new to the forum

brandy · Guest

Hi everybody, I just heard about Peak Oil last week, and found the subject serious enough to spend a little time on Smile

An old professor of the technical university of Copenhagen (I live in Denmark) once said: "the Stone age didn't end because there was no stone left". I think the quote says a lot. Sometimes we just can't think of a solution, because of our tiny little brains. This is of course not intended as a humiliation or insult towards you guys in any way.

In Denmark petrol costs about 1,50 dollar pr litre, and some cars (VW Lupo e.g) uses 3 litres of diesel to drive 100 kilometres. If that is the future of automobil industry, and all normal cars drive that far on a litre of diesel, that it self could put off peak oil for a while. Didn't I read somewhere, that in USA transportation counts for 16 million barrels a day?

Regards
Brandy

ps. I'm not Danish, but rather Faroese from the Faroe Islands, where we are searching for oil as we speak, so maybe...

Sencha · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 5:31 am Post subject:

Welcome, and my condolences for learning about the end of the world. (as we know it, anyway.) I suppose the whole, "Stone Age didn't end cause we ran out of stone." argument could work. But we're getting pretty close to the end of the oil age by my perceptions, and still no alternative answer.

Fuel efficient cars are awesome, but I just don't know if they will be enough to stave off the peak. Since practically everything we use is made from oil, or is manufactured by oil powered machines. If we wanted to truly push back the peak, we'd need to convert every single, or at least the majority of manufacuturing to an alternative energy.

When I think about how many millions of barrels a day is consumed, and how quickly a day goes by, I just can't imagine there's a whole lot of time left. Call me a doomsayer, but I agree with the people that argue we are past the point of no return. One last thing, take a look at current world events. What is going on? North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, China, Russia and the U.S., are all developing next generation missiles or weapons systems. Doesn't seem like alternative energy is on the top of their priorities list.
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Vision without action is a dream, action without vision is a nightmare.

Brandy · Coal Joined: Dec 08, 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Denmark

USA is the biggest energy consumer in the World, right? About a quarter of the world's energy consumption. We in Denmark use considerably less energy, many of our industry plants are very energy efficient, and thus is the current high oil price good for the Danish industry. (the extra pricetag on oil is less in Denmark than the rest of the world bacause of energy efficiency). About 15-20% of the Danish energy production comes from wind mills, and that number is growing.

As oil gets more and more expensive (and decision makers hear about Peak Oil) more and more focus will be drawn towards energy efficiency. The legislative branch will ban dirty industry, or at least impose restrictions on them. We in Europe have for ages been shaking our heads at the American disregard of nature e.g. GMO, hormone steaks, aircondition al over the place etc etc.

Well, if it all comes down to a mad max area, I will use my acre and a half to support me and my family with food:-(

Ayoob_Reloaded · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 07, 2004 Posts: 383

Brandy,

Welcome aboard. It's a fascinating topic that touches on many aspects of our industrial lifestyle. There are hundreds of threads on this board that cover different topics.

Also on this board is PeakSpeak, on which you can talk to people in real time in your voice on the topics we talk about.

I'm off to bed for the night, but read away.

There are tons of other sites you can go to with reading material galore.