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Robert Rapier: The Scientific Challenges To Replacing Oil with Renewables (Improved Audio)

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Uploaded by on Nov 30, 2011

This podcast was presented on November 26, 2011

So, assuming the Peak Oil camp is on to something, what's the likelihood for a disruption-free transition to another energy source that can replace the energy output we currently enjoy from oil? There's no shortage of promising claims from new laboratory experiments, and there is a lot of optimism in political and entrepreneurial circles that renewable, alternative forms of energy (wind, solar, biofuels, etc) may be able to fill the "energy gap" in time. How realistic are these hopes?

Not very, says Robert Rapier, energy specialist and Chief Technology Officer of Merica International.

The problem is one of return on invested energy. It is extremely difficult to create fuels with the same energy-density Nature has concocted over thousands of millennia without using up as much (or more) energy in the process.

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  • How many old oil fields are capped and shut down because it wasn't economical to keep producing the field with a $30 or $40/barrel of oil could potentially be reopened and brought back on line if oil is say $120/bl and the gov could guarantee a floor through some tax plan or something of $120/bl?

  • @ChrisMartensondotcom what was wrong with the sound? This one sounds exactly the same as this one? watch?v=MnZCXnisifw&lc & all comments are lost

    Why doesn't this guy mention anaerobic digesters? The bio-gas methane from Anaerobic Digesters is a much better & more plentiful source of fuel than ethanol.

    Ethanol is a stupid waste of land.

    Anaerobic Digesters also have the benefit of making 'Digestate' as a by-product... which can be used as a fertiliser to grow more crops.

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