So what will YOU do when the oil runs out?

And given the current sentiment worldwide, if we have any brains at all it’ll be the technological innovation that frees the USA from oil dependancy, and the rest of the world can work it out themselves. If we can figure it out, anybody can, right?

what kind of innovation? you seem very optomistic

And given the current sentiment worldwide, if we have any brains at all it’ll be the technological innovation that frees the USA from oil dependancy, and the rest of the world can work it out themselves. If we can figure it out, anybody can, right?

I’m going to predict that the technological innovation that frees us
all from dependancy on oil is developed here in the US of A.

And greasy Europeans as well… 😀

We can start by taking away the jet fuel used by the English for their holidays to the US and Spain…. 😀

Could you just provide the fuel one way, it would solve a lot of problems

food at the supermarket.

I suspect only a fraction of the food in our supermarkets comes from the US.

the Hollywood film your watching on the DVD.

If it will stop Hollywood producing inaccurate historical crap then I for one would welcome the oil running out.

Maybe the medicine your granny just took.

That would be a miracle, ones been dead for the best part of 40 years, and the other the best part of 60 years.

Could hydrogen be used as a fuel for aircraft?

Helium could, but more specifically balloons! – Nermal

Yep. it’s all America’s fault….270 million of us are responsible for the WHOLE REST of the world not having any gas any more…..ah well….guess the fact that we CAME UP WITH the mass produced car for all of your convenience means nothing…oh, did I mention we also learned how to fly, too? Damn us and our big SUV’s over here….how dare we!…..Hell with it…in about 40 years I’m outta here anyway and it looks like we’ll have enough gas until then…after that, y’all are on your OWN…

M

I’m ever so sorry if I caused you any offence old chap 🙁

We could melt down all the FAT Americans and fuel the world on the residue for centuries. 😉

And greasy Europeans as well… 😀

We can start by taking away the jet fuel used by the English for their holidays to the US and Spain…. 😀

Remember, one reason America uses more fuel, is that it produces a lot of the world’s food and industrial products…that Boeing you fly to Orlando on took some oil/energy to get made..same for some of the food at the supermarket, the Hollywood film your watching on the DVD, and maybe the medicine your granny just took.

Now THAT actually makes some sense…I’ve been looking around lately at my fellow countrymen and women and can’t BELIEVE how huge some of us are getting…no doubt all those super sized McDonald’s meals and Buffets taking their tolls on the average American!!

M

We could melt down all the FAT Americans and fuel the world on the residue for centuries. 😉

Yep. it’s all America’s fault….270 million of us are responsible for the WHOLE REST of the world not having any gas any more…..ah well….guess the fact that we CAME UP WITH the mass produced car for all of your convenience means nothing…oh, did I mention we also learned how to fly, too? Damn us and our big SUV’s over here….how dare we!…..Hell with it…in about 40 years I’m outta here anyway and it looks like we’ll have enough gas until then…after that, y’all are on your OWN…

M

By the time we run out of oil, we’ll have developed a replacement
energy source. Already, a simple increase in oil prices have shifted
the demand from SUV’s to hybrids and effecient cars. In a few
years, this alone could reduce oil consumption in America
significantly.

Fuel effecient vehicles and alternative fuel sources are now
becoming so financially benificial, they are becoming profitable.
Screw GM and Ford. They didn’t want to take the risk of
inventing fuel effecient hybrid tech, let them grovel to the
Japanese. Honda and Toyota lost money initially to get hybrid
tech. out in the market, now they’re reaping the benifits.

Same for electric powered vehicles. The companies that are
willing to take the risk will reap the profits.

Hybrids will be the best solution as long as oil is the best fuel. 5
years ago, the price of oil was so low, that hybrids weren’t “worth
it”. Now, they are a great financial decision. Hell, when we
bought ours, just a little over 2 years ago, it wasn’t really a financial
decision – we were not going to break even in the life of the
vehicle. After gas prices doubled, it became a very VERY good
decision – we’re going to save thousands now.

The market will dictate advancements in many situations. Increase
the price of fuel, and alternatives will be more desireable.
Decrease the price of electricity, and IT becomes more desirable.
I believe that we all should make efforts to reduce our dependance
on oil. The best way to do so, the best way to set the stage for
more electirc powered vehicles, is to start pumping out nuclear
plants. Why the hell are we powering our lights with energy from
burned coal and oil when we can get it from splitting atoms!!!!

Because it’s cheap.
and because the environmental whackos don’t want nuke plants.
Nuke plants MAY pollute – and they most likely won’t.
All other plants WILL pollute.
Wind, solar and geothermal and hydro plants are nice, but are
location dependant and not a universal cure. Especiall wind and
solar – impractical on an industrial level,a nd they require so muc h
space, they impact the environment more so than any other power
source.

Battery research is what’s needed. We’ve got light materials,
super effecient electric motors and electronics. We can make an
awesome electirc car if we wanted to. In fact, the simplicity of
constructing a vehicle that operates wihtout an internal combustion
engine, echaust, muffler, fuel tank…well, I bet it’ll lead to advances
in mass production that we’ve never seen before. WHICH will
eventuall ylead to very cheap cars.

We just need better batteries. As of now, we get better
power/space ratios out of compressed hydrogen gas in fuel cells
than we do in the best lithium ion batteries.

Fuel cells are here now, but the infastructure is going to be a
nightmare. I think electircity is the answer. We have it
everywhere, existing gas stations can be very easily converted (just
install outlets!). We only need that one advance in battery tech to
make all our problems go away!

And if we get some nuke plants*, we’ll be damned-near emission
free!

*I’ll continue my declaration that by the time we’ve accumulated
enough nuke waste to be a problem, we’ll have the technology to
safely remove it from earth, and send it directly into the sun….

Peak oil will not lead to a collapse. When (or more correctly IF)
oil becomes harder to find, drill for, collect or refine, the price will
rise accordingly. This will happen over a period of years, and
prices will get very high. This price increase will lead to oil
becoming prohibitivly expensive to use as a fuel. This will naturally
lead to the adoption of other technology and fuels.

I personally believe that we will never run out of oil Not that
there’s an unlimited supply of it, just that by the time we would
have used it up, we’ll already be using something newer, better and
cheaper. Regardless, I”m hoping to see this switch occur sooner
rather than later. We have all this amazing technology.
Microprocessors, computers, etc…and we power all these things
by burning stuff we pump out of the ground…it’s just not right.

Besides, I’m anxious to see what saudi arabia does after the rest of
the world (namely US) doesn’t ‘need’ their products anymore…

Cryofuel

Could hydrogen be used as a fuel for aircraft? You could generate electricity through a renewable means, and then get hydrogen from water, so supply is possible on a large scale. Actually, i think it is already used in scramjet engines being experimented with. Any thoughts?

In response to the first post in this thread, I believe that, like during the war, fuel supplies in the UK will be put on ration

How ironic that this thread was made.
For the past few weeks, I have been wondering what would happen without oil. As pointed out in the first post, oil is connected to many things we use daily. Why do Americans have to use so much of it…

They’re Americans…that’s what they do for a living. I bet they would use there cars to drive to their next door neighbours house for a bit on the side 😀 🙂 I bet that the back seat of one of their huge cars would add to the sensation 😀 🙂 😀 ( 😮 )I think that I’ll buy one 😀 😀

THIS POST WAS NOT AND IS NOT MEANT TO CAUSE OFFENCE TO THE AMERICANS!!!

Some interesting ideas. The other point the article made was that Humans have lost the ability to innovate. Innovation in the industrial revolution peaked in 1860 or so, and has been on the decline ever since. We now make less innovations than in the 1600’s. Of course, there is a limit to what we can invent, or is there?

Truth is, that if oil were to run out in the next 10-40 years, it will ground every aircraft currently flying today.

Another thought – if we cant use oil; will Global Warming decline?

Another thought; ask the following questions:

Do you support the use of nuclear power?

and

If nuclear power is the only efficient way we can produce cheap electricity in the future, will you support the building of more nuclear power stations?

Answer to the first question will probably be ‘No’, and to the second ‘Yes’….

Oh, one thing about research; Ford and GM arent making money right now, and word is that the accountants have cut the research budget such that no-one is developing the electric car we all crave….

Bruce

I’ll have to fry my chips in butter then :rolleyes:

I don’t think we’ll see electric airplanes anytime soon…at least not on the scale of commercial transports.

What we need is a jet engine that burns nitrogen. Incorporate some sort of atom sifter in the intake and take the nitrogen you need right out of the atmosphere. Good luck getting something like that FAA certified though, and that’s if you can get it to work well enough in the first place!

Barring that, an extremely high-speed electric compressor. Use it to propel aircraft by ingesting air, compressing it to serious extremes, and blasting it out the rear at absurd velocity. You can even incorporate solar panels in the wings of the aircraft to charge the batteries in flight.

I’ll buy a horse and ride it to where I need to go! To feed it, I’ll just put it in my backyard where he will be able to graze at his leasure!
As to getting from North America to Europe, I’ll sail the seven seas or maybe by then, we will see beaming machines at every corner of every street! Who knows! 😀

Why do Americans have to use so much of it…

You’re right, we’re the sole users of oil, I forgot :rolleyes:

China’s oil use increases seven times faster per year than does that of the US, maybe we should all blame them for industrializing. Or not, as that would be absolutely pointless.

…when car companies realise that oil is going to run out soon…. lots of research will go into improving electric cars… and we’ll be able to go on as normal.

I don’t think we’ll see electric airplanes anytime soon…at least not on the scale of commercial transports. (NASA has flown a solar powered UAV).

It’s fairly easy to get more electricty…wind power is now huge in the US…especially in Texas and California, and nukes are always an option…though the anti-nuke scare croud has stopped them in the US for about 25 years (ignoring their safety and success in France, Japan and the US Navy).

But nukes, hydrogen, electricty, etc. won’t power a Spitfire at legends.