The end of the Fossil Fuel era is upon us so what are we going to do next-?

[Twilight Hue]

I've always liked the idea of using orbiting solar panels to gather energy from the Sun then have it beamed down to receiving stations on the ground.

Wonder what happened to the flying solar wing? For awhile, it was talked about as being a viable and cheaper alternative to satellites.

 

[Iti oj]

33 years left?

That's interesting, 30 years ago when I was at school, we only had 15 years left! How many 'experts' predicted the global glut of oil we have now?!

The miracles fuels of the future are oil, gas and coal. The only shortages ever faced were 100% political in nature, 0% geological. I don't see this changing.


The market for battery operated cars peaked over 100 years ago before the superior technology of combustion engines made them redundant. The technological gap has been widening ever since.

Many golf courses that used to use electric carts for convenient starting, have gone to gasoline engines now we have electronic ignition instead of fickle carbs.

If electric cars can't compete here, even with massive subsidies... I don't see much of a viable future

Oil has massive subsides

 

[Parsimony]

Wonder what happened to the flying solar wing? For awhile, it was talked about as being a viable and cheaper alternative to satellites.

I'm not sure if I've heard of that or not, but one disadvantage I can think of would be that it would require at least some portion of its collected energy to keep itself flying whereas a satellite would not (except for the occasional "boost" when its orbit decays past a certain point).

 

[fantome profane]

Hydrogen.

And how do you propose we produce this hydrogen?

 

[Quagmire]

And how do you propose we produce this hydrogen?

Since all that's involved is taking water and separating the hydrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules, I think the most practical approach would be employing vast teams of very small people with tweezers.

Alternately:

From water[edit]
Main article: Water splitting
Many technologies have been explored but it should be noted that as of 2007 "Thermal, thermochemical, biochemical and photochemical processes have so far not found industrial applications."[6] High temperature electrolysis of alkaline solutions has been used for the industrial scale production of hydrogen (see Sable Chemicals) and there are now a number of small scale polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis units available commercially.[17][18][19]

Electrolysis[edit]
Main article: Electrolysis of water
Electrolysis consists of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This source of hydrogen is by far the most expensive since the energy input required for water splitting is higher than the energy that could be obtained from the produced hydrogen. Due to their use of water, a readily available resource, electrolysis and similar water-splitting methods have attracted the interest of the scientific community. With the objective of reducing the cost of hydrogen production, renewable sources of energy have been targeted to allow electrolysis.[14] There are three main types of cells, solid oxide electrolysis cells(SOECs), polymer electrolyte membrane cells (PEM) and alkaline electrolysis cells (AECs).[20] SOECs operate at high temperatures, typically around 800 °C. At these high temperatures a significant amount of the energy required can be provided as thermal energy (heat), and as such is termed High temperature electrolysis. The heat energy can be provided from a number of different sources, including waste industrial heat, nuclear power stations or concentrated solar thermal plants. This has the potential to reduce the overall cost of the hydrogen produced by reducing the amount of electrical energy required for electrolysis.[4][21][22][23] PEM electrolysis cells typically operate below 100 °C and are becoming increasingly available commercially.[4] These cells have the advantage of being comparatively simple and can be designed to accept widely varying voltage inputs which makes them ideal for use with renewable sources of energy such as solar PV.[24] AECs optimally operate at high concentrations electrolyte (KOH or potassium carbonate) and at high temperatures, often near 200 °C.

 

[muhammad_isa]

Since all that's involved is taking water and separating the hydrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules, I think the most practical approach would be employing vast teams of very small people with tweezers.

Mmm .. I would have thought that the amount of energy one needs to separate hydrogen from water makes it rather pointless

 

[jonathan180iq]

At some point the world will decide to invest money into the power source that has made our entire existence possible, the Sun.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

It seems to me there's enough hot air for all of energy needs, forever. The only challenge is in figuring out how to utilize it effectively.

 

[Revoltingest]

The next step is to just continue over-populating the planet, &
wiping out all the natural flora & fauna....you know you wanna!

 

[Revoltingest]

At some point the world will decide to invest money into the power source that has made our entire existence possible, the Sun.

Did you know that thing is really really radioactive?
& it puts out lots'o harmful UV rays.

 

[MD]

Did you know that thing is really really radioactive?
& it puts out lots'o harmful UV rays.

Which radioactive element has the shortest half life? Are there any reactors which can be fueled by elements with a short half life, which would make them relatively safer than uranium or plutonium?

 

[fantome profane]

Since all that's involved is taking water and separating the hydrogen molecules from the oxygen molecules, I think the most practical approach would be employing vast teams of very small people with tweezers.

Alternately:

lol.

But the point is you still need some way of producing electricity.

 

[Quagmire]

lol.

But the point is you still need some way of producing electricity.

Hydrogen powered generators!!!

It makes sense if you don't think about it too hard.

 

[VioletVortex]

Finally! We will run out of oil and stop polluting our atmosphere with it. Maybe society will destroy itself over the last drop.

I think that solar power is the best source of energy. Why? It's cheaper and more efficient on a large scale, it isn't dependent on the wind, and it involves less maintenance.

Keep in mind that wind power actually requires petroleum to lubricate the system.

Another issue with wind power is that to power a city, an entire field of turbines is required. It would be quite difficult for an individual to put a turbine in his backyard. Solar panels are a lot more convenient for personal use.

 

[Revoltingest]

Which radioactive element has the shortest half life? Are there any reactors which can be fueled by elements with a short half life, which would make them relatively safer than uranium or plutonium?

I know nuthing about nucular psychics.

 

[MD]

I know nuthing about nucular psychics.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Oil has massive subsides

Energy companies receive vast subsidies for 'green' industry dabbling yes. Why do you thing they are so keen on it? For the wealth creating oil sector of business though, no. Unless you are referring to business tax deductions perhaps?

By that definition of subsidy, if a guy mugs me on the street, takes 200 dollars, and throws me back a dime. He's subsidizing me.

Global warmers are often well meaning people, but they are invariably as illiterate economically as scientifically.

 

[james dixon]

I’m 67 and my two sons have children as well. They will not see the great change that is coming. But their children’s children will be riding horses unless we get our act together now. Such a change takes time to come full circle. I can only pray that we are given the time we as a people need

-

 

[james dixon]

I think we will go to less efficient and dirtier energy sources, like coal. Or maybe nuclear will lose its stigma.

Coal is finite, it's going going then gone. Nuclear is the future. Maybe we can use the nuclear energy in our atomic bomb stockpile. This could give us the lead time we need

-

 

[muhammad_isa]

Coal is finite, it's going going then gone..

Yes, I agree .. the problem is us .. we want more and more. Och!