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Don't worry, we'll never run out of Oil: When will we run out of Oil? 50 years? 100? As it turns out, we may never actually run out of this incredibly useful substance.
Interesting Engineering ^ | 11/09/2022 | Christopher McFadden

Posted on 12/09/2022 10:07:54 PM PST by SeekAndFind

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To: SeekAndFind

Land is a finite resource and large amounts of land are needed to support wind and solar farms. Some land is not suitable for much such as mountains, but viable land that could support agriculture is also the prime land used by wind and solar farms especially in the Great Plains. Wind and solar farms thus are taking agricultural land out of production. Add to that the drive to get rid of cows that can graze on marginal lands the green utopia could mean starvation.


41 posted on 12/10/2022 8:07:21 AM PST by The Great RJ
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To: SeekAndFind

Good article and discussion within.

I would emphasize one point that deserves more attention.

We always view the future within the framework of the world today. In other words, we predict what our world will be in 50 or 100 years based on our current technology because we do not see the new technologies that will most certainly emerge.

The growth in technology increases every year and this includes all things energy - how we obtain it, how we use it, and how we store it.

The Earth is full of “energy” and when it is needed or economically viable due to new technology we will harness them - think hydropower, thorium, hydrogen, space, recycled hydrocarbons, ocean currents/tides, and other sources beyond my imagination. Theoretically, we have underground aquifers in many parts of the worlds where mountains transition to lowlands that could provide incredible sources of hydropower even using todays tech.

There are many advances being made now that will fundamentally impact our world in the future such as new magnets, nanotechnology, more powerful computing, energy storage, 3D printing, AI, and the list goes on. We are also continually improving the efficiency of things that use energy within the current contruct.

We should have confidence that if our world remains relatively peaceful and prosperous new technology (and our abundant resources) will not only provide the energy we need, but make our use of that energy more efficient.


42 posted on 12/10/2022 8:20:38 AM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: Mlheureux

Oil is not a fossil fuel. Studies show depleted fields replenished years later.


Correct. Thermal activity and pressures within our planet produce “hydrocarbons”.


43 posted on 12/10/2022 8:22:59 AM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: SeekAndFind

“ According to some estimates, there are “trillions” of barrels of shale oil in the U.S. alone. However, the actual energy return on energy invested (EROEI) to extract and refine shale oil is so poor that there has been no serious commercial exploitation of oil shale to date.”

This paragraph followed the admission that “fracking” has made the commercialization of shale oil possible and it has immeasurably increased the amount of global proven reserves.

Semi-interesting but long winded read.

And it mentions various types of crude but does not discuss the different schools of thought as to how that crude is created. Some may be from ancient biological remains. Some may be from bacteria. Some may be from forces deep within the earth.


44 posted on 12/10/2022 8:23:56 AM PST by jdsteel (PA voters elected a stroke victim and a dead guy. Not a joke.)
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To: Mlheureux

I would also add that people ignore what Germany was able to do during WW2. They were able to synthetically make at least 50% of their transportation fuel from other sources.

People also ignore the energy contained within coal. The problem with coal has never been the BTU value - it’s there. The problem with coal is that it is “dirty” using current technology to mine, transport, and burn it. Our use of coal today is far cleaner than it was only decades ago and with new scrubbers it remains a very viable source of electricity.

I heat my entire house all winter long (I am just below the Canadian border above 2000’ elevation) with a high efficiency catalytic burning wood stove with mostly pine wood.

In fact, due to the conflict in the Ukraine, they are going to restart coal plants in Western Europe and more Europeans will heat with wood this year than in decades.


45 posted on 12/10/2022 8:34:35 AM PST by volunbeer (Find the truth and accept it - anything else is delusional)
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To: SeekAndFind

Before oil the world ran on coal, wood, whale oil, peat, and dung.


46 posted on 12/10/2022 8:43:56 AM PST by kaktuskid
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To: Mlheureux

RE: Oil is not a fossil fuel. Studies show depleted fields replenished years later.

I will be grateful if you can provide the source of these studies ( and so I believe will most readers of this thread )


47 posted on 12/10/2022 9:04:44 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Liberty is the most valuable resource and it is running out at an alarming rate.


48 posted on 12/10/2022 9:32:55 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: irishjuggler

A free market economy did not adapt to permit continued function of France when the Nazis occupied in the late 1930s. Those economists were likely shocked with the Nazis informed them there would be no more French Francs, the central bank was being closed, and the cost of garrison would be borne in the form of food shipped to Germany.

Free market economy adapted to bullets in the head . . . not very well. Forces of nature overwhelm capitalism. Every. Single. Time.


49 posted on 12/10/2022 10:08:26 AM PST by Owen
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To: TheConservativeTejano

And we have not mentioned the uncountable billions of cubic feet of natural gas that is ours for the taking. We truly have an anti-American party in the Democrats, our greatest enemies. Those who vote democrat commit treason against the country.


50 posted on 12/10/2022 2:07:09 PM PST by 353FMG (Secretly practicing my Putin swagger..)
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To: SeekAndFind

The question is how much cheap oil is left? But our technology is continuing to improve. Shale oil. We have drones and robots that we can use to work on the oil fields. So we have to factor all of that in the cost of per barrel.


51 posted on 12/10/2022 2:09:34 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: SeekAndFind

bkmk


52 posted on 12/10/2022 5:06:23 PM PST by xenia ( )
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To: SeekAndFind

Old drill sites fill up again with oil.


53 posted on 12/11/2022 1:43:15 AM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: SeekAndFind

Or not. Such blather


54 posted on 12/11/2022 11:54:34 AM PST by Nifster (OI see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Nifster

Could you kindly explain to us why you think this article is just blather?


55 posted on 12/11/2022 12:48:29 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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