Question:
When we run out of fossil fuels will people be forced to use environmentally sustainable power sources?
2012-12-16 17:04:14 UTC
Like solar power and hydroelectricity? I know we wont run out of fossil fuels for a couple of centuries or something, maybe not even that long, but is this what will happen when they do run out? I don't see any other option and would this mean global warming will be less of an issue?
Ten answers:
Caliservative
2012-12-16 17:58:01 UTC
Silly question. There is no way to predict what the problems (and their solutions) will be a hundred years into the future, let alone 300. For example, at the turn of the century, urban planners largest concern about the cities 100 years ahead was how to get all that manure out of the cities. When the 21st century arrived, virtually no one was using horses, and manure was a non-issue. We cannot predict what the problems will be in 2100, let alone 2300.
antarcticice
2012-12-16 18:58:22 UTC
Personally I don't go for the oil industry conspiracies of "they killed the electric car" or "the perfect battery" these are nonsense, actual battery technology is what held back the electric car, now we have those batteries we are seeing the first serious electric cars from makers like Nissan and Mitsubishi.



As for what will come wind, solar and thermal are still improving but are already compete, the cost of installs solar has dropped ~75% in the last decade. They have the advantage that the fuel is always free were electricity from coal will always need fuels and that fuel costs money and is finite.



We have a pretty ingrained habit of changing the sources of power we use go back to 1800 and steam was starting to be used, whale oil for lamps, steam evolved into a network of trains and ships powered by steam. Steam was basically fossil fuel powered as well, but was replaced by oil and diesel just as horses were replaced by the petrol engine. There are a number of emerging technologies, just as there where when the car first emerged, one will probably end up being used just as the petrol powered car was, due to the cost reduction in manufacturing one fuel type and more importantly the infrastructure to supply that fuel. Electric will probably be the one as hydrogen has a number of safety and storage issues. What electric needs is a better storage for power, fuel cells may be the answer.
Elmer98
2012-12-16 17:58:32 UTC
waiting to 'run out' of fossil fuels to reduce emissions may not be an option. the climate system may not have that patience. We're currently experiencing warming cause by the accumulation of co2 since the 1800's. Greenhouse gases do not go away quickly, so even if stop burning today, there will be warming for the next 100 years.



there is enough energy wasted that a lot can be 'found' just by efficiencies. A typical car for example is only 10% efficient.
Richa
2012-12-16 21:09:42 UTC
Many communities are already gravitating towards eco-friendly methods that help save the environment as well as fossil fuels. There are new cars manufactored every year that don't use fossil fuels and are instead electronic. I participate in many afterschool activities such as campus cleanups and lake restorations which help the local environment. Through my activities in Earth Club I have learned that it is important to help the Earth for future generations.
Jonathan
2012-12-17 00:32:29 UTC
No solution can easily replace fossil fuels -- especially gasoline and diesel and other liquified hydrocarbons. It's surprising, but diesel for example packs a huge amount of energy, both per unit volume and per unit mass. Nothing comes close, at this time. Batteries are far away, even with the most modern varieties. And hydrogen takes up huge volumes, even compressed at 5000 psi, and even cryogenically cooled. And it takes an incredible amount of energy to extract it from water (it's actually easier to get hydrogen from fossil fuels, which is how most of the hydrogen is produced, right now.) Hydrogen will cost you almost 200 MJ/kg -- that's 200 million Joules for one kilogram. Even with the best in fuel cells, this converts back to 60% of 123 or about 73 MJ/kg. And then you get only a part of that with the electric motor of the car. Guess where all that extra energy will come from... yup... fossil fuels.



Batteries, 1MJ/kg, 1MJ/liter

5000 psi pressurized H₂, 2MJ/kg, 2MJ/liter

Hydrides, 5MJ/kg, 4MJ/liter

Liquid/20K-cryo-H₂, 8MJ/kg, 8MJ/liter

Gasoline/diesel, 38-46MJ/kg, 27-36MJ/liter



That table tells a lot about gas/diesel. We already have the systems in place, they are relatively safe to use, and they are far more convenient by quite some span.



Nuclear power dangers fall into multiple bins. If you reprocess the fuel, you get plutonium stockpiles... bad... the US stopped that in the 1970's because of those concerns. You can remix the plutonium into MOX, but efficiency requires a new kind of fast reactor... which means we need to build them... successfully. That still waits to be done on any scale at all. You can go to thorium, either in the LFTR or the breeder reactor IFR type -- but despite experimental successes and the inherent passive safety of IFR, they remain still experimental and the US has been resistant about exchanging the technology to other countries, as well. I have to mention one other thing -- almost every country with commercial nuclear power has some kind of regulatory agency. But they are all pretty much run by the nuclear commercial industry and not run by critical self-examination. In India, for example, the board is selected BY the nuclear industry and paid for by them, as well. In Japan, there have been abundant articles about this problem. And I have personal experience in the US with the NRC and certain MOAs (Memorandum of Agreements) between the NRC and INPO (a private nuclear safety organization) which in effect prevent the NRC from doing its safety inspection job in the US. If you care, examine the Congressional Record from a hearing around 1990 when the Seabrook nuclear power plant received its FPO and was about to start full power operations. It's all in the record at that time. Dr. Pollard discussed it at some length in front of Congress and I've separately researched this. The US NRC works for the operators in the US, quite simply. And the MOAs make it pretty plain, too.



Power generation on the scale of entire societies is very political.



Hydropower is tapped -- we'd have to destroy many wildlife areas and human habitats too to do much more with it. Wind power is still very expensive and besides doesn't provide base-power -- it is intermittent in most places -- and most of the really good wind energy is far out to sea, in the oceans. We don't really know how to do all that just yet. Solar power is creaking along and may possibly get to break-even -- there are many reports that will tell you it already is... but if you take into account degradation of the panels over time (they produce less and less each year of use) and their replacements, as well as damage, transportation and set up, packaging, and all the rest, they still don't cut the mustard just yet. There is some hope there, though. So that's a place I'd look for something serious in a decade or so.  Maybe.  Certainly, it could supply baseload for a large part of the day, too.
2012-12-16 17:17:38 UTC
It is predicted we will run out of oil somewhere around 2050 Coal will last longer. BUT if we don't start conserving fossil fuels and switching to alternative energy sources now, future generations (sy 70-100 years from now)will have serious global warming issues to deal with including long term drought and in some places repeated flooding meaning no food for many and in that scenario hundreds of millions of people would die. Mostly the poor who have no resources in their countries.
grimaldo
2016-12-13 16:15:47 UTC
No. The source of hydroelectric power is water. Water isn't a 'fossil' and it keeps to be water in one form or yet another. A 'fossil gasoline' is oil (gas, diesel, organic gas) or coal ...
john m
2012-12-16 17:56:39 UTC
Hi Jake The oil industry have been blocking this technology for years . Funding for these to take place is required. So the only reason for these not being part of our everyday lives is GREED and funded PROPAGANDA. Every one needs to watch this and make up your own mind WHY we haven't pursued free energy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMhAIdqH0Cs&feature=endscreen&NR=1 Cheers
2012-12-16 21:20:41 UTC
Yes, we, or our descendents will. That makes me wonder why denialists are so afraid of alternate energy.
Pat
2012-12-16 18:30:49 UTC
We can create fuels through plants. Bio-fuels will always be created. They come from plants like corn, soybeans, sugar cain, etc.... As long as there is CO2 in the air, plants will always be able to provide fuels.



One of the biggest investors in bio-fuels is a billionaire named George Soros.


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