I just calculated these #s

[TransAm12sec]

From this article in nytimes, http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?041011fa_fact

it says

The geological debate is difficult for an outsider to judge. All we know for sure is that proven reserves are concentrated in the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia (262.7 billion barrels), Iran (130.7 billion), Iraq (115 billion), the United Arab Emirates (97.8 billion), and Kuwait (96.5 billion). The only country in the Western Hemisphere that has reserves of comparable magnitude is Venezuela (78 billion barrels), which is also a member of opec and boasts a populist, left-leaning President, Hugo Chávez, who frequently rails against United States imperialism. opec oil, for all its geopolitical drawbacks, is cheap, easy to transport, and relatively clean if used efficiently.


Total that including Venezuela, you have 780.7 billion barrels. The article says the US Consumed 20 million barrels a day in 2003. If that rate is kept up, and the US was the only consumer the major oil reserves discovered today, the US would use up the major reserves in 106 years.

Intersting info I thought I would share.

[Cjburn]

Another thing that is not taken into consideration is the large oil pocket under the Black Sea, which my old Geology teacher used to rail on about all the time.

[Prince Valiant]

well, you got to inncreases in consumptions due to factors such as increases in the population, etc.

BUT, certianly I wouldn't worry about oil supplies. Why? The oil sands (or soumthin' or anutha') in canada. As we work toward ways to cheaply extract these oil reserves, we'll have plenty of oil.....and once we are able to tap this resource, we should be able to produce enough oil for 550+ years EVEN taking into account and 8% increase in yearly consumption :wow

Furthermore, there is an outfit in PA right now that is successfully converting garbage, ALL kinds of garbage too, into oil. This isn't too difficult as most all matter is organic and these long organic chains can be broken down (as opposed to more costly and energy intensive building UP of molecules). They've already proven that it could be done energy effeciently (IE much more fuel is derived from the process to make it than it took to actually obtain it). The great thing abou this process is that instead of taking carbon sources from the ground and releasing it into the atomosphere, it will take carbon already on the earth's surface...therefore the net effect on the total carbon in the atmosphere should be little in the end.

Of course, that should satisfy the enviro's...but as one should know, their target isn't helping the environment, instead it's destroying capitalism, so they'll NEVER be happy :rolleyes:

[Go Speed]

<phew> and I was worried about us losing our reserve in my lifetime. I guess it's ok to go ahead and buy an excursion now.

[Al]

Furthermore, there is an outfit in PA right now that is successfully converting garbage, ALL kinds of garbage too, into oil. This isn't too difficult as most all matter is organic and these long organic chains can be broken down (as opposed to more costly and energy intensive building UP of molecules). They've already proven that it could be done energy effeciently (IE much more fuel is derived from the process to make it than it took to actually obtain it). The great thing abou this process is that instead of taking carbon sources from the ground and releasing it into the atomosphere, it will take carbon already on the earth's surface...therefore the net effect on the total carbon in the atmosphere should be little in the end.

Good point, I read about that a few weeks ago. Simply put, all it takes to convert organic matter into oil is about 700 bar and heat.

I think we should turn the salt flats into solar fields and pipe water in from any source, salt or fresh, (or run a power line 500 mi to the ocean) and start converting H2O into (2)H + O ==> FREE ENERGY.

I'm in favor of free energy. Other than labor wages, maintainance and building the structures, the costs are minimal. As for lubricants, we could always use soy.

BTW- for $300, I could build a solar power converter to convert water into H and store it for later use at a rate faster than I could consume it.

[TurboAWD2.0]

yes yes dielectric breakdown of water. how are you going to go about getting the electricity to do that? i believe it requires more money to generate the power to separate the H from the O than is efficient.. atleast that's what i was taught in electronics class.... :D

[Teufelhunden]

Some of you might enjoy reading this article I read on the crapper from last month's R&T: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=20&article_id=1502

From the article:
"Technology has come to our rescue before. (It certainly cleared our environment of horse manure.) And, despite some 40 percent more driving since the emergence of emissions controls, it has also cleaned our air.

New technologies are evolving. Canada's tar sands contain more oil than the rest of the world's conventional reserves, albeit with environmental challenges and vast water requirements still to be addressed. New energy sources are being investigated: Methane hydrates, a sort of pre-crude, lie at great depths in Alaskan waters. These compounds contain vast amounts of energy. Older technologies are being reevaluated as well: The Fischer-Tropsch process is cleaning up its act of transforming vast coal resources into synthetic fuels.

The end of the Petroleum Age is inevitable. Yet, despite anxieties of Hubbert Curves, political instabilities and potential chaos, there is a promising transition already taking place. New technology will succeed not because it's forced on us, but because it's better.

The Stone Age didn't end because of a lack of stones; it ended because of bronze."

[Teufelhunden]

From this article in nytimes, http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?041011fa_fact

it says

The geological debate is difficult for an outsider to judge. All we know for sure is that proven reserves are concentrated in the Persian Gulf: Saudi Arabia (262.7 billion barrels), Iran (130.7 billion), Iraq (115 billion), the United Arab Emirates (97.8 billion), and Kuwait (96.5 billion). The only country in the Western Hemisphere that has reserves of comparable magnitude is Venezuela (78 billion barrels)

Total that including Venezuela, you have 780.7 billion barrels. The article says the US Consumed 20 million barrels a day in 2003. If that rate is kept up, and the US was the only consumer the major oil reserves discovered today, the US would use up the major reserves in 106 years.

Intersting info I thought I would share.

But the US isn't the only consumer of the world's oil.

Here's the main point everyone seems to forget...worldwide production capacity.

"By 2019 the world's demand for oil will exceed 110 million barrels/day. It's currently around 75 million. Even if there's enough crude stock, it's not clear there's sufficient worldwide production capacity.

The geopolitical implications of this are staggering. No wonder the doomsayers are having a field day."