• Question: how long intill diesel runs out is well as {red diesel}

    Asked by clummy to Ben, Clare, Ezzy, Mario, Sam on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Mario Campanelli

      Mario Campanelli answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      you mean when are we running out of oil?
      The problem is not when the last drop of oil will be burnt, but when extracting oil will require more energy than it provides. And also, while demand for oil is growing and will grow due to the industralisation of Asia, extraction has a limit (called Hubbert’s oil peak, google it if you never heard of it), after which it can only decline. And this peak is very very close, and maybe it happened already, and will cause continuous hikes in oil prices, something that we have observed in the last years and experience every day. Yes, we should really reduce our oil dependence, not (only) because of ecological reasons, but because the earlier we build an energy-efficient society, the less brutal will the inevitable shock be.

    • Photo: Sam Vinko

      Sam Vinko answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I agree with Mario; we’ll never run out, its just the at some point it will become commercially pointless to use it to drive cars and engines. When is a hard question, I’d guess sometime in the next 50-100 years.

    • Photo: Elizabeth Pearson

      Elizabeth Pearson answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      I’m not exactly sure what red diesel is. It’s what planes and stuff runs on isn’t it? But yeah, we’re more likely to not be able to get at the oil before we run out. As we find alternatives the demand for oil will get less and less.

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