Pondering our Post-Petroleum Future

[Krustee]

I found this to be an interesting video. (or two)

COLLAPSE
<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WAyHIOg5aHk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WAyHIOg5aHk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Q1oDmANIXc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-Q1oDmANIXc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GRo5jdWQPDI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GRo5jdWQPDI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Thanks to Steez for originally posting a vid clip about CIA drug trafficking in LA where Ruppert exposed them in a public forum.



What do you folks think about "Peak Oil" & the decline of the "American Empire"?


Will the power, both economically & militarily be handed to China?

 

[Krustee]

Peak oil is a fraud. There is more oil in Alaska than in the middle east.

Artificial scarcity so the big oil companies make big $.

Source?

 

[Karl Blues]

Peak oil is a fraud. There is more oil in Alaska than in the middle east.

Artificial scarcity so the big oil companies make big $.

I don't know whether the timing is a fraud, but it makes sense that at some point the world will run out of oil, whether it is 50 years from now or 100 years from now. At the rate China & India are growing I suspect it will be sooner than later.

 

[Krustee]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340274697167011147#

Or google "peak oil hoax/fraud" and do your own research see what you find.

I actually liked this video by Pastor Williams better:

<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/2620920/predictions_2009_lyndsey_williams.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" name="Metacafe_2620920" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br><font size = 1><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2620920/predictions_2009_lyndsey_williams/">Predictions 2009 - Lyndsey Williams</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">Funny videos are here</a></font>

 

[WWTDD]

I know someone who used to work in the Oil industry in Alberta and he told me that a lot of oil wells only pumped out 30% or 40% of their potential before the pressure dropped.
It's to expensive to recover the remaining 60% to 70% at the current price per barrel. So until the price gets to be $150 + they won't be recovered. That's why the Oil companies want the government to foot the bill for carbon capture. Pump the carbon into old wells and recover the remaining amounts. I think there is plenty of oil to last years and years. Just think of all the industries that would go out of business because their production cost would make them uncost effective. Like junk food and junk mail and cheap products from China and India. How many barrels of oil would be saved if everyone in the world didn't drive one day a week? When the price gets to high people will cut back.

 

[Krustee]

I think that there are at least a couple of valid concepts for peak oil: The peak of economically viable oil production (the traditional definition) and the peak of environmentally sustainable fossil fuel production. The former has been forecast several times in the past but deferred in time by technological improvements in finding & drilling new oil & enhancing the recovery of oil from existing fields. If one is to use the latter definition and believe even the more conservative conclusions about anthropogenic impacts on the global climate, then peak oil will arrive quite soon.

I agree with you here, the rate at which India & China & other east Asian countries are developing & beginning to consume oil & products dependant upon oil is scary.

The middle class in China alone is going to increase energy consumption there by double in the next ten years!

India is expected to add 10 million new vehicles in the next 5-7 years.

Tata motors is bringing out the worlds cheapest car to meet demand by an ever increasing wealth in India.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jan/11/india.carbonemissions

This is not to say that the use of hydrocarbon fuels must be stopped or even seriously reduced, only that the the carbon atoms that make up those hydrocarbon be taken from the stock already loose in the atmosphere. Again, technology will likely play a major role in ameliorating the impacts of moving from a fossil fuel economy to a carbon recycling economy.

There will be an increase in Western military and economic power by transitioning away from fossil fuels. For many decades (Jimmy Carter raised this issue during his presidency) enormous quantities of western wealth has been transferred to nations which have not always been friends of western civilization and its values. Becoming energy self-sufficient by weaning itself off foreign fossil fuels will reduce the power and influence of these fossil fuel rich nations & allow the wealth that is currently spent buying foreign fuel to be put to a different use.

I agree with that scenario - if the West embraces electric vehicles & reduces it's demand on foreign fossil fuels they will starve out the whole of East Asia.

Even if global warming proves to be a hoax (not that I think there is much chance of that), freeing the west from the economic & political costs of foreign fuels will go a long way to improving life in the west.

I think Global warming is real I just don't think man is the cause of it.

Simple example is Volcanoes.

Go ahead & ask me why!

 

[specialty69]

Who cares what happens in the next few years, the world is ending December 2012 .... didn't you guys watch the movie ????

 

[Big Dog Striker]

Decline of American Empire? Power shift to China?

That's what they said in the 70's about oil-rich countries in the Middle East during the Petrodollars era. Its already 2010. Then in the 80's, they said the same thing about Japan. Japan was an economic powerhouse and went on buying spree from expensive New York real estate to Pebble Beach. Even almost bought the Seattle Mariners. Where are they now? Japan is bankrupt. Their national airline is in the red. Their debt is way more than 20x of GDP. Sold back most of their assets acquired during the good times. Just waiting for their good old ally Uncle Sam to bail them out.

China is holding about US$ 1.7 Trillion in its treasury which it cannot unload since there is no country in the planet that can absorb it. That's why they were pushing for a new global currency to replace the greenback. Unfortunately, it was the Euro that had the slightest chance to succeed but it recently took a hit again with the economic tremors in Greece and investors run to the US Dollar again for security. Reminds me of that Y2K, where money shifted back to the US temporarily from different offshore holdings including Switzerland. Besides having a say in the fate of China's dollar holdings, the US is also benefiting for letting the greenback slide as China now has to hedge their forex imbalance by investing in the United States.