Running on Empty: Life Without Cheap Oil

[cyberlord64]

For some types of food you don't even need a farm. check out hydroponics.

We get 120 watts of usable energy per square meter. Experiment with solar cells. you can get them as cheap as 1$ per cell on ebay.

for heavy machinery methane gass can be produced from organic waste and diesel from the rapeseed plant.

keep up with the progress of renewable energy, try to get accustomed to it and everything will be just fine.

[darthvader5300]

As a Russian, this video is just plain propaganda for it ignores other potential energy sources and unconventional fossil fuel sources like Russia's already producing 310 abiotic oil wells, oil well reaming technology that can make old oil wells new again wt restore original production oil output. The BREST reactors that recycles nuclear fuel indefinitely and consumes it's nuclear wastes and can be modified as a breeder reactor to power 60 to 70 new BREST nuclear power plants.

[darthvader5300]

The problem wt this video is that he did not view the problem three dimensionally in it's entire picture in it's complete entirety by simultaneously seeing it's past, present, and potential future that also includes other potential energy sources like 3rd, 4th generation nuclear power, vertical urban farming, close-loop industrial-agricultural biosphere ecosystems where the wastes of one industry is used as a primary raw material by an another industry. It is being done already, he didn't say it

[Versus1984]

He didn't mention another consequence of the dissapearence of cheap oil - the resurgence of nuclear power.

[tonymengela]

hemp, corn, and algae, can replace fuels for farming and the road, high speed electric trains can replace the rest through hydrogen and natural gas within 5 years.

[lonewolfmtnz]

Peak (sh)IT was. Bye bye misery monkeys. Have a nice Die-Off!

[jgar6]

Has there been any headway on railroad transportation???

[cool45010]

That's right, bring back the privately owned passenger rail. Let there be over 100 class I railroads again, no more government hauled crap that goes absolutely nowhere. We don't need highways - the railroads WERE the highways - Bring back the iron horse - throw the diesel away. Let the second age of the railroads begin!

[tlv156]

Cars will become fewer in favor of the horse and buggy to ride into town on and deliver goods. Fuel will only be used for machinery and public transportation, like the steam engine as long as the coal holds out. I don't think the Amish will have any trouble adapting. We should go learn from them while there's still time.

[tlv156]

This guy hit the nail right on the head. People are going to have to move back to rural areas and be much more community based. It will focus more on agriculture, bringing goods into the local towns to sell at the market. The old Ma and Pa shops that Walmart and friends put out of business are going to come back. It'll be almost like living back in the year 1900. But it's going to be a very hard adjustment for many who are so used to getting things easy. It's going to be chaos for w while.

[wheely132]

Man it is going to SUCK when oil runs out..

[235RB]

@wheely132 oh yea, economies will collapse. were fucked.

[MrEnergyCzar]

It takes oil to mine and transport coal.... Our economies run on cheap liquid transport fuels, not liquid transport fuels made from coal, tar sands, or oil under 22,000 feet that isn't cheap....

[darthvader5300]

@MrEnergyCzar If you will take a good and hard look at the uncensored history of the industrial revolution, you will see coal-fired steam engine powered earth moving equipment like shovels and trucks and trains and tractors and cranes being used by the coal mining industry, not to mention coal-fired steam engine powered electric generators providing electric power to underground mining equipment and compressed air to pheumatic drilling and breaking equipment.

[darthvader5300]

@MrEnergyCzar As for oil, we Russians are decades ahead of you Americans when it comes to drilling for ultra-deep abiotic oil wells. We have 310 of such abiotic oil wells in Russia and helped the Vietnamese drill 2 to 3 abiotic oil wells in the White Tiger Oil fields in the South China Seas.

[TheShel10]

Everything he said two years ago is happening before our eyes.States and even nations are going bankrupt but oil is at 90 dollars a barrel,something economists would have said was an impossibility.The fossil fuel age was a one shot deal and now it is coming to an end and there is nothing to replace it.what people are hoping for is a perpetual motion machine but that won't happen.

[darthvader5300]

Our Russian BREST power reactors can produce new nuclear fuel as it consumes it's initial fuel and at the same time consumes it's nuclear wastes, eliminating long term nuclear wastes storage facilities & recycles it's nuclear fuel indefinitely. It can be modified to become a Breeder Brest power reactor to produce 60 to 70 times more nuclear fuel to fuel up and power up more non-breeder and breeder Brest Power reactors, cooled by lead & by natural convection & conduction makes it inherently safe.

[deyan125]

@darthvader5300 i say you better step off nebula and out of your space ship and learn how to garden, because fools in denial like YOU are going to starve

[darthvader5300]

You Americans has a 1,000 yr supply of easily accessible coal deposits, not yet including the deeper deposits and the titanic size deposits within the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick regions where coal deposits are a few thousand to 13,000 feet thick. The Elga coal deposits are even more titanically huge. The use of the Karrick process simply solves overnight this so called peak oil which has been debunked by us Russians working on our abiotic oil wells and BREST power reactors.

[sgtcrab1]

@darthvader5300 I am afraid you are a bit optomistic. Google "Foord Coal Seam" and check Wiki. The Foord seam in Nova Scotia is said to be the thickest coal seam in the world... in places 48 feet thick!

It is gassy and notoriously hard to mine. 900 miners have died there in 150 years or so. The latest , 26 men, at Westray about 12 years ago. The area is heavily faulted and very unstable underground. The seam is highly explosive.

[darthvader5300]

Electrical energy can be co-generated at minimal cost, in addition to coal products. A Karrick-LTC plant with a daily capacity of 1000 tons would produce enough steam to generate 100,000 KW-hours of electrical power.

[darthvader5300]

That gas can be converted to oil by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis-process. The coal gas produced by Karrick-LTC yields more BTUs than natural gas because it contains a greater amount of combined carbon, and there is less dilution of the combustion gases with water vapor. The phenolic wastes are used by the chemical industry as feedstock for working up into plastics, etc.. The process produces no pollutants other than carbon dioxide.

[darthvader5300]

After treatment by the Karrick process, a ton of coal will yield up to a barrel of oil, 3000 cu. ft. of rich fuel gas, & 1500 lb. of solid smokeless char (semi-coke). The economics of the process are such that the oil is obtained for free! The smokeless char is an excellent substitute for coal in utility boilers, and for coking coal in steel smelters. It yields more heat than raw coal, and it can be converted to water gas.

[darthvader5300]

Low-Temperature Carbonization (LTC). The process was perfected by Lewis C. Karrick, an oil shale technologist at the U.S. Bureau of Mines in the 1920s. LTC is a pyrolysis process that involves heating coal, shale, lignite, or any other carbonaceous material, including garbage) to about 800o F. in the absence of oxygen. Oil is thus distilled from the material, rather than burning as it would if oxygen were present.

[darthvader5300]

Hasn't he heard about Professor Todds's Living Machines that can convert raw sewage into fresh drinking water and food? Hasn't he heard about rock powder remineralization combined with powdered charcoal or activated carbon that can produce food 4 to 8 times higher than average and maintain soil fertility for tens of thousands of yrs? Hasn't he heard about large scale mechanized organic farming powered by on site biomass energy sources that makes 1 farmer feed several thousands of large families?

[darthvader5300]

Hasn't he heard about wood gas fuelled vehicles during WW II used to transport both people and food and other kinds of freight? Hasn't heard of the LTC Karrick process that can convert the US's 1,000 yr coal supply into cheap oil, cheap coal gas, semi-char coal-fired power plants, co-generate electricity, and produce phenol by products as petrochemical feed stocks. Hasn't he heard of my Russia's abiotic oil and gas wells and BREST self-recycling power reactors? How ignorant you baby boomers!

[IQhyderCA]

I bet u if it was a new sex tape for Paris Hilton..u would have more than 8000 views....FUCK!!!

[jacopman]

Sheeple don't like to deal reality...............but while they entertain themselves living in denial.............reality will end up dealing with them......

[walter0bz]

@LadyLillianContessa -

its still Fossil Fuel

[Angelheart1700]

The problem with all this is that the people of America love to waste things. Our car companies don't make small, fuel efficient cars because many Amercans won't buy then. The white house used to have solar panels on the roof until Reagan took them off.

[MrEnergyCzar]

Think plug-in hybrids...Volt, Leaf, Focus etc..great film...I love Kunstler's garden...

[BillGrates]

They already have experimental cars that can get 100 mpg.

[BillGrates]

Expensive oil should help people lose weight and be much healthier.

[MrEnergyCzar]

@BillGrates You are right....when Cuba went through Peak Oil in the 1990's they lost a lot of weight and now are healthier than we are...

[AuguryBot]

Yes. This is the new future. People will laugh at what we called the American dream, because we are asleep!

[thufer50]

Take a film of the twentieth century and run it backwards and then look at the population as you rewind. That is the future.

Severeign

[prk166]

"...trains powered by steam and then by coal"

If you can't get something simple like this right, why should I believe anything else?

[daninbigd]

They probably meant wood and coal.

[Aargh28]

I think it just means change. In The Grapes of Wrath, the sharecroppers are chased off their land by tractors - so maybe the Joads will come back from California, tip over the tractors, and set back to farming. One thing is for sure, we'll all shake our heads about how we wasted fuel 'cruising' and wasted electricity to dry our clothes.

[gillisledoux007]

The Sun has been the only source of energy that powered all the photosynthesis that ever happened on the little rock we call home, the earth, for a very, very long time. If the people in power cared about the future they would switch the whole military-industrial complex budget towards R&D of solar energy and we could surf the Sun's photon waves for about another 5 billion years. That's free electricity,for ever. But capitalism is all about scarcity, not abondant ressources. Can't sell sunshine.

[flangelet]

It is no coincidence that the world's population skyrocketed alongside the discovery of more sources of oil and gas.

Once the oil is gone, expect the world's population to subside again.

Food production depends on oil. Where do you think pesticides and fertilizers come from?

The usa is a big country. How you gonna move across it? Walk? Horses?

How are you going to transport food, pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides and goods? Interstate rickshaws towing trailers?

The usa is f*cked!

[hitssquad]

@flangelet "Food production depends on oil. Where do you think pesticides and fertilizers come from?"

Nitrogen fertilizers come from ammonia, which originally came from electricity:

en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ammonia

Nitrogen fertilizers do not come from oil, and even if they did it wouldn't have any relevance since they can be produced by nuclear power.

[philjamprimate]

@hitssquad

electricity is a carrier, not a source i.e. you still need to burn something in order to produce.

nuclear power is also a limited resource - uranium is extremely expensive to mine and hazardous to life in general.

[hitssquad]

@philjamprimate "electricity is a carrier, not a source i.e. you still need to burn something in order to produce."

So, you're saying the hydroelectric power-plants, that have been making nitrate fertilizers for a century, burn stuff? What are they burning?

en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ammonia

"Prior to the advent of cheap natural gas, hydrogen as a precursor to ammonia production was produced via the electrolysis of water [e.g.] The Vemork 60 MW hydroelectric plant in Norway, constructed in 1911"

[handyted101]

Aaaaahh its news like this that reminds me that the future's bright if your an engineer :D Who else will make your machines use less energy. We'll be celebrities lol.

[BlowinUPinMIA]

8,000 views on something important, 1 million views of eminem getting Tbagged at the MTV awards...so not really surprised that we are eventually doomed....to many stupid people in the world

[impalanick]

haha so true. we're f**cked...

[handyted101]

Too many stupid people using up my fucking oil lol. In all seriousness theres a huge number of people out there existing just to exist like bacteria and their presence is not helping this problem at all. If we'd controlled to birth rate decades ago we would probably only encounter this problem by around the middle of the 22nd century. I know thats harsh but whats the other option. These people will probably die now in some near war in the future over resources.

[ednuttah]

@BlowinUPinMIA Very true, only 4000 more views in 12 months.Shocking, people are SO inane they will die out due to ignorance and ill education. maybe a drop in the stupid would be a good thing too. imagine a population that is self sufficient AND concerned with the next 100 years as opposed to the next $100.

[sierracuban]

@BlowinUPinMIA I AGREE WITH YOU........HUMANITY IS IN TROUBLE..........I came to the United States from Cuba half a century ago, so maybe because I saw the end of a rich little nation, is why I believe all of this can happen.......We got used to a very ABNORMAL period of cheap energy, and now we face a very different future......We did not know that normal was abnormal.......My father's native Spain now produces 42% of its electricity from wind and solar energy.....Let's do it here !

[drmodestoesq]

Just look at those utterly pointless front lawn. They are emblematic of the amount of energy and space that North Americans spend on such a trivial fetish.

[carefulcarpenter]

Solutions like nuclear energy will depend on a reduction of terrorist threat, and a turn-around in important aspects to community building such as acceptance, tolerance, justice, opportunity for all who seek it. Hoarding is an indication of self-greed and self-importance.

"Blinded by self-importance..... the visionaries of society haven't the vision of a blind musician not the perception of a churchmouse_"

~~carefulcarpenter

[hitssquad]

@carefulcarpenter "Solutions like nuclear energy will depend on a reduction of terrorist threat"

Because nothing else can make a large explosion? How large of an explosion do you think a half-megaton cargo ship full of fertilizer might be able to make?

google. com/search?q=fertilizer+explos­ion

[fireriver29]

This is a great vid to watch in preparation of the collapse of the US economy which according to the secret session of Congress March 2008 will happen at the end of this year. I have started to by seeds, trying to build a wind turbine really cheaply, and protecting my perimeter from looters. Crime is a big concern. Lots of info on UT on how to do all of what I have mentioned. We are running late start now!

[Cyrus992]

At least there is one bright side...

NEW URBANSIM WILL BE DOMINANT!!!!

NO MORE OF THAT UGLY, DISFUNCTIONAL, DEPRESSING, UNHEALTHY "SUBURBIA" STUFF WE LIVE THAT LACKS SENSE OF COMMUNITY, CHARACTER, & CULTURE THAT IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, COSTLY, AND JAMMED WITH CARS!!!!???

New Urbanism reduces the need for driving where we could SAVE OUR RESOURCES ON BETTER THINGS!!!!!

Beautiful Architecture and Design Here We Come!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hazzer777]

Who is going to grow the food if we all live in cities? There will be no machines to do the work for us they run on OIL!

[Cyrus992]

good point but do you think where are going to live?

[angelcruzpr]

We are ALL inmensely valuable as Human Beings. The fact is we could have planned 30 years ago to be in good shape right now, but we did'nt.

Brazil did plan and win!

We still have a thin but real alternative: Wind, Solar, Biofuels from Agae, Hydrogen Cars like the Honda FCX, Plug-In Hybrids like the next generation of Prius.

I takes an america aware of the facts and down to earth political leadership at the top.

We all have to scream for this.

[SoCal4LifeSD]

the fact of the matter is, our human population is at 6.7 billion for one reason -- because of oil. without oil, you cannot conveniently ship/fly/float food to all places around the world. you cannot drive to work, drive to the supermarket, the list goes on. this can only mean one thing -- in the period following peak oil, the human population will die down to sustainable levels. sad but true, lets not be in denial

[FunnyDigestion]

It does seem logical.

[rubis945]

Very interesting - who's to say that the media are emphasising more about Global Warming to cover up the possibility that we're past Peak Oil . . . I'm starting my own veg garden soon myself actually - as thanks to higher oil prices our food shopping here in the UK costs more - especially as we import a lot but are too lazy to produce our own stuff.

[falcon010216]

well done. carry on

[paulr888]

There is no question we will see major changes in life style, but many of them will be positive. We have drifted away from a natural, more healthy life style which we now have a chance to regain. Working with your children in a backyard vegetable garden is much better for everyone concerned than cruising the mall to buy more things, most of which we don't really need. By de-emphasizing the car culture, we have a chance to become re-introduced to our neighbors.

[AnArticulateTroll]

An extreme view?

[kingughidora]

Let's point out some examples of the extreme view. Nowhere in this guy's commentary was there any hope.

1. No accounting for the fluidity of the global supply and demand curve for all commodities. Assumption that demand curve will continue to grow. Maybe India and China wont afford it at $300/bl.

2. No accounting for invention.

3. Assumption that people will behave at their worst regarding social calamity.

4. Proclaiming that global warming will get worse while oil usage declines.

[daninbigd]

China and India are in a better place to afford higher prices than western countries. The US is in dept and can only borrow money now, while China rolls in all money the world spends on its cheap stuff.

While it's fine to put hope in technology to solve it, that is just hope, not promise.

Some predictions will come true and others won't. But the world cannot permanently sustain 6.7 billion human beings who all want to live like Americans. Nature is going to force a solution on us someday.

[kingughidora]

I hear you, but the Wal-Mart economy, supplied by the Chinese goods, is predicated on cheap oil.

I for one will welcome more localized production and less globalization with its race to the bottom.

I'm just trying to figure out who is going to fuel my Hummer. ;-) Let the third world quit trying to be like us. There's not enough for all of us.

[guruofgroovers]

Hope wont save us.

1.our entire world economy is not only based on growth but is dependant on growth. Who would invest in a market that wasnt going to grow?

2.You can reinvent the world but how can you build it without cheap oil?

3.Regardless of how us as individuals behave, we are all pawns in the greater political chess game, political leaders will fight to the death for the ideology and prosperity of there own country.

4. There's trilloins of barrels of oil left, enough to cook us

[DFORCE1969]

C-span;worthy but lets be honest viewed by a handful of the worlds total population;Broadband internet has opened up knowledge & debate on a global scale;This conversation being an example!

(I'm in the UK ,I presume you're in America?)

[DFORCE1969]

People scoff at the internet;That its just a haven for conspiracy theorists;Yet Peak oil

info could be found here ,from many diverse sources for at least 5 years;Whose scoffing now,corporate sheep? Baaa,if its not on Fox, CNN or the BBc its not true or worth thinking about...

[peebeebaynut]

What are you talking about? Roscoe Bartlett put Peak Oil on the boob tube years ago. OK, it was C-SPAN but that was just where things started (more or less.)  Now watch?v=rh6x9gA2u-A

[Luna12Z]

Scary... but sometimes ....when people hear the truth they tend to go into denial

[OperationCrossroad]

CBC rocks!

[ricelso]

"It's an extreme view..." Correction: was an extreme view. I would say it is a rather realistic view.

[tsharpoon]

Kunstler is the real deal - Check out Matt Simmons if you are still a sceptic regarding peak oil.