Thanks so much for your response. It address a question I have been
curious about. You say we are at or near the peak of production of
oil. Is that because the amount of oil given the present reserves can
not be extracted faster or is it because it is not profitable to extract
it faster i.e. the price would drop and the companies would not maximize
profits if they pumped it faster. If it is the later, would not the
increased demand by more countries put huge pressure, political and
military as well as economic, to pump faster? My concern is that
although the relation between global warming and human activity seems
complex and murky, there is no doubt that fossil fuels pump huge
amounts of heavy metals, acid, carcinogens, and particulate matter that
irritates the lungs into the air. Using up the available oil at a
faster rate would increase the concentrations of these substances which
are life threatening to large numbers of people. For me this is a more
immediate threat than climate change though admittedly in the long run
climate change may be potentially more serious.
Rick
Hakan Falk wrote:
Rick,
Interesting, especially since many now realize that we are at, or
close to, the peak of oil production. It is not possible to reach
larger levels of pollution from oil, than the current levels. US who
use 25% of the worlds energy resources, will not have possibility to
grow and will probably have to compete with Asia on the oil market.
This means that whatever growth in Asia, it is compensated by a
decline in an other place, both in use and pollution. Maybe you by
unsustainable mean the US use of oil, since an equal use per capita by
China and US, mean that US and China would use all of the world energy
resources between them. The US energy use is outrageously
irresponsible and is in itself totally unsustainable, this without
involving any other parties.
Do not worry, the by US beloved free market forces will balance the
use somewhat. We are now seeing price level of oil around the 50$ mark
and I think that it will go well above that. The days of cheap oil are
over and China/Asia will compete with US and Europe on equal terms,
nothing wrong in this and nothing to complain about. If US can outbid
China/Asia/Europe, it will not be any problems, other than an equal
economical playing field.
I read a research study from the depletion group at Uppsala
University, that proved that the oil reserve would be finished long
before we reached the worst cases of Global warming. If this is going
to happen, we have to assume that it comes from something else than
oil. A rapid development of the coal reserves might trigger some of
the global warming scenarios. The coal reserves are more or less
equally divided by the continents.
As somebody rightfully mentioned, Asia have a lot of bicycles, small
motorcycles and small cars. The oil use per capita is low and interest
in efficiency larger. When you see a SUV with a single driver/person,
you notice it as a very uncommon event and it is probably the US
embassy people. LOL
Hakan
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