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PeakOil is You

PeakOil is You

All Techno-Messiah Waiters Please Stand Up

General discussions of the systemic, societal and civilisational effects of depletion.

Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:02:30

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')More to the point, I think that there are a lot of activists around here who are working on this problem rather than other problems that I think are real problems. I would prefer they move over to those problems.
quote]


Translation: my strategy to increase my inclusive fitness involved a particular set or problems. People seem to be focusing on Peak Oil. The more people who focus on Peak Oil, the less effective my strategy to increase my inclusive fitness. Thus, I must dissuade people from preparing for Peak Oil.

BTW, I'm here to increase my inclusive fitness also. It's just part of being human. We're better off in the end if we acknowledge that rather than deluding oursevles about how we're here to help "end war" while we are entirely dependent on a war machine for the most basic necessities of life.
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Unread postby entropyfails » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:07:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '
')I pretty much feel this way. I think we need another 20 years before we have the technology in place. I'm arguing with those people who think we can't get 20 more years with oil replacements. Secondarily, I'm arguing with people who think there need to be huge preparations for an oil crash right now, rather than continuing the focus of the left-wing community over the last 20 years on things like ending war, preventing environmental degradation and famine, and lowering the class gap.

I felt like your original post construed me as someone saying "business as usual forever, hooray! Everything will be great!" That's not true at all.


On what depletion rates? If we have a worldwide 3% depletion rate, maybe. It still feels like it would make for a large drag on the world economy to build to make up for a 6% gap in the supply/demand. Even at those rates, alternatives would have to make up 50% of production in 12 years time!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Oil Demand Alternative
85.00 85.00 0.00
82.45 87.55 5.10
79.98 90.18 10.20
77.58 92.88 15.30
75.25 95.67 20.42
72.99 98.54 25.55
70.80 101.49 30.69
68.68 104.54 35.86
66.62 107.68 41.06
64.62 110.91 46.29
62.68 114.23 51.55
60.80 117.66 56.86
58.98 121.19 62.21
')

If maximum extraction methods have damaged wells beyond repair and we see North Sea like declines in world production we will have 6 years to make up for 50% of production.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Oil Demand Alternative
85.00 85.00 0.00
76.50 87.55 11.05
68.85 90.18 21.33
61.97 92.88 30.92
55.77 95.67 39.90
50.19 98.54 48.35
45.17 101.49 56.32
')

Rate and magnitude make a big difference here and we have many unknowns. I don't feel certain of any particular prediction, good or bad. However I do note a trend downward.
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Unread postby jtmorgan61 » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:07:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hen why are you wasting your time here? Even if each of your 101 posts only took a minute to compose, not accounting for the time it took you to log on, read the messages/news stories on the board, etc. .. you've wasted over an hour and a half debating people about something you think is never going to happen.

If you were really concerned about "ending war" wouldn't you be out finding ways to eliminate your dependence on the resources (financial capital, energy, raw materials) the wars are being fought over, not debating those of us who, by preparing for something that "isn't going to happen", are probably doing more to "end war" than anybody else?

As far as shortening the gap between rich and poor: simply lower your income to less than $1,000/year. With an income of $1,000/year, you would still be in the top 45% of the global population. See GlobalRichList.org What's the saying, "Be the change you wish to make."


I can't do jack right now with a bad back, and if a couple weekends of posting when I can't do much else spares even one person from worrying about this for the next 5 years and instead they get involved with real change, or even take up a personally enriching hobby, then I feel like I spent my time well.

I remember this thread starting off as an argument about whether oil is going to crash or not, not whether I, personally, am the most holy person to ever walk amongst man. You wanted to know who had a scenario that was going avert the scenario laid out on your webpage. I put up a scenario and so far as I can tell, you've identified a lot of other problems that are unrelated to the oil crash and gone on the offensive. Let's talk about why my scenario is wrong, where the numbers don't add up.
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:09:14

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you or anybody else on the left (or right) were truly concerned about these things, you would stop driving/riding in machines powered by the internal combustion engine, turn off your computer, and live on less than $5,000/year, which would still put in the top 15% of the world's population. (See globalrichlist.org).


I'm living on the low impact end of the scale. Live close to work, no heat or A/C, eat vegetarian, would ride my bike to work if I didn't have a back injury. You can't live on $5000/year in the U.S. You know that.
.


Live under a bridge. You can eat for under $10 a day easily. It would be a crappy life (by early 21st century American standards) but you would be living your values rather than what you are doing now, which is living a lifestyle slightly less gluttonous than the average American.

The only people who claim to want to "end war" who I respect are the war-tax protestors, because they put their money where their mouth is. as they voluntarily reduce their incomes to the $5,000-$8,000 range so they don't have to pay income tax. This also means their consuming a lot less than the rest of us. It's certainly not a lifestyle I'm willing to live, but I do tip my cap to those who do.

Everybody else is full of it.

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Unread postby MonteQuest » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:14:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', ' ')I remember this thread starting off as an argument about whether oil is going to crash or not, not whether I, personally, am the most holy person to ever walk amongst man.


No, this thread was about the fact that we don't have the pipeline infrastructure to move alternatives fuels.
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Unread postby jtmorgan61 » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:14:26

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ate and magnitude make a big difference here and we have many unknowns. I don't feel certain of any particular prediction, good or bad. However I do note a trend downward.


Absolutely. That is probably the crux of the argument. And we simply don't know what the decline rate will be.

Say decline is at 6%. At 3%, it was going to cost $175 billion a year. At 6%, it'll cost perhaps $350 billion a year, albeit with a much bigger risk of bottlenecks, shortages, and supply falling behind demand. I would bet very strongly on a 5-10 year global recession while everyone scrambles to change technologies if this is the case. But a depression is not a systemic collapse where we go back to living like serfs.

I would be shocked if decline got above about 6%. Decline is going to be below the highest rates of decline, simply because
a) some wells are declining slower
b) some wells are not declining yet
c) some wells are going to see tertiary recovery as oil gets more expensive
d) some new wells are being added.

Going over Hubbard's Peak in the US, production has declined at ~1.75%, at least in part because there are so many wells adding these mitigating factors. I'm aware that offshore and new technology production produces faster declines.

A lot of people key in on Ghawar and claim it could decline at 10% and seem to assume it will set decline rates. Well, it's about 5 mbd, right? So we'd lose 500000 bd/yr. We're replacing over 1mbd/yr
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:16:39

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hen why are you wasting your time here? Even if each of your 101 posts only took a minute to compose, not accounting for the time it took you to log on, read the messages/news stories on the board, etc. .. you've wasted over an hour and a half debating people about something you think is never going to happen.

If you were really concerned about "ending war" wouldn't you be out finding ways to eliminate your dependence on the resources (financial capital, energy, raw materials) the wars are being fought over, not debating those of us who, by preparing for something that "isn't going to happen", are probably doing more to "end war" than anybody else?

As far as shortening the gap between rich and poor: simply lower your income to less than $1,000/year. With an income of $1,000/year, you would still be in the top 45% of the global population. See GlobalRichList.org What's the saying, "Be the change you wish to make."


I can't do jack right now with a bad back, and if a couple weekends of posting when I can't do much else spares even one person from worrying about this for the next 5 years and instead they get involved with real change, or even take up a personally enriching hobby, then I feel like I spent my time well.

I remember this thread starting off as an argument about whether oil is going to crash or not, not whether I, personally, am the most holy person to ever walk amongst man. You wanted to know who had a scenario that was going avert the scenario laid out on your webpage.


The scenario on my webpage involves the following:

1. Reource wars
2. Financial collapse

The scenario I see in real life is:

1. Oil war in Iraq, probably more to come.
2. Slow motion collapse of the economy as evidenced by what is going on in the automotive and airline industries.

So how is the scenario on my site being averted?
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:19:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', ' ')I remember this thread starting off as an argument about whether oil is going to crash or not, not whether I, personally, am the most holy person to ever walk amongst man.


No, this thread was about the fact that we don't have the pipeline infrastructure to move alternatives fuels.


Exactly.

Which is why I'm going back to posting under my pseudonym, "Hubbert's Beeyotch." Whenever I post under my real name, people come out of the woodwork to "debunk" my site. And I inevitably get drawn into an online squabble. (can't help myself)

Best,

Hubbert's Beeyotch
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Unread postby Ghog » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:25:45

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 's')pares even one person from worrying about this for the next 5 years and instead they get involved with real change, or even take up a personally enriching hobby


Funny I see your imput providing less to this than PO preparation. So far people speak of getting back to nature (gardening, biking), increasing their knowledge (studies of alternative energy, wilderness survival) and lowering their expenses through reduced consumption (here is that dreaded rich/poor gap closing, for why have money if not to consume?). All of this directly relates to fighting global warming and protecting the environment. Two of YOUR causes!! Thanks Peakoil.com! You have made my life BETTER even while 'worrying' about PO.
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Unread postby MonteQuest » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:29:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', ' ')You wanted to know who had a scenario that was going avert the scenario laid out on your webpage. I put up a scenario and so far as I can tell, you've identified a lot of other problems that are unrelated to the oil crash and gone on the offensive.


JohnDenver summarized your scenario here and you agreed with it.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'S')o, after 10 years of investment, you expect the U.S. to reach a second, higher peak in oil production. The 1970 peak (of 9.64 mbd) will be substantially exceeded in 2020 (reaching 13mbd). In 2020 the U.S. will be producing oil from coal and trash at a rate faster than Saudi Arabia has ever pumped in its entire history?


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', 'Y')eah, pretty much. It's just a matter of what resources we have. We have way, way more coal than we had oil. We have an enormous agricultural sector.

Let's talk about why my scenario is wrong, where the numbers don't add up.


These numbers will never add up because pigs can't fly!

Here's an example: People say we should colonize space and move the growing population to other worlds.

Ok, the net increase in world population is 250,000/day. Then all we have to do is build spaceships in orbit capable of holding 250,000 people, food and water to sustain them, all their personal belongings, terra-forming equipment, a source of energy, etc, etc, etc, and launch one every day forever.

If we did absolutely nothing else forever, we couldn't achieve this, athough it is theoretically possible given enough resources.

Same thing holds true for your scenario. It looks good on paper, but in reality, it is pie-in-the sky thinking.
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Unread postby jtmorgan61 » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:32:58

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he scenario on my webpage involves the following:

1. Reource wars
2. Financial collapse

The scenario I see in real life is:

1. Oil war in Iraq, probably more to come.
2. Slow motion collapse of the economy as evidenced by what is going on in the automotive and airline industries.


I remember something about a $200 price superspike, panic in the streets, and an analysis of why each individual energy source couldn't instantly take up all of the energy production.

Are we likely to see another war? Dubya's popularity has crashed. The public has finally seen through his promises. We're running out of money, and we're running out of friends.

Who are we going to fight with? Saudi Arabia is our bitch. Iran is too big to fight, and they are opening up to foreign investment. Who are we going to fight with? China needs us as badly as we need them, economically. India is pretty close to us. Russia is in too much chaos to launch a major offensive and they have plenty of oil. I'd be shocked if we got into a war with an EU country.

About the only scenario I envision is that we take on Syria. That's a small country. The much bigger Iraq boondoggle hasn't stopped our economy.

On the economics side, the problem with US major airlines and car factories is that they are being outcompeted.

The airlines are being outcompeted by smaller, local carriers. Those companies are making money. The bigger companies were losing money when oil was cheap.

The american car companies are being outcompeted by foreign companies making more reliable, better handling cars. They were also in trouble when oil was cheap. To the extent that they're in more trouble now, it's because people are gradually no longer buying SUVs and trucks because gas has gotten expensive. Foreign car companies are still quite profitable.

In any market economy, someone is going to hit bottom. If oil increases in price another $20, maybe a few more of these dinosaurs will go down than would have otherwise. The remaining companies will continue to innovate and pass on the very modest increases in price due to oil to the consumer (e.g. jet fuel costs are 15% of airline costs. If oil prices hit $120/barrel tomorrow, then we'd see a $300 ticket jump to $345).
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:32:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ghog', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 's')pares even one person from worrying about this for the next 5 years and instead they get involved with real change, or even take up a personally enriching hobby


Funny I see your imput providing less to this than PO preparation. So far people speak of getting back to nature (gardening, biking), increasing their knowledge (studies of alternative energy, wilderness survival) and lowering their expenses through reduced consumption (here is that dreaded rich/poor gap closing, for why have money if not to consume?). All of this directly relates to fighting global warming and protecting the environment. Two of YOUR causes!! Thanks Peakoil.com! You have made my life BETTER even while 'worrying' about PO.


Exactly.

Three years ago, I would have donated money/time/energy to any of the causes jtmorgan mentioned, thereby indirectly raising his inclusive fitness. He's involved in certain issues, so if those issues become more prominent, it's good for him. Not necessarily in a monetary sense, but that is not what inclusive fitness is purely about.

Now I'm too busy using that money/time/energy to buy a spinning composter, a portable solar pv system, or maybe taking some cash out of the bank and putting it precious metals, all of which stem from my attempts to prepare for the ramificatcions of Peak Oil. I imagine my shift in priorities is not unusual amongst those on the board.

The side effect of preparing for peak oil is that if you are a member of the anti-war crowd, your preparations will begin slowing aligning your "talk" with your "walk."

You can see why proving the severe ramifications of peak oil as described on my site and countless others "will not happen" is so important to JT, who by his own admission is living a lifestyle only slightly less dependent on energetic and economic warfare than the average American.

Best,

Matt
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Unread postby jtmorgan61 » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:35:44

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think we can all agree that if anything is to replace even a significant fraction (10, 20, 30%?) of our oil and gas consumption, it is going to have to be distributed across the nation, and moreover, the world.

If you're waiting for renewable derived hydrogen, algae produced biodiesel, the entity pazoozoo, etc. . .to come save us, remember that we're going to need some type of system to distribute that stuff wide and far. To understand the scale of what we're talking about, take a look at this:


Most of the TD or coal-to-oil is going to be relatively local. Since it's still oil we're making, we can just use existing pipelines. Pipeline infrastructure will have to continue growing with demand, just as it has in the past.

My favored replacement technology is plug-in hybrids leading to battery cars, sometime around 2030. That doesn't require new pipeline capacity.
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Unread postby Raxozanne » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:37:25

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '
')A lot of people key in on Ghawar and claim it could decline at 10% and seem to assume it will set decline rates. Well, it's about 5 mbd, right? So we'd lose 500000 bd/yr. We're replacing over 1mbd/yr


Yes but don't forget demand is increasing aswell at the same time.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')I remember something about a $200 price superspike, panic in the streets, and an analysis of why each individual energy source couldn't instantly take up all of the energy production.


Why do you say you see no problem? Don't you think there might be a problem if oil hit $200?
Last edited by Raxozanne on Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:39:32, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby EnergySpin » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:39:30

Why do we need to replace the current oil usage?
The idea is to scale down to prevent GW;
Monte pigs can fly ....this site is about flying pigs and their final fate (they die). LINK
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Unread postby jtmorgan61 » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:41:12

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ere's an example: People say we should colonize space and move the growing population to other worlds.


That's a really stupid idea. That would costs orders and orders of magnitude beyond these replacements, which won't cost much more than just pumping the oil out of the ground.

Good old strawman, never gets old.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ame thing holds true for your scenario. It looks good on paper, but in reality, it is pie-in-the sky thinking.


Why isn't the internet example I gave a good parallel? Recent history, same magnitude of physical and capital expansion, same period of time, same market forces driving it. In fact, it's harder because my parallel assumes no upgrades - probably the expansion was way bigger - and because computer and internet companies were not anywhere near the size of the oil majors today.
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:42:52

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') think we can all agree that if anything is to replace even a significant fraction (10, 20, 30%?) of our oil and gas consumption, it is going to have to be distributed across the nation, and moreover, the world.

If you're waiting for renewable derived hydrogen, algae produced biodiesel, the entity pazoozoo, etc. . .to come save us, remember that we're going to need some type of system to distribute that stuff wide and far. To understand the scale of what we're talking about, take a look at this:


Most of the TD or coal-to-oil is going to be relatively local. Since it's still oil we're making, we can just use existing pipelines. Pipeline infrastructure will have to continue growing with demand, just as it has in the past.

My favored replacement technology is plug-in hybrids leading to battery cars, sometime around 2030. That doesn't require new pipeline capacity.


No, but it requires huge economies scale. The point of the pipeline picture was to illustrate the scale of our energy system.

Comparing pipelines to plug in hybrids is like comparing apples and oranges: In this case we have tons and tons of apples and in order to replace a declining apple supply, we need tons and tons of oranges.

I showed you a picture of the apples to illustrate how huge and complex the situation is.
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Unread postby Raxozanne » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:44:00

Look mate I suggest you move on.

www.peakoil.com isn't a site for people who don't think PO will occur.
go cheack out www.planetark.com or something and join up with some environmentalists.
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Unread postby MattSavinar » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:45:23

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jtmorgan61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ere's an example: People say we should colonize space and move the growing population to other worlds.


That's a really stupid idea. That would costs orders and orders of magnitude beyond these replacements, which won't cost much more than just pumping the oil out of the ground.

Good old strawman, never gets old.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ame thing holds true for your scenario. It looks good on paper, but in reality, it is pie-in-the sky thinking.


Why isn't the internet example I gave a good parallel? Recent history, same magnitude of physical and capital expansion, same period of time, same market forces driving it. In fact, it's harder because my parallel assumes no upgrades - probably the expansion was way bigger - and because computer and internet companies were not anywhere near the size of the oil majors today.


Well for one thing, George Bush didn't invade Silicon Valley in 1990 in hopes of seizing control of a rapidly shrinking supply of bandwidth.
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Unread postby EnergySpin » Sat 30 Jul 2005, 17:45:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hy isn't the internet example I gave a good parallel

internet expansion relied on telephone lines (some of us are old enough to remember 1200bps modems and 8Mhz 8 bit processors). The internet does not suffer from stability problems, and it is a digital technology (there is no loss of information during transmission). Energy distribution networks are quite different even though structurally similar (small scale networks). Sorry bad example
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