Regarding the depletion of the world's oil...?

Question

I watched "A Crude Awakening" last night, and was left feeling terribly angry at the world's policy makers and oil fiends. If anyone has seen this documentary, why do you think we are rapidly depleting the worlds most valuable NON renewable energy resource if we know it will likely lead to a disastrous and panicky result?

I know policy change is difficult to initiate, but why isn't anyone in the world making it a priority to invest hugely significant amounts of money into renewable energy research and implementation?

Answer 1

I agree with you completely!  I don't understand why it's not the number-one priority, but it's not.  The war in Iraq probably has something to do with the lack of concern toward the environment.  The focus is on the war...people only have so much concern to spread around.  

We need an international solution...this affects us all.  But, right now, world peace is only a dream...as one can see on the news.  I hope that soon, a country will take the initiative to change and others will follow it's lead...and that the U.S. is one of them

Answer 2

It all comes down to a one word answer- profit.

Answer 3

Actually, there are many people working on this like large companies such Ford. Ford is making many alternative fuel powered vehicles, but the problem is, they are currently too expensive, and the alternative fuel isn't widely available at the moment. I believe in the next decade, however, we will see a lot more alternatively fueled cars on the highway.

Answer 4

Oil Giants and Governments work hand in hand to create the situation we're faced with. Oil Companies manipulate the consumer into paying excess profits by buying their so called non renewable resources. Governments allow it to happen mainly because it affords the Governments added revenues through taxes.

Imagine if Coca Cola and Pepsi, were to basically tell all manufactures of soda products that they would determine the price of their products and all manufacturers would have to abide by their figures. The Government would be on them like ugly on a stick through an investigation and subsequent charges for price fixing. Why? Because we don't get taxed on soda products like the gasoline is.

If you find that hard to imagine, think back to Bill Gates and Microsoft. Here, a University drop out, goes to work to create a software firm dealing with principals that he was smart enough to patent. Apple computers didn't use any of Microsofts products in their computers but the vast majority of manufacturers did, thus Microsoft became the number one manufacturer of software. Next the Government steps in and forces Bill Gates to liquify his assest so that his 90 plus billion dollar empire is hacked to approximately 50% of it's worth.

Where is the government in their actions when oil companies continue to gouge the consumer by forcing rival suppliers to raise their prices? Sucking up added taxes is where you will find them.

Free Enterpriseing is one thing, but consumer manipulation and  goughing is another.

The so called non renewable resources are another in the continuing lies these big business croonies deal up and expect the consumer to fall for. Think back to the 1970's when these same oil companies created a gasoline shortage causing line ups and allocation of their products in order to drive the price of their products up. Stations went empty only because the oil companies limited their allocations and created havoc umoung motorists and virtually shutting down the highways. We were told of impending gasoline shortages due to diminishing supplies, yet once the price of a gallon of gasoline doubled, the gates opened and  behold there was an ubundance of the products.

Today is no different, except we're now being told it's due to the wars and tensions of the middle east or the natural disastors that hit our coastlines. The only thing is, that war has been going on longer then oil has been refined and natural disastors have effected mankind since day one.

The exploration for oil products has merely scratched the surface of the earth, for much more oil will be found when all they have to do is drill a little deeper.

As I learned many years ago in my geology classes, and further learned through my years spent in the oil and gas industry, the only place where water is on top of oil, is on the earth for wherever there is a body of water, there is oil underneath it.

Answer 5

Oil is a renewable resource. We are all part of a big game going on between Oil Companies and Governments. We have tons of oil, dont believe the hype.

Answer 6

I hate to say it, but most people feel that 'hey, if it's not happening in my lifetime, I don't need to worry about it' (ie, social security being depleted.  notice how no one is doing anything about it??).  

I am angry as well, but unless some one powerful in congress with our ideals and a lot of followers initiates change, it would be hard to do.

Answer 7

money...money money money....when Diesel first designed his engine in the early 1900's..it was desigined to be run and lubricated by peanut oil...that is untill the patent was bought out by an oil company...to this day you can take any diesel engine and it will run on any compressable oil be it petrol or vegtable based...the answer to most of our energy needs is growing in our own heartland in the form of corn and soy...if they would only legalize industrial hemp we would have yet anouther rapidly renewable fuel source...Henry Ford built a car in the 30's that was powered and lubricated by hemp based oils...and the interior and body panels were made out of hemp fiber, pretty impressive plant if you ask me...the answer's are out there for our energy needs but the reins are in the hands of those with the money...and they have vested that money into petrol...and oil is renewable....it just takes a looooong time

Answer 8

There are a couple of, frankly common, misconceptions in your question.

Oil, while a renewable resource, takes such an incredibly long time to form that most people think of it as non-renewable.  True non-renewable resources like metals can only be forged in stars or in some cases in supernova.  All oil was, and can again be, made right here on earth, just not in your or my lifetime, or even a hundred of our lifetimes.  It is possible that with advances in technology an economical way to synthesize oil will be found.

Another misconception you have is that we are in a huge danger of running out of oil.  That is simply not the case.  Most people base their misbelief in this on the fact that there are usually at any given point in time only aproximately 30 years worth of PROVEN oil supply on the earth at any given time.  People assume that means we'll run out of oil in 30 years, and alarmists exploit that to good measure.  The first recorded mention of an oil crisis, of the earth running out of oil within 30 years wasn't in the 1970's or even the 1960's, it was in the early 1800's.  The reason there is such a small proven reserve is that there's no reason to go hunt down more when there is so much readily available.  It costs time and money to find oil resereves, so no one does it until there is a profit to be made by it.  For 200 years people have been wrong about there not being enough oil, it's HIGHLY unlikely that they're right now.

Answer 9

All I can say is, people don't like change.

It's going to cost money to buy new cars, build alt. fuel stations, manufacture and install alt. power supplies in efficient and managable places...  People don't want to go to the trouble.

Research gets done, actually.  There have been local research groups around here which developed clean-burning coal!  Which is a resource that could potentially serve all the humans on earth for a few hundred years to come.  Sounds like the solution was there.  But, it isn't happening, because there was no market for it.  That small company went under, and that idea is patented and off the market for now..

Industries need incentive to change, and so do ordinary people.  No one wants to invest money in something they're unsure of.  Truth is, alt energy is (at this point), where airplanes and autos were 100 years ago.  How would you know back then which to invest in, the technology was so new no one could be sure!  Let's hope something good comes up soon.  It could potentially bring a real good change to the economy, and the world in general.

Answer 10

A lot of them are so old that they think "I'm dead before we run out and none of this effects me"  Others just don't give a F***.  There are a lot out there that want change, but try to get people not to drive their car to work.  Get people to fill up only twice a month.  We as a society have become so complacent when it comes to using oil that we don't think about how much we are using.  I don't miss it til it's gone.  

There are plenty of companies looking into alternate fuel sources, and have made some advancements.  Unfortunately, they do not perform as well as regular cars so there is no market for them.

Answer 11

think if water was just as expensive as gas is now

Answer 12

Come on, when oil companies really start getting into a pinch about how to make a buck they will just release a tech that they have had in development for years and market that. There is not going to be a "panic attack" just a different tech that we are paying for.

Answer 13

One reason that there is likely to be no abrupt changover to a novel fuel (even if one did exist, which it doesn't) sits in your garage and mine.

There are hundreds of millions of vehicles in the world that actually use gasoline.  If we had a new fuel and simply banned gasoline, individual people with huge investments in autos would be crushed.  How would you like to find out that starting tomorrow your new car was more valuable as scrap than as a motor vehicle?  Could you simply pay off your old vehicle and buy a new one?  Probably not.

Well, no one is going to mass produce fuel for vehicles that don't exist.  Also, there would have to be a way to distribute the new fuel efficiently.  Like it or not, gasoline can be transported by pipeline, seagoing tanker, and tractor-trailer truck and the fuel stored in existing storage systems.  These distribution and storage systems cost hundreds of billions of dollars.  No one, not you or me or oil companies can easily bear the cost of abandoning those assets.  And any new system will require a distribution infrastructure that is likely to cost additional billions of dollars and take years to build.

All that said, there is lots of research going on as people hope to be first in line to have new products that could have a market.  The changeover will probably be slow -- look how long it is taking auto manufacturers just to get hybrid production up, and there is actually both existing fuel and demand for those vehicles.

High fuel prices may be the best way to ensure that a new product or technology is both developed and implemented.  Petroleum has been cheaper than the alternatives and when that turns around, we can expect enterpreneurs to jump in with new products.