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On The Subject Of The Impending Energy Crisis.


Matt Vandart

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With Peak oil production having occurred 5 years ago now we are well on our way up shit creek without a paddle.

On the subject of the impending energy crisis.

I was just wondering how many people realize that this will be a reality relatively soon and what knowledge you have on the matter.

This is a potentially political minefield so can we avoid that and stick to data and what you are planning to do about it on a personal, community and National level.

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Mate, I have like...a shed full of Castrol GTX. Talk to someone who cares.

So I take that as you plan to do nothing then.

Why don't you just post a link to the Collapse trailer?

Maybe you could I don't know what it is.

Found it now.

Well I spose thats relevent but not really what I am on about, I am on about what are people intending to do about it.

Edited by Matt Vandart
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So I take that as you plan to do nothing then.

Bingo.

I used to care, I still turn lights off and all that shit - but when I'm at the pearly gates I don't want to be saying "Well, you know what St. Peter, I turned that f**king light off in the kitchen when I wasn't in there, can I come in please?" Lifes too short to be worrying about a problem we probably won't see in our lifetime.

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I don't think a few of us planning something will help anything. If the entire world is using it's sources too quick, there's not much we can do about that.

Hence there's still wars, famine etc... It's not as easy as just "planning what to do".

So yeah, I'll have all my equipment on full whack until the government restricts when I'm allowed to.

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With Peak oil production having occurred 5 years ago now we are well on our way up shit creek without a paddle.

Sort of depends who you listen to/read from/watch.

:lol: I see your point.

But seriously I think it will be a problem in our lifetime.

It's already a 'problem'...

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Well I am going back to suckle on the teat of the oil companies for another year after having taken 9 months off from sucking Satans cock and then I am buying a small holding I think and hopefully becoming independent of the utility companies.

Thats my latest hair brained scheme anyway.

@Mark- I am fairly clued up on this shit as I work in the energy sector, and I agree with you it is already a problem but one I think will get worse relatively soon.

By the way I am not saying 'it is the end of the world' type doom shit, just wondering how many people are taking note of things in this area.

Edited by Matt Vandart
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With Peak oil production having occurred 5 years ago now...

Just out of interest where did you get that information from?

It isnt what my lecturer told me the other day, he said apparantly no ones really sure if we've hit peak oil production or not yet.

Edited by Rich Hill
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Well I spose he is right because in the future technological advances may help to increase production again but at the moment it seems oil production peaked at about 2005-2006 as there has been no substantial increase since then and a drop last year (this could be to do with the economy being shite).

oil production.

Also the ratio of energy cost to get it out the ground as compared how much energy you get out the ground is dropping.

I think it is called diminishing returns or some shit, I'm no economist.

Edited by Matt Vandart
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Most media sources are biased in some way, so I tend to disregard everything I read or hear to be honest.

Swine Flu will kill the planet, Bra's give you cancer...

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Besides, if forced into it, I reckon companies could make better renewable energy sources - at the moment there's no incentive and it costs too much to develop.

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Been getting into this topic fairly heavily recently being a geology, geography and science student. Its also really annoying when you look into it when you see the vast volumes of hydrocarbons being wasted due to the extraction of them being either too costly or too difficult to extract. For example coal (still widely used for power stations ect) can only be mined economicly when the seam is a certain thickness, or if the bed is below 5 degrees in orientation. Now in the year that we live in not enough development is being put into new technologies to solve there issues. Another example is that every day, each half of the plannet gets 6000 times of the current global electricity consumption, equal in energy power from the sun. Now that is a shitload! But not much is really being done to try to harness the power.

With most renewable energy sources, companies are trying to tackle the big picture. Yes, we need clean energy. Yes the global population is big. But building huge solar farms, wind farms, wave farms or hydroelectric plants isnt really going to meet the globals energy needs. The best way to combat it as a whole in my opinion is on a small scale, ie small domestic wind turbines, solar panels, solar heating, ground source heat pumps ect.

Just wait till everyone wakes up, smells the coffie, and nuclear power becomes the main power source.........

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Most media sources are biased in some way, so I tend to disregard everything I read or hear to be honest.

Swine Flu will kill the planet, Bra's give you cancer...

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Besides, if forced into it, I reckon companies could make better renewable energy sources - at the moment there's no incentive and it costs too much to develop.

lol

The only problem with that plan is will there be enough energy i.e oil to make the equipment to harness those energy sources.

Nuclear power will not be the answer, fission anyway, it takes too much energy to build a nuclear power station and so the energy return ratio is shite, for there to be enough of them built.

Another thing to bear in mind is other resources, raw materials are becoming more scatered and so less energy viable.

Look at the cost of materials like aluminium alone, they have seen massive price hikes recently mostly due to energy (oil) I know but spikes will come from availability also.

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@Mark- I am fairly clued up on this shit as I work in the energy sector, and I agree with you it is already a problem but one I think will get worse relatively soon.

The people I spoke to (well, mainly listened) and read from or read about were people involved with oil/petrochemical companies, lecturers at universities, researchers/authors and that sort of thing. The only thing they could all agree on was that no-one's got a definite answer, in exactly the same way you could talk to a range of 'clued up' people about global warming and get completely different figures, predictions and conclusions about it all. This isn't a dig at you or anything, I'm just saying I generally try and get a few different viewpoints then kind of go from there...

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Nuclear power will not be the answer, fission anyway, it takes too much energy to build a nuclear power station and so the energy return ratio is shite, for there to be enough of them built.

that could be said about other energy sources too though, like wind turbines. Cost a shitload then 5 years they need replacing. More development needs to be put into solar power and geothermal energy really. With regards to oil supplies though, there is still a fair amount left. Oil and all hydrocarbons will never run out. But oil as a reserve will. By definition a reserve is the amount of a resource that can be obtained using current technologies in an economical fashion. Just need greedy companies to get off their back sides and put their astronomical profits into development and not shareholders.
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@ Mark- Indeed you are right, no one really knows for sure but I am pretty sure it has at least hit a plateau for a few years since 2005 and shows no signs atm of rising which could cause enough chaos to make the whole idea a bit of a moot point.

I also think there is a bit of disinformation flying around from both sides of the oil/energy fence.

that could be said about other energy sources too though, like wind turbines. Cost a shitload then 5 years they need replacing. More development needs to be put into solar power and geothermal energy really. With regards to oil supplies though, there is still a fair amount left. Oil and all hydrocarbons will never run out. But oil as a reserve will. By definition a reserve is the amount of a resource that can be obtained using current technologies in an economical fashion. Just need greedy companies to get off their back sides and put their astronomical profits into development and not shareholders.

I agree absolutely and totally with this and am glad that someone pointed it out.

Edited by Matt Vandart
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Personally, if fuel prices continue to rise then I think I will slowly convert my car into something like this.

But really I don't think there is much we can do. Peoples habits will change as energy prices increase. Products are already beginning to be more efficient than they used to be, and we will have to pay closer scrutiny to our energy usage. I think we will see a lot more fission stations in the future. Fusion is a looooong way off and I can't see it becoming a reality until after 2050. If anyone is interested in this subject then I recommend watching

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Normally at least 5 minutes of my day is wasted watching this cack on the news. Nobody has the answers, nobody knows EXACTLY how much damage we are doing.

The UK uses so little energy when compared to the USA and China, that the country as a whole at best could make very little difference, if any.

These are my opinions. They are probably wrong.

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nobody knows EXACTLY how much damage we are doing.

This has nothing to do with the damage or whatever- this is about the fact that we currently get 99% of our energy from a finite resource which is rapidly running out and what we can do to replace that energy source.

Now do I get a Rover V8 or something else? Ideally I'd love a car with a V8 based on two Hayabusa engines or similar but I don't think you'd get the same vibe or sound from something like that...

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