession, interests, etc.

 

There is a way that we can, save this fossil fuel. You can help just by converting & filtering grease, this is so easy you can do it out of you're garage! … We cannot recycle this fossil fuel forever, and it will soon run out.

Filtered cooking grease (WVO = waste vegetable oil in the alternative fuel vernacular) or oil extracted from plant matter and not yet used (S/PVO = strait/pure vegetable oil) isn’t a fossil fuel, because it hasn’t been fossilized. It’s a renewable fuel, because to get more of it, one needs only grow more plants and extract the oil from them. Fossil fuels like petroleum, coal, geologically-derived natural gas, and bitumen are considered non-renewable, because although they are created continuously, the rate at which they are is believe to be many times slower than the rate at which we consume them.

 

However, it also take's fuel to make fuel.

I’m guessing you mean it takes fossil fuel to make non-fossil fuel.

 

It’s true that most vegetable oil is extracted using a chemical process that requires petroleum-derived chemicals, this is done only to increase the amount of oil extracted from a given amount of source seed, nut, bean, etc. VO can be extracted by a purely mechanical pressing process with reduced, but not dramatically so, efficiency. The mechanical energy for this extraction, as well as the cultivation and harvesting and transportation of the source plants and packaging and transportation of the oil can be supplied by many fossil fuel-free sources.

 

In short, it takes energy to make fuel – or, for that matter, to make practically anything – but that energy doesn’t need to come from another fuel.

 

Our life in 40+ may change, to solar panel's. It is safe and effective and doesn't cause pollution. Thus, if we use solar panel's we, will still not have energy throughout the day. Even though, solar panel's save energy, throughout the day, we cannot keep up with the demand.

In principle, the Earth receives enough sunlight (about 1.7 x 10¹⁷ W), to supply all current and near future human demand for mechanical power (currently about 1.6 x 10¹³ W). (source: wikipedia article Orders of magnitude (power))

 

In practice, effectively converting sunlight into electricity, fuel, and other sources of energy for producing mechanical power, is a scientific and engineering challenge, made greater because solar energy systems must be cost-competitive with fossil fuel-burning systems to be widely adopted. To date, they have been, so have only been adopted in small niche (eg: powering highway signs far from electric or fuel supplies) or subsidized situations.

 

However, the conventional wisdom, with which I agree, is that, as the “peak oil” and other fossil fuel peak dates are approached and past, fossil fuels will become increasing expensive, eventually becoming non-cost competitive with solar and other alternative energy systems, at which time these systems will become the main suppliers of power.

 

If we stop buying out Oil (Petroleum) from different country's, they won't have any money, to make MORE, of these fossil fuel's that we use. What do you think?

If we (the entire oil-consuming world) stop buying oil from oil-exporting countries, they’ll stop producing it, because nobody is buying it. This is true for any product, not just oil: a product for which there is little or no demand is not produced in great quantities.

 

Although those who have gained great money wealth from oil production will lose a major source of income when it greatly decreases, wealthy people are usually adept at adapting to changing market conditions in order to stay wealthy, so I doubt that they won’t have any money.

[Guest MacPhee]

Oil has served its purpose, by enabling us to create an industrial civilisation.

Now our civilisation doesn't really need oil anymore, because we have nuclear energy.

 

Nuclear energy does cause some problems. Such as how to dispose of the radioactive waste. But the waste can simply be taken out to sea in ships, then dumped overboard, so it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The ocean is, in its deepest parts, 20,000 to 30,000 feet deep. Such a huge depth of water, will act as a safe shield, and block any radioactivity from getting to the surface. So it won't cause us any harm.

 

As regards the specific question, how long will oil last. Oil will never fully run out. There'll always be some left. Oil-wells never truly run dry - in the sense that all the oil has been sucked out. The diminishing reservoir of oil in the well, just gets too expensive to justify pumping it up. But there's still quite a lot there, if needed for some special purpose.

 

Anyway, why worry about the supply of oil. Stone-Age Man, maybe worried about the supply of flint. Would there be enough to carry on making flint hand-axes and arrowheads. How was that worry resolved?