Here's a scary thought

[kevin1]

Has oil hit it's peak?

Study: 'Peak Oil' Will Be Reached by 2018
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

By Melinda Wenner
AP

Global oil production will peak sometime between next year and 2018 and then decline, according to a controversial new model developed by a Swedish physicist.

Since 1956, when American geophysicist M. King Hubbert correctly predicted that U.S. oil reserves would hit a peak within 20 years, experts have debated when the same might occur globally.

Some oil companies and consultancy firms such as Cambridge Energy Research Associates speculate that oil will peak sometime after 2020, but a number of oil geologists and executives predict it will happen much sooner.

We're already feeling the pinch, and demand is increasing worldwide, how long will it be until we see $10 per gallon gas? Maybe as little as 11 years it seems. [&:]

[Red Lion]

That will be the time that I am riding a horse, biking or walking if no solid/cheaper alternatives are available.

[brushbustin]

Glad i bought my dads horses from him.He will begging for me to let him borrow one.And ill be the first to tell him,that he should not have sold them and I TOLD YOU SO!! He will like that..

[Champlain Islander]

By then I'll probably be in a wheel chair and operate on arm power

[MountainHunter]

Here's what's really scary that I don't hear anyone talk about: Even if we find another source of fuel for cars, there are LOTS of things that are made from petroleum products. Like plastics. Now, just think fora second: What do we make almostall of these lightweight materials from that we use to get good gas mileage, etc.? Plastics. Also can anyone envision a fuel cell powered jet? What will happen to air travel? How will that affect international business, migration patterns, tourism, shipping of perishables (life-saving organs, etc.).

This is a big deal, folks.

[Red Lion]

We have the technology to efficiently recycle plastics, but would have to have major stepping-up in order to make it work. The point about airtravel is a good point though.

[Northwind~]

I suggest that people read into thermal depolymerization. It is a process to reduce pretty much any waste product short of radioactive materials into basic useful materials. It has been proven to work on a small scale and ConAgra has invested in a full scale model that is nearly complete. Just something to look in to. I think it is a very exciting prospect that has the potential to solve so many of our problems if it ever got off the ground.

I went fishing the other day and my outboard just started malfunctioning as if it weren't getting enough gas. It turns out that the engine was basically flooded with water. You wouldn't even be able to start a fire with the stuff that was in there. Apparently it is from the ethanol in the gas, which attatches to the water or something. At least that is what I have been told. The mechanic that I took my boat to said that about a third of the work they have now are fuel related problems. I had to go looking around to find a place that had gas without any ethanol. That was about $4.00 a gallon, and will probably be around $5.00 by the summer. In Europe they are already paying outrageous amounts for gas. I think its time to kick our @$$es into gear, so to speak and figure something out.

[MountainHunter]

A lot of plastics cannot be recycled (the primary ones that can be recylced, at least for use in foods and other consumer containers, are PET and HDPE, especially homopolymer HDPE). And a lot of plastics cannot be produced by recycling.