As the price goes up, all of your more exotic extraction methods, which desperately depend on oil, also get more expensive. "Financially viable" requires profit, but more expensive energy just sucks up more resources. You just start shedding infrastructure, and going from cars to horses (or feet) will be a lot faster than the other way around. Things can fall a long time, but the stop is still sudden.
The reason prices are so high is because the "massive" new sources come with massive new costs to extract. Oil Shale (kerogen) is a great case in point; it is essentially rock with heavy, like waxy heavy, hydrocarbons embedded in it. In theory there is a lot of it, in practice almost no one uses it, because the amount of energy and water needed to dig the rock, cook out the kerogen, crack it into a form usable by the current infrastructure, and transport it to a useful place are extremely high. Every other grand announcement you've been reading follows suit, as does the idea of mining methane hydrates. It is pretty basic math to calculate the amount of recoverable, usable energy from these sources, and you won't be running anything like a developed nation off of it. We will be continuing to move toward less energy use, and there will be nothing slow about it. Less a march than a free-fall.
Those of you not familiar with the history, Al Jazeera was founded by the staff of the BBC's Arabic language channel when they went into retrenchment (shut down the channel they did). The Qatari's foot the bill, but the overarching philosophy and quality are Auntie Beeb's. They only got a bad rap from the Bush administration for reporting honestly during the Iraq invasion, but basically they are the straightest shooters in the Arabic world, and one of the best sources of world news period now that the U.S. desks have given up on maintaining foreign bureaus.
The costs of production will continue to drive up all oil products as the relatively easily extractable oil is sucked up and (mostly) burned, and increasingly desperate measures are taken to keep the inevitable collapses in production at bay. In the U.S., as in most countries of the world, consumption is still heavily subsidized for every step of the oil production and consumption cycle, but it is getting harder to rob from the future to pay for it; food importers (and market based food production is heavily oil dependent) are in for a much rougher time, and there really is no plan B.
Verizon, like all public corporations, is required by law to list it's corporate officers in their yearly reports. That is a minimum, and most companies have a lot more personnel info available via the tubez. Pick one to start with that has "sales" or "customer" in their title, and write a clear, short and personal letter. It is truly astonishing what you will accomplish, and on the very rare occasion that you get no (or a negative) response, a physical letter to the CEO including your dissatisfaction is the equivalent to a loud screechy alarm clock to these types.
I don't think you would find many people who disagree with the existence of gravity as a point of religion.
You have no idea how wrong you are. And I don't just mean the flat earth society (yes, there still is one). For many, many of the faithful, the basic laws of physics, biology, geology, and yes, mathematics, exist only at the mercy of their favorite omnipotent invisible buddy. Ask an "educated" bible believer how the impossibilities of a seven day creation, halting the sun in the sky, or changing water into wine are possible, and they don't say that gravity (momentum, conservation of energy, etc.) don't exist, just that they were temporarily suspended for the particular instance, and then put right back in place if necessary. And the less well educated have more faith in the miracle than willingness to disturb their comfortable worldview with the facts. Even in countries with a strong public education system, given the choice between some miracle and gravity, evolution, conservation of mass/energy etc. I think, to the contrary, science gets thrown out by a BIG majority.
Slashdot Mirror
As the price goes up, all of your more exotic extraction methods, which desperately depend on oil, also get more expensive. "Financially viable" requires profit, but more expensive energy just sucks up more resources. You just start shedding infrastructure, and going from cars to horses (or feet) will be a lot faster than the other way around. Things can fall a long time, but the stop is still sudden.
The reason prices are so high is because the "massive" new sources come with massive new costs to extract. Oil Shale (kerogen) is a great case in point; it is essentially rock with heavy, like waxy heavy, hydrocarbons embedded in it. In theory there is a lot of it, in practice almost no one uses it, because the amount of energy and water needed to dig the rock, cook out the kerogen, crack it into a form usable by the current infrastructure, and transport it to a useful place are extremely high. Every other grand announcement you've been reading follows suit, as does the idea of mining methane hydrates. It is pretty basic math to calculate the amount of recoverable, usable energy from these sources, and you won't be running anything like a developed nation off of it. We will be continuing to move toward less energy use, and there will be nothing slow about it. Less a march than a free-fall.
I ain't never gonna do it without the fez on . . . please understand.
Those of you not familiar with the history, Al Jazeera was founded by the staff of the BBC's Arabic language channel when they went into retrenchment (shut down the channel they did). The Qatari's foot the bill, but the overarching philosophy and quality are Auntie Beeb's. They only got a bad rap from the Bush administration for reporting honestly during the Iraq invasion, but basically they are the straightest shooters in the Arabic world, and one of the best sources of world news period now that the U.S. desks have given up on maintaining foreign bureaus.
The costs of production will continue to drive up all oil products as the relatively easily extractable oil is sucked up and (mostly) burned, and increasingly desperate measures are taken to keep the inevitable collapses in production at bay. In the U.S., as in most countries of the world, consumption is still heavily subsidized for every step of the oil production and consumption cycle, but it is getting harder to rob from the future to pay for it; food importers (and market based food production is heavily oil dependent) are in for a much rougher time, and there really is no plan B.
- With apologies to the Sex Pistols, and you should still be grateful I can't sing, or I'd have dubbed it onto the original track
Can't you scream?
And there is no reason why They only did it cause of fame!
Also allow you to see through walls.
Just sayin'
Most complete and informative site in the business:
www.theoildrum.com
Warning: Reading the posts and commentary there will cause you to learn about the world's energy situation :p(
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Listen, you whiny Winifreds:
When it comes to the DEFENSE of the FREE WORLD, MONEY is NO OBJECT!
Verizon, like all public corporations, is required by law to list it's corporate officers in their yearly reports. That is a minimum, and most companies have a lot more personnel info available via the tubez. Pick one to start with that has "sales" or "customer" in their title, and write a clear, short and personal letter. It is truly astonishing what you will accomplish, and on the very rare occasion that you get no (or a negative) response, a physical letter to the CEO including your dissatisfaction is the equivalent to a loud screechy alarm clock to these types.
Yeah, or maybe baby Murdoch is worried that his stuff is next. Have to buy some service providers then.
I don't think you would find many people who disagree with the existence of gravity as a point of religion.
You have no idea how wrong you are. And I don't just mean the flat earth society (yes, there still is one). For many, many of the faithful, the basic laws of physics, biology, geology, and yes, mathematics, exist only at the mercy of their favorite omnipotent invisible buddy. Ask an "educated" bible believer how the impossibilities of a seven day creation, halting the sun in the sky, or changing water into wine are possible, and they don't say that gravity (momentum, conservation of energy, etc.) don't exist, just that they were temporarily suspended for the particular instance, and then put right back in place if necessary. And the less well educated have more faith in the miracle than willingness to disturb their comfortable worldview with the facts. Even in countries with a strong public education system, given the choice between some miracle and gravity, evolution, conservation of mass/energy etc. I think, to the contrary, science gets thrown out by a BIG majority.
Do you get outraged when people say "I stole a kiss from her"?
Hey, wait a minute! That's my wife. . .
Keeping antimatter safe is easy; you can just stuff it in a shoe box, as long as the shoe box is made of antimatter.
What you need is a Holiday . . .in Cambodia
"We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"
-Oscar Wilde
Hurry, boy.
Because it CAN BE! Woo-hoot!
This is the world that diplomats live in, not the 18th century, or WWI or the 1970's; but keep pretending, it makes for great entertainment!
My thoughts exactly; right on top of the TAP xeroxes. The scam actually reminds me of a blue box.
Wait! What was that sound?
Like an aeroplane, an aeroplane of the mind!
I think he means a haddock. Issa fish.
HUH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?
But then I saw a paper showing how unreliable meta-studies are.
bad-um-tsching!