[Rune]

I believe peak oil will be a demand peak. But it is not certain.

So I follow news, read both sides... Always have. I have read a bunch of peak oil books and hundreds of articles about it over about 15 years. I follow what happens in alternative energy with interest.

I don't pretend to know what will happen in the future.

If you positively demand that everyone agree with you, you are a child in the way you approach any discussion.

[SeaGypsy]

Your manners are appalling, reminiscent of those of a Daintree Jungle leech. You show up here spouting unicorn economics etc, deriding peak oil like anyone who is here believing it is a real problem must be an absolute idiot- then when called out for it- slander whoever calls you as 'childish' etc. Screw you, screw your self justification. Peak oil is real, it is now, it is having a huge effect on the world economy right now already. If you call that idiotic childish chicken little doomerism- on peakoil.com- you have it coming fool.

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'Y')our manners are appalling, reminiscent of those of a Daintree Jungle leech. You show up here spouting unicorn economics etc, deriding peak oil like anyone who is here believing it is a real problem must be an absolute idiot- then when called out for it- slander whoever calls you as 'childish' etc. Screw you, screw your self justification. Peak oil is real, it is now, it is having a huge effect on the world economy right now already. If you call that idiotic childish chicken little doomerism- on peakoil.com- you have it coming fool.

[SeaGypsy]

So piss off already, help kill peak oil instead of trolling your b/s here whydontcha? Maybe come back in 5 years and see if it's just Pops and me arguing with John A and Rockman lol.

[Rune]

I think I will just continue to do what the hell I want.

[pwallmann]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ope, if you will, that the fracking phenomenon will shortly peter-out and we can all get back to imminent doom-as-usual. But you will be hoping for that for a very, very long time - at least 30 years - IF no alternatives to fossil fuels are found.

[Rune]

Cowan says its just a matter of time before Russia, China. Afghanistan and other geographical locations duplicate the American fracking thing. Sure, its more expensive to extract than conventional oil, but there is an awful goddamn lot of it.

But then, there is an awful goddamn lot of heavy oil too.

So the deposits of sweet, really cheap stuff was relatively small compared to the harder-to-extract stuff.

Stockman doesn't even suggest at all that energy prices had one iota of anything to do with the 2008 financial crisis. Its just a non-issue as far as he is concerned.

But both books don't have much to say about energy; they are both talking about the reasons behind the economic stagnation of the middle-class - why there has been no robust job growth to accompany the productivity gains.

Stockman's is more of a polemic about the irresponsibility of the Fed and Wall Street, etc.

[Rune]

As for me, I quit wondering about the validity of imminent peak oil in 2008. I saw that the financial crisis had more to do with irresponsibility than energy.

But I still read all about energy and whatever strikes my fancy. I just finished Cowan'ls "Average Is Over"which said much about the advent of machine intelligence and the future of economics. Now, I'm reading "Superfuel":

Superfuel: Thorium The Green Energy Of The Future

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')y Kirk Sorensen

The story of thorium as a planetary energy source is almost too incredible to be believed. To think that for almost seventy years we have known about a source of energy that would last longer than the Sun will shine and we haven't exploited it? One has to wonder why...

[Rune]

And look, everyone knows I am "Carlhole", my original username, which I used for years until a mod decided she didn like it. Then, I became "Schadenfreude" for about 6 months, got banned for two weeks for calling someone a "moron" and then couldn't log back on - so another mod let me log back on as "Rune".

Otherwise, I would still be "Carlhole".

I think I have been temporarily banned twice since 2004, each time for a week or two, both times for calling someone a moron. I don't really care about usernames though. I have always identified myself.

[SeaGypsy]

Just calling someone a moron? Talk about revisionist. Last time around you were asking me where I lived so you could come and knock my block off or something to that effect (pretty disturbing reaction to someone you don't read). If I'm a child, you are a baby. "Lest you become as these children... " now where did I read that?

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')ust calling someone a moron? Talk about revisionist. Last time around you were asking me where I lived so you could come and knock my block off or something to that effect (pretty disturbing reaction to someone you don't read). If I'm a child, you are a baby. "Lest you become as these children... " now where did I read that?

[lowem]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rune', 'A')nd if the implications of impending doom still carried any resonance, there would be a whole lot more usernames cramming on their posts here at PO.com -- but there is not; you only ever see the same old small crew log on.

Try as you might, you can never seem to get those 600 - 700 "guests" to speak up about anything, ask a question or respond to a poll. It's just the same old 50 people, all the time.

[Rune]

Yes, but then India and China really started to use a lot more oil. They took on a lot of the world's manurfacturing and their consumers started using a whole lot more.

So the demand went way up and therefore, so did the price, quite rapidly. Also, exploration and R&D by the oil companies had lagged during the 90's because oil was so cheap - it wasn't worth exploring or developing extraction technologies.

But then, when the price rose, of course, those extraction technologies came online, and after a few years fracking became all the rage, natural gas prices tumbled and the US production of conventional plus unconventional began to climb.

This can't go on forever, but it is going to go on for another few decades. In the meantime, the high price of oil (and its attendant problems) clear the way for other energy technologies. Its interesting to watch these things develop.

Oh well, maybe an asteroid will hit us. Cheer up.

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rune', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')ust calling someone a moron? Talk about revisionist. Last time around you were asking me where I lived so you could come and knock my block off or something to that effect (pretty disturbing reaction to someone you don't read). If I'm a child, you are a baby. "Lest you become as these children... " now where did I read that?

[Rune]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rune', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'J')ust calling someone a moron? Talk about revisionist. Last time around you were asking me where I lived so you could come and knock my block off or something to that effect (pretty disturbing reaction to someone you don't read). If I'm a child, you are a baby. "Lest you become as these children... " now where did I read that?

[SeaGypsy]

Is English your second language? It's 'intolerant' and it's of idiots- not people with differing views. I have friends on here ranging from commies to tea partiers so whatever you reckon- I'm confident my mind is far more open to reality than yours.

[Rune]

Excuse me. I should have typed "intolerant". And you are.

[SeaGypsy]

Of you, because you are a total goose.