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

[Brickjectivity]

Solar panels and batteries are being studied heavily by corporations and universities. Many new technologies are reported each year. There is now something called a 'Super capacitor' which is a capacitor that can substitute for a battery. As the oceans begin to rise, the public -- and the municipalities -- will wake up and switch to solar power, wind turbines and water turbines.

Hydrogen will never become a common fuel unless hydrogen fuel cell batteries improve. As it is they are possibly already outclassed by other battery substitutes. Lithium batteries are the most common, but they have many problems and rely on rare resources. Therefore new kinds of batteries are getting a lot of attention from researchers.

As the oceans rise, the public will begin to resent fossil fuels. It will also become more expensive to produce plastics. Other materials, such as bamboo, will be substituted for many plastic products.

 

[Akivah]

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 believe Thorium is being looked at. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power

 

[MD]

I believe Thorium is being looked at. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power

I remember reading about how thorium is being looked at in high school. I don't think it's as viable as uranium or plutonium.

 

[BSM1]

I wouldn't give pre fracking/pre oil shale mining predictions much credence. There's still oil down there but it's getting more difficult and more environmentally hazardous to extract.
Meanwhile, solar and wind energy are now commercially viable in many regions, despite massive lobbying against them by the established energy industries.

But Global warming is another factor to consider. A century from now we might be back to a few hunting-gathering tribes burning wood.

I have been looking at solar and wind alternatives since the mid 1970's. Neither is cost nor efficiency effective. If they were you would solar/wind power salesmen going door to door.

 

[BSM1]

Hydrogen powered generators!!!

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

Perpetual motion, perhaps?

 

[Akivah]

I remember reading about how thorium is being looked at in high school. I don't think it's as viable as uranium or plutonium.

Well there's always Wood. It grows and replenishes. Or the Sun.

 

[Valjean]

I have been looking at solar and wind alternatives since the mid 1970's. Neither is cost nor efficiency effective. If they were you would solar/wind power salesmen going door to door.

Nobody sells door-to-door anymore, and, despite a massive effort to undermine subsidies and laws favorable to private or community power generation, renewable energy costs continue to decrease, while Big Energy pours millions into anti-renewable lobbying, ALEC legislation, &c.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0
(note solar and wind costs have decreased even further in the two years since this article)

 

[muhammad_isa]

I have been looking at solar and wind alternatives since the mid 1970's. Neither is cost nor efficiency effective. If they were you would solar/wind power salesmen going door to door.

Solar power is becoming cost-effective as fossil fuels increase in price. One can at the very least use a heat pump to heat water and space. Solar cells are not the only way of harnessing solar energy

 

[Wirey]

Speaking as an electrical engineer who works in the oil industry, I can assure you that within the next 20 years the advances that will be made in battery and solar technology will put oil down. Not out, but down. There's a group of researchers right now in the Mohave who have discovered a way to use a gallium based gel in a solar cell that will allow it to be almost 1400 % more efficient than the cells we use presently. This isn't 'someday' stuff, this is last February. Also, there are ongoing experiments with how to properly store this energy, and some of the ideas are amazing! There is a system being built right now in Arizona that uses a spiral underground railway to store this energy. During the day, when the excess energy from the grid is being lost, instead it is used to power this train so it climbs up the spiral well. At night, when it gets dark the train begins to descend again. Guess what happens to a DC motor when you forcibly turn it? It becomes a DC generator! That stored energy can then be rebroadcast on the grid.

Oil is a dying technology. Get used. In 20 years owning a fossil fuel powered car will be enough of a rarity to be of note. Full out electric cars are about 10 years away from mainstream.

 

[Ana.J]

I hope corporations will finally give a free light to development of renewable energy technologies.

 

[Revoltingest]

Speaking as an electrical engineer who works in the oil industry, I can assure you that within the next 20 years the advances that will be made in battery and solar technology will put oil down. Not out, but down. There's a group of researchers right now in the Mohave who have discovered a way to use a gallium based gel in a solar cell that will allow it to be almost 1400 % more efficient than the cells we use presently. This isn't 'someday' stuff, this is last February. Also, there are ongoing experiments with how to properly store this energy, and some of the ideas are amazing! There is a system being built right now in Arizona that uses a spiral underground railway to store this energy. During the day, when the excess energy from the grid is being lost, instead it is used to power this train so it climbs up the spiral well. At night, when it gets dark the train begins to descend again. Guess what happens to a DC motor when you forcibly turn it? It becomes a DC generator! That stored energy can then be rebroadcast on the grid.

Oil is a dying technology. Get used. In 20 years owning a fossil fuel powered car will be enough of a rarity to be of note. Full out electric cars are about 10 years away from mainstream.

Energy storage is a big problem.
I don't think spiral wound train tracks will work. (Low energy density per dollar of capital investment.)
So many great ideas have come & gone, eg, hi-tech flywheels in a vacuum, hydrogen generation.

But the market will continually sort our winners de jour, & things will improve.

 

[DawudTalut]

.....
Dividing annual consumption into total reserves gives us 44.9 years of oil supply at the current consumption rate.

That was eleven (11)years ago, we are not changing your habits and this spells doom for us all.

Do you have any suggestions--?

.....

Thank you all for participating in this discussion—

Solar Energy.
Sea waves energy
Atomic energy.
Wind energy.

 

[Wirey]

Energy storage is a big problem.
I don't think spiral wound train tracks will work. (Low energy density per dollar of capital investment.)
So many great ideas have come & gone, eg, hi-tech flywheels in a vacuum, hydrogen generation.

But the market will continually sort our winners de jour, & things will improve.

Actually the trains look like they're be fairly cost effective. And the market always decides who wins.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

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

It was the flora who 'greedily' consumed the finite resource of CO2 in the atmos, without a thought for the future. from 7000 ppm+ in the Cambrian, to a near starvation level 270 ppm pre-industrial. Opening up vast deserts across the planet

Personally I am all for recycling and renewing spent resources, especially the one that actually makes Earth green!

 

[Revoltingest]

Actually the trains look like they're be fairly cost effective. And the market always decides who wins.

They won't run on time.
And what about cows on the tracks?

 

[Wirey]

They won't run on time.
And what about cows on the tracks?

It's underground, silly! The cows will be Morlock cows, and they're afraid of machinery!

 

[Revoltingest]

It was the flora who 'greedily' consumed the finite resource of CO2 in the atmos, without a thought for the future. from 7000 ppm+ in the Cambrian, to a near starvation level 270 ppm pre-industrial. Opening up vast deserts across the planet

Personally I am all for recycling and renewing spent resources, especially the one that actually makes Earth green!

I hear that poison ivy particularly benefits for a CO2 rich atmosphere.
Oh, boy!

 

[Revoltingest]

It's underground, silly! The cows will be Morlock cows, and they're afraid of machinery!

Strong with you the science is!

 

[Wirey]

Strong with you the science is!

Meh, I know about molecules and everything.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

I hear that poison ivy particularly benefits for a CO2 rich atmosphere.
Oh, boy!

all green plants, including trees and food crops. a little longer growing season wouldn't hurt either, but we'd need way way more CO2 to make that sort of difference. Plants are very sensitive to CO2 levels though, the recent greening of the planet might be the most obvious change visible to an alien

Poison ivy isn't so bad, as long as you didn't touch it then take a whizz while you were out hiking...