http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120128939885117541.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today Even if he is right his actions show a distinct lack of imagination as far as how to protect himself from the consequences he fears. 70% of the oil we use in the US goes in to our cars and trucks. Currently it costs about $3 a gallon for gas. If we convert to electric plug-in which is the next wave of cars coming in the next 10 years the cost falls to a mileage equivalent of 60c a gallon (this is based on using the electricity from our coal fired power plants, if we went to more nuclear plants the cost would be closer to 12c a gallon equivalent). We save huge amounts of money and oil. The other 30% of oil is used for plastics and industrial processes. Each 42 gallon barrel of crude produces about 19.5 gallons of gas, so $10 gas ceteris paribus would translate to $330 oil. At $330 oil the financial incentives to use solar, wind, and electric vehicles would be massive. The incentives to use synthetics in manufacturing plastics etc instead of oil would be massive. The incentives for investment in green alternatives would be massive and the resultant innovations would further reduce the reliance on oil. At $330 oil the oil sands of Canada would be even more commercially viable than they are now. From the CBS story... "There are 175 billion barrels of proven oil reserves here. Thatâs second to Saudi Arabiaâs 260 billion but itâs only what companies can get with todayâs technology. The estimate of how many more barrels of oil are buried deeper underground is staggering. "We know thereâs much, much more there. The total estimates could be two trillion or even higher," says Clive Mather, Shell's Canada chief. "This is a very, very big resource." Very big? Thatâs eight times the amount of reserves in Saudi Arabia" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/20/60minutes/main1225184.shtml Obviously we all know that resources on earth are finite and that a growing population is putting pressure on those resources but we are decades away from having to worry about the type of doomsday scenario that peak oilers are preparing for as if it is going to happen next month (like that idiot filling up 5 gallon jugs of gasoline more likely to burn down his house long before any peak oil crisis shows up). In those ensuing decades the innovation that will occur especially if the price of oil remain around $10) will make the effects of peak oil mute.
I'm not surprised that mental defective is a middle school teacher. I remember one of my teachers from that time in school telling my class that it was possible to build a giant air pipeline to the moon to make it habitable. There is and always will be a segment of the population that revels in apocalyptic nonsense. Remember Y2K? People had already forgotten about it by 2001 but I know personally of a family that sold everything and moved to a remote mountain area in California to ride out the coming apocalypse. The #1 Best-seller in 1987 was Dr. Ravi Batraâs âThe Great Depression of 1990.â Paul Ehrlichâs âThe Population Bombâ (1968) - âThe battle to feed humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death, in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Now global warming is the nightmare du jour that the fanatics demand we all crap ourselves over. I'm all for decreasing pollution, sustainable energy, etc., but the nuts aren't happy with rational steps. They want to transform society on a hyper-emergency timetable - just like the Khmer Rouge. Here's an amusing link, "Apocaholics Anonymous": http://www.godward.org/commentary/Out of the Box/Apocaholics Anonymous.htm
Thanks for the link Banjo. These companies might be worth a serious look if this new technology pans out. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2005/10/19/oh-canadas-oil-sands.aspx Hey Pabst! Yeah, love the link Deep fried. 2faced, don't get your point but looked at your last 10 posts, nothing of value so adding you to the long list of ET wastrels on ignore. Nothing personal, just makes visiting ET more interesting having the worthless posters off the radar.
Thanks, guys. Apocalyptic pessimism is very popular these days as an explanation for everything. The worst thing about it is that it prevents believers from taking positive steps in their lives that would otherwise benefit themselves and the rest of society. They're too busy wasting energy by obsessing about horrible things that will never happen.
AGREED ! Especially Timothy Sikes...I read his book....and then his posts....and then his responses to my queries. He really has some "issues". I mean for him to get so totally "duped" by those guys in that crappy internet transaction venture.....unBELIEVABLE ! Tim's success truly got to his "head"....which is why he made that POOR JUDGEMENT.....and when it was obvious he "lost" because of it, he tried to "cover" for it. NO WAY. DONE. DEAD. BURIED. Goodbye Tim....forever.