You know, I think these little buggers have potential for the next source of oil. http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=specialsections&sc=biofuels&id=19128&a= By the sound of that article, these little guys got us covered. Derek tw wrote: > I Definitely agree with you on the increasing consumption bit. I just > foresee us developing new methods of drilling, new ways to use oil and > even new methods of creating it. > > They're looking at taking the converting the hundred+ meter deep seabed > into oil even. > > I think it will decline and it will be used less for things like cars > and trains and more for things like planes + space transit in the future > which will also help. I think that even at current rates they'd find > ways to get more but I don't see that happening. > > Oil doesn't make much sense for cars or electricity past the next 10-20 > years at all. Assuming that people embrace technology, that is. > > Aaron > > On Sun, 2008-03-30 at 21:39 -0500, GreyGeek wrote: > >> tw wrote: Make no mistake, oil/natural gas isn't going anywhere. It's a >> verygood fuel source for many applications. There's enough to last for >> centuries at current rates. >> Centuries? Hardly. >> >> In 1974 my wife and I experienced the Arab Oil embargo. Teaching in a rural >> HS at the time, and being the 2nd HIGHEST paid teacher in the school, I was >> bringing home $700/month. We lived out in the country and used Propane to >> heat and cook with, which was stored in our rented 500 gal Propane tank. >> ThePropane supplier usually filled it to 400 gal, or 80%, to allow for heat >> expansion, even in the winter. The problem was that the price of Propane >> hadrisen from 27 cents/gal and was selling for $1.50/gal. The farm house we >> rented was built in 1887 and was uninsulated. I had to fill that Propane >> tank almost every 4 or 5 weeks between November and April. It took $600, >> leaving only $100 to live on for the rest of the month. That's why I hunted >> for meat, and worked on weekends. It got so expensive that I installed a >> wood burning stove and cut wood twice a week. We heated with wood for 7 >> years, until I quit teaching and began my computer consulting business. >> Nowto my point: To calm public fear the Oil companies ran a nation wide ad >> in 1973 claiming that there "was no energy shortage" and **at the present >> rate of consumption** we had 600 years of Coal and Oil left. The high >> priceswere simple a "supply" problem, but the Oil companies didn't mind >> making RECORD profits on it, just like the Oil companies are doing today. >> >> Then, came the 1987 energy crisis which triggered "Black Friday" on the >> stockmarkets. The Oil companies again placed another nation wide add >> explaining that there "was no energy shortage" and at the **present rate of >> consumption** we had 200 years of Coal and Oil left. >> >> Now, BOTH of those statements and estimates were true at the time, even >> though misleading. Now, 20 years later, that 200 years has evaporated and >> we believe that the world will be deep into the down side of Oil within 40 >> years or less. The problem with those statements is that they MISREPRESENT >> the fact that the rate of consumption is NOT a constant, but is constantly >> increasing. That's why we could loose 550 years of Coal and Oil in only 35 >> years. Not only is the RATE at which 1st world countries are consuming oil >> INCREASING, more and more countries are wanting the life style that comes >> with using energy at that rate, so the rate of increase is also increasing >> because there are MORE people demanding Coal, Oil and Gas and they want to >> burn it at the same rate per capita as the West does. >> >> Here is a primer on exponential growth rates related to population and >> fossilfuel consumption: >> http://www.npg.org/specialreports/bartlett_index.htm[1] >> "Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy Crisis" >> >> A good measure of oil production and consumption is the one often used by >> theoil industry. (I was an analytical chemist for Bradford Labs, a >> subsidiary of the Calgon Corporation, out of an office in Abilene, Tx in the >> early and mid 1960s. Bradford serviced the oil production companies.) It >> is"yield per foot drilled". In the early part of the 20th century, US oil >> production was about 4,000 barrels of Oil per foot drilled. Now it is less >> than one, meaning it is costing more in energy to drill for oil than the >> costof the oil produced. The following read describes how our oil was >> found,developed and produced, and how much of it we have left. >> http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lqC4EpDyo6QJ:rationalangle.blogspot.com/ >> 2008/01/deepwater-oil-production-key-to >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -supply.html+barrels+oil+per+foot+drilled&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us&client=fir >> -a[2] >> >> The WHOLE problem is POPULATION: >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdOk521m9WA[3] >> >> >> >> >> >> --- Links --- >> 1 http://www.npg.org/specialreports/bartlett_index.htm >> 2 >> http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lqC4EpDyo6QJ:rationalangle.blogspot.com/2008/01/deepwater-oil-production-key-to-supply.html+barrels+oil+per+foot+drilled&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us&client=firefox-a >> 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdOk521m9WA >> >> ---- >> Husker Linux Users Group mailing list >> To unsubscribe, send a message to huskerlug-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> with a subject of UNSUBSCRIBE >> >> >> > > > ---- > Husker Linux Users Group mailing list > To unsubscribe, send a message to huskerlug-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > with a subject of UNSUBSCRIBE > > > ---- Husker Linux Users Group mailing list To unsubscribe, send a message to huskerlug-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of UNSUBSCRIBE