friggon liberal trying to help the planet, sheish.

 

Me too!!

Actually the automobile industry is not where conservation should be concentrating anyhow...we have jets, rockets, huge ships, trains and construction equipment (to name a few) that burn up millions of gallons a day. If the government wants to talk fuel economy why don't they require the manufacturers of those items to build more efficient machines? Maybe they do but I watch programs on Discovery all the time about big machines and they sound almost proud when they tell you how many gallons of fuel it sucks down.

In any case, I'm not overly worried about the dire predictions that we're running out of oil...they are making advances every day toward alternatives and by 2055 there should be an acceptable form of fuel as a replacement.

 

we also have to ask who is telling us that we are running out of oil?

The oil companies and oil producing countries.

Why?

To keep the price above $30 a barrel.

 

I had heard that the Saudi's were saying they were on the downward slide for oil production. If that is true it only took them what 50 years to use it up.

Even with the untapped "oil spills" the figure of 2055 seems a little long, IF the Saudi's are truthful. If you figure the demand is doing nothing but going up I think the oil will be gone sooner.

I say let's use it up. That way the environment will have time to repair itself before my kid has to deal with it. I also believe we will have some form of alternative energy before the oil runs out.

 

An Advanced Placement Chemistry Final gone bad:

My senior year of high school I built an old 5 HP Briggs & Stratton that ran off of bottled hydrogen with a few parts around the garage and the fabrication help of my father. It ran to my amazement. But it was very hard to throttle and would take of pretty easily. The only way to shut it down was to pull the spark plug out of the head.

Well I brought the contraption to school to demonstrate the use of alternative fuels. We had pretty big demonstration in front of all the chemistry and physics classes as well as faculty. I started my presentation by familiarizing the audience with IC engines and the reaction when H2 is ignited in the presence of O2. Then I unveiled my engine. Started and ran pretty well, the audience clapped and then the thing blew the head off. A nice chunk of aluminum landed on the floor with a Clunk! There is no silence like having 150 of your peers stare at you after a flame show.

Even after being humiliated, I feel that hydrogen power can save our beloved IC engines. And generating hydrogen can be as simple as electrolysis. To provide that kind of electric power, I feel that massive solar panels with photoelectric cells can produce the power we need. Just think if every rooftop has these panels. Could you image the power generated?

Back to the lab Geeves! And bring my fuzzy slippers!

 

I know this is an old subject, but when it was new, I remembered reading an article about the source of oil. It definitely puts a different spin on the source of all the world's oil. I finally quit procrastinating and searched for the article. http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...il_991213.html It is interesting reading.

Dave

 

Good news: if an Asteroid hits us, we may have more oil.

Bad news: We'll all be dead.


Pretty much everything I've read they're saying we've got another 50 years or so left going at the rate we are now. This means we're going to have major changes in vehicles fuel sources in OUR lifetimes. We're just putting off the inevitable.

I did just see a program where they had a car powered by lithium Ion batterys that totally Killed a Dodge Viper in the 1/4 mile and even the military is exploring hybrid powered Hummers. The future's not looking That bad I guess...

 

i've been reading a couple new bits of research saying that old tapped wells have been found to be renewed with new oil after 10-15 years, leading some peopel to believe that oil may be partially renewable.

 

Boys and Girls

Before we all get carried away and think that internal combustions engines will die away, don't forget that diesels can run on just about any oil. You can take the vegatable oil that you cook Freedom Fries in and run it with decent filtration.
Gas engines will happily run on Ethanol, another fuel derived from plants.
I think we will all be trucking about for few years to come yet.

Mind you, as an Oil Industry employee, don't tell anyone I said that.

 

The fact that Indy cars run on methanol says it all, the technology to build high performance engines that use alternative fuels is already here there just isn't a push to use it yet. I'm confident that in the long run we'll all still be driving around in pick ups powered by some sort of organic and still be enjoying high HP and a satisfying sounds of exhaust. Can't you get a better compression ratio out of methanol/ ethanol too?

 

I saw that same show and that was amazing…


I do believe in time, I would estimate in the next 10 – 15 years we will see more hybrid type vehicles. The type that use a combination of electricity and some kind of fuel, gas, propane etc to actually get the vehicle up and running and then to assist in keeping the batteries charged.

I really do not foresee a completely battery powered vehicle in our life time due to many constraints. The most specific one of actually being able to keep a charge long and the resources necessary to recharge them.

When you think about it seriously the electric car is really no better for the environment then a gasoline powered vehicle. They will both waste about as much resources let alone think about the major hazardous waste caused by electric vehicles (all those lead batteries) and yes many tons of those batteries would find themselves into land fills or buried in someone’s back yard.

Anyway as I have always maintained we have absolutely NOTHING to worry about as far as running out of oil. It is here for the distant future. We will be dead, our kids, our grandkids and great grandkids will all be gone before oil is actually gone forever if ever.

Every time someone comes along and makes a claim of running out of oil based on the then current technology they ALWAYS get it wrong. This time they are wrong as well. There’s a few hundred more years of oil if not much longer…

So fuel them up and drive them if you got them…

 

and don't forget about synthetic oil.

http://www.fe.doe.gov/aboutus/histor...s_history.html