It has been famously said that the stone age did not end because the world ran out of stone. It seems to me that this is a fairly obvious point, but one that is often overlooked, especially since it is valid to our world today. Many people would have you believe that we need to stop using fossil fuels right now, because we have nearly used them up. This is not so. Even at present rates of consumption, there are many decades of known crude oil reserves, and centuries of natural gas and coal reserves. Indeed, there are actually more known reserves of oil today than there were 50 years ago!
My point is that the oil age (or, really, the fossil-fuel age) is not going to end because we run out of oil, it will end because we find better sources of energy – sources that are cleaner, more efficient, and even more abundant. We’re already well on our way to developing and using many new forms of energy, including solar and wind power, but these alternative energy sources will not achieve widespread use until they are cheaper than (or at least comparable in price to) fossil fuels. And while we are making progress in this area, we still have a lot of work to do.
The good news is that private industries in America are beginning to recognize the financial potential of renewable energy, and their capitalist instincts are kicking in. But they can do better, and a market-based government incentive to reduce carbon emissions would be a big step in the right direction. With a cap that would give them an incentive to continue their current efforts, rather than one that would impose a costly penalty, we can speed up the development of cleaner, more efficient sources of energy. And that will bring about an end to the oil age, with centuries of reserves left untouched.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2007 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:47 am
A company out of Delaware has teamed up with several Fortune 500 companies to build the largest solar panel manufacturing plant in the world (600,000 sq.ft). They will be giving free solar panel usage to U.S. homeowners in return for the monthly fixed rate of current costs. Homeowners can refer others and zero out their bill totally and/or earn a substantial income by becoming an associate “Ecopreneur”.
Installations and maintenance will also be free thus creating thousands of jobs for this massive effort. Call 877-803-5040 for more information or visit the website at: http://EnsuringEnergy.info
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Geothermal is the answer, See: http://theolddub.com/thoughts.htm
But if it’s not invented here we’ll never hear about it.
If Big Business can’t clean up monitarialy it’s a no go.
We’ve got plenty of energy going to waste every day.
Joe…
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I AM A Retired oil man, that spent my whole working life of 50 years in the oil industry & I can see no reason to stop using oil when we have more of this stuff than we have ever produced ? Everyone seams to think that we in the USA are running out of oil, but this is not so ? According to our Geologist , you can only produce a well 120ft from where it was drilled, & in southeastern NM, we drilled our wells on 40 acer spacing, that leaves space for thousands of welles to be drilled, but for some reason the oil companys just stoped drilling ? Then we have billions of bbls of oil still under the northen slopes of the USA & the lower part of the state of TEXAS has trillions of cubic feet of Natural Gas that has been left untaped, ( WHY) ? I am 66 years old & I have spent the better part of my 50 working years out in the oil fields of WEST TEXAS & SOUTHEASTERN NM, I spent 30 years on Drilling rigs & Pulling Units, Then I spent 20 years working for the GULF OIL CO & the CHEVRON OIL CO as a Production Forman, I say this so you will see that I know what I am talking about, I have a Phd. in oil field . IF we would only start a mass drilling program in the USA & get the Goverment off our backs, there would not be a shortage of oil in this Nation for the next 100 years ??
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
The biggest problem we have in the oil industry is the liberal left wing people in our goverment, they are so afraid that we might kill a blade of grass or kill a lizard ? They have shut the biggest industry in the world almost down trying to save what ? WE built the oil industry in the USA , then our on GOVERMENT came along & shut us down by using Goverment rules & regulations. So the oil industry moved to other Nations to drill there wells & left the oil in our Nation still in the ground & there it will stay until oil reaches $100.00 dollars a bbl. then & only then will they be willing to retune & fight the Goverment rules & regulations for the billions of bbls of oil that is still here …..
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:33 pm
THE ONLY REASON THERE IS AN ENERGY PROBLEM, IS BECAUSE THE ENVIROMENTAL WHACKO’S HAVE TO MUCH CONTROL ON OIL DRILLING AND PRODUCTION.