[razved]

Fossil energy has everything to do with the issue. The world is consuming petroleum at (roughly) million times faster than it was formed. NG and LPG were produced from the same source materials (phytoplanktons and zooplanktons), albeit at different rates. If we consume fossil hydrocarbons of all types to make a derivative material such as ethanol, we are playing a zero-sum game.

Consider the dynamics. The U.S. had one of the three largest original petroleum reserves in the world. Our production has been declining since 1970-71. That decline is about 2.25% per year. Eventually, world production has to follow a similar pattern.

By 2050, our petroleum supply, including imports, could be less than half its current value, i.e., 2.99 gallons per person-day; that is assuming that we could continue to consume 25% of world production, which is unlikely.

By the end of the century, supply could be 10% of current levels. In this context, the problem should be clear.

[theBuckwheat]

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Fossil energy has everything to do with the issue. The world is consuming petroleum at (roughly) million times faster than it was formed.
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Nonsense. What counts is the price of fuel in the form and quality necessary for the application, whether it is #2, Jet-A, 100LL, auto, boiler, etc. In a free market, there is no better signal of supply than price.

Where will this fuel come from? We are *awash* with hydrocarbons. Some areas of the US, like Illinois, eastern Utah, western Colorado, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, etc are almost floating atop deposits of coal and oil shales.

If this is not enough, one firm, that is presently converting hundreds of tons a day of waste from butchering turkeys into biodiesel, claims there are enough usable hydrocarbons in *sewage sludge* to replace our present level of oil imports.

The only issue is our will to convert these hydrocarbons to the desired form. It should be no mystery that a high market price for crude oil does wonders to resolve that issue.