Oil gone in 2070

[Jimmy]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone. That's a pretty short time. Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event? Other than trying to extend the life of oil and making new forms of energy which are great maybe another good starting point might be not to build skyscrapers we don't need or knock down buildings that don't need knocking down and illiminating the hundreds of different kinds of shampoos we use. Start simplifying things gradually over time. Haven't we been aware of this prediction for a while now? Since then I've seen a lot more growth than dialing back.

 

[Terry Sampson]

Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event?

Raising horses, donkeys, mules, and camels.

 

[Vinayaka]

I have a friend working at a refinery here in Canada. They are currently making the alterations necessary to make bio-diesel, as there is a government mandated 20 % of production. Canola farmers are happy.

 

[columbus]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone.

Back in the 70s, all the world's oil reserves were going to run out in 20 years.
Us old people remember that stuff.
Tom

 

[BSM1]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone. That's a pretty short time. Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event? Other than trying to extend the life of oil and making new forms of energy which are great maybe another good starting point might be not to build skyscrapers we don't need or knock down buildings that don't need knocking down and illiminating the hundreds of different kinds of shampoos we use. Start simplifying things gradually over time. Haven't we been aware of this prediction for a while now? Since then I've seen a lot more growth than dialing back.

You do realize there is oil that has not been discovered or tapped as of yet....

 

[Jimmy]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone. That's a pretty short time. Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event?

You do realize there is oil that has not been discovered or tapped as of yet....

You do realize there is oil that has not been discovered or tapped as of yet....

I do. That's why I wrote it's estimated ....

 

[sun rise]

You do realize there is oil that has not been discovered or tapped as of yet....

That's one question.

Further, one of the problems I have with estimates like the OP is there's no details just a headline. What is the date based on? Proven reserves? No further progress in solar panels and electric cars? No fusion power breakthrough? Worldwide ban on shale oil extraction? Pre-pandemic consumption?

 

[Jimmy]

That's one question.

Further, one of the problems I have with estimates like the OP is there's no details just a headline. What is the date based on? Proven reserves? No further progress in solar panels and electric cars? No fusion power breakthrough? Worldwide ban on shale oil extraction? Pre-pandemic consumption?

Yeah I had to make a catchy headline. Oh yeah I realize there's all sorts of factors and so did the articles that I read but I was just trying to get people's ideas on how we could prepare for such a thing but I guess we might have to just be surprised by it, unfortunately, if we can never really know when we will run out

 

[Valjean]

You do realize there is oil that has not been discovered or tapped as of yet....

True, but should it be tapped? Access to these more difficult to access sites entails considerable ecological risk.
There are alternatives.

 

[Jimmy]

True, but should it be tapped? Access to these more difficult to access sites entails considerable ecological risk.
There are alternatives.

Well they will probably tap it when the time comes right? And then what? Well since we don't even know how much oil is left I guess we're gonna have to be surprised unfortunately

 

[Father Heathen]

No worries, most of us here will be dead by then.

But seriously, 50 years is a generous window to develop and transition to greener tech, specially taking into consideration what we already have available today.

 

[Jimmy]

No worries, most of us here will be dead by then.

But seriously, 50 years is a generous window to develop and transition to greener tech, specially taking into consideration what we already have available today.

Well that's a little hope

 

[Valjean]

Well they will probably tap it when the time comes right? And then what? Well since we don't even know how much oil is left I guess we're gonna have to be surprised unfortunately

Not necessarily. If the price of an alternative energy source falls lower than a fossil source it would no longer be economically sensible to tap a fossil source.
Or:
If the cost of externalities from fossil fuel becomes prohibitive -- and can no longer be quietly swept under the rug or shifted to taxpayers -- alternatives become the cheaper option.

 

[sun rise]

Yeah I had to make a catchy headline. Oh yeah I realize there's all sorts of factors and so did the articles that I read but I was just trying to get people's ideas on how we could prepare for such a thing but I guess we might have to just be surprised by it, unfortunately, if we can never really know when we will run out

Fortunately technology is lowering the cost of solar such as perovskite solar cells, increasing sales of electric cars due to increasing range and so forth.

 

[danieldemol]

Back in the 70s, all the world's oil reserves were going to run out in 20 years.
Us old people remember that stuff.
Tom

Do you think that just because the estimated dates where wrong in the past that we will never run out?

If you agree they will eventually run out we surely should begin planning for it.

 

[exchemist]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone. That's a pretty short time. Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event? Other than trying to extend the life of oil and making new forms of energy which are great maybe another good starting point might be not to build skyscrapers we don't need or knock down buildings that don't need knocking down and illiminating the hundreds of different kinds of shampoos we use. Start simplifying things gradually over time. Haven't we been aware of this prediction for a while now? Since then I've seen a lot more growth than dialing back.

We'll have stopped using oil as fuel long before then in any case, due to the imperative to arrest climate change. So I don't think we need worry too much about it running out. (Also, you don't mention natural gas, I notice. Anything you can make from oil, you can also in principle make from methane.)

As far as "preparation" goes, surely it hasn't escaped your notice that huge strides are being made in both electricity generation and transport, to move away from relying on fossil fuel? The world is also slowly waking up to the damage from pollution with plastics, which is another major use of oil. So alternatives to that too are coming along.

We should not be complacent, as there's a long way to go, but the direction of travel is already clear and the technical solutions already exist.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I wish we stopped using oil today, it has harmed the planet enough

 

[ChristineM]

It's estimated that in 50 years that all the worlds oil will be gone. That's a pretty short time. Is there anything we can start doing now to prepare for this global event? Other than trying to extend the life of oil and making new forms of energy which are great maybe another good starting point might be not to build skyscrapers we don't need or knock down buildings that don't need knocking down and illiminating the hundreds of different kinds of shampoos we use. Start simplifying things gradually over time. Haven't we been aware of this prediction for a while now? Since then I've seen a lot more growth than dialing back.

From my earliest memories in the 1970s i recall doom and gloom predictions of how oil will be exhausted in 20 or 30 years.

Now, close on 50 years after those predictions they are still predicting oil will be exhausted in 30 years. I wonder where they will find the next reservoirs?


France has decreed that new hydrocarbon fuelled vehicles cannot be sold after 2040. The UK followed suit a few months later?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

From my earliest memories in the 1970s i recall doom and gloom predictions of how oil will be exhausted in 20 or 30 years.

Now, close on 50 years after those predictions they are still predicting oil will be exhausted in 30 years. I wonder where they will find the next reservoirs?

Not started on the reserves in the Arctic or Antarctic yet and barely touched those in the south china sea.
The wastes of Russia hold more Oil and Gas than they could ever exploit.

 

[ChristineM]

Not started on the reserves in the Arctic or Antarctic yet and barely touched those in the south china sea.
The wastes of Russia hold more Oil and Gas than they could ever exploit.

And that's only what is known about. The oceans are big and hardly been explored