Such as tar sands, shale oil, coal gasification etc, for hydrocarbons, nuclear, wind, solar, for electric energy, etc. It will cost more, but alternate sources exist, even today.
It takes huge quantities of tar sands and shale to make any type of dent in our oil consumption........and the environmental degradation is significant. Coal gasi. works best with anthracite coal which we are running out of. With nuclear, we are running out of U-235 and breeder reactors are too unstable. The best would be fusion but we haven't found a way to tap the energy created. Wind is a niche player that suffers from inconsistency and requires a back up source of energy to be successful. Solar is good only in areas with lots of sun, and even then, there are problems.
There is not one simple solution. And it may be years before we come close to a decent alternative. Conservation is our best hope at the present time but we don't have a gov't committed to that approach.
And so now we are in a war with the ME.
What does the world do when the world's production peaks and demand remains high?
If I were you, I would entertain the possibility, demand will outpace capacity, long before capacity peaks. As an example, lets say todays production is 100 mln bbls oil/day. In the yr, 2020, demand might be 150 mln bbls/day, while production will have grown to only 120 mln bbls/day. With deep sea drilling, tar sands, etc, it is likely production will keep on expanding far longer than one might think. It is also likely, with China, India, etc, demand will boom faster than production increases.
What is the point you are trying to make? |
