Peak Oil, Peak Coal, and Beyond

Peak Moment 63: Hot topics from Richard Heinberg: record-high U.S. fuel prices; the ethanol big-business boondoggle; coal projected to peak about a hundred years early (around 2020); what the climate change discussion is missing; and the benefits of "going local." [www.richardheinberg.com]

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• peak
• oil
• coal
• gasoline
• prices
• ethanol
• climate
• change

[1981busch]

Peak oil, well lets put it this way. Peak Oil adds another large factor to the Drake Equation, one that earth, coincidentally, does not likely meet.

[peakmoment]

@1981busch, please say more about what you mean. From wikipedia: "Drake suggested that a large number of extraterrestrial civilizations would form [in the Milky Way Galaxy], but that the lack of evidence of such civilizations (the Fermi paradox) suggests that technological civilizations tend to disappear rather quickly....This theory stimulates an interest in identifying ways in which humanity could destroy itself, and then counters with hopes of avoiding such destruction..."

[KrunchyJD]

Im not sure why no one seems to talk much of an old friend, the common bicycle, and how it is one solution, particularly for short distances, and has the added benefit of reducing obesity, and improving health.

[peakmoment]

@KrunchyJD, so right! Peak Moment's episode 17 is "The Joy of Biking". For those with health or terrain challenges, we also have episode 40, "Go Electric: Bike Commuting Made Easy." It's not the solution for everybody (e.g., we live on mountainous gravel roads, lots of up and down, so it's not really biking terrain) -- but it is for many more people than now bike.

[smerlinbabylon]

It's not Americans which suddenly would need more oil. It's about the economical growth of China and India which places such a huge demand on oil, that in about 5 years the demand of oil is more then the supply. Society as we know it will change. Better enjoy it while we still can.

[1981busch]

@peakmoment Ok, the drake equation is something like, the number of stars capable of having planets/the number of stars that have planets that can sustain life/ the number of planets that develop intelligent life... ect, I purpose the addition of the factor, The number of planets that develop fossil fuels/the number of planets that develop enough fossil fuels to enable advancement to surpass there dependency... this seems to explain a lot of the drake equations paradox, unfortunately.

[rdsanchez1966]

@mycatisromeo That is why the coal companies are using mountain top removal in w. Virginia. All the easy low hanging fruit has been picked be it oil, nat gas, coal, et al. Forget Peak Oil it is peak everything. This is why we are drilling deeper in the Gulf of Mexico, why we are in Iraq, why we are threatening Iran, why Palin wants to drill in ANWR, etc. When the pieces of the puzzle come together you see a scary picture.

[DaFuckyouat]

@peakmoment War is natural check on population. The problem with a prolonged period of increasing living standards among human is that population starts to rise dramatically. Exponential population growth is a disaster waiting to happen for humans AND the enviornment. Humans consume too much for the planet to support 10 billion of us. Humans will continue consuming to the point that there will be nothing left for humans in the future or there will be war among humans.

[absentmindedprof]

Sadly, this era's politicians lack the spine to ask citizens to make the sacrifices that will be needed to get off fossil fuels, and, by and large, most people don't have the willingness to make sacrifices for future generations. The kind of will to make collective changes that made the generation that fought World War II the greatest generation would seem to be sadly lacking in today's citizenry. At least here in the states.

[KrunchyJD]

@gabbe81 Yes, and NO, We need to design our cities and housing, so that people can live close to work. When you dont design a city around the car, distances are shorter, and you just let car traffic get into gridlock. Then people discover, that getting to work is quicker on a bike.

[KrunchyJD]

Im from Australia, and we have, a similar problem to the USA, Suburbain sprawl. The problem with suburban sprawl, is that it promotes motor vehicle dependency. City design is something that can encourage people to use more efficient and less oil using transport, such as riding a bicycle, or catching an ellectric train. I watched a show called the end of suburbia, and it confirmed what I always thought (suburbia as an idea is stupid.