[whatpeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he real problem with oil is not scarcity; it's concentration and, I would argue, carbon, in the sense of global warming gases.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('whatpeak', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he real problem with oil is not scarcity; it's concentration and, I would argue, carbon, in the sense of global warming gases.

[thylacine]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nce you change the jalopy, as I call it, the juice will automatically move beyond the one we're using now, which is oil, and we can have the good things that cars provide, while minimizing most of the bad things that we think of associated with cars today.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thylacine', 'I')'m not sure if it's what he intended, but it all sounds a bit glib, doesn't recognise the problems with alternatives to oil and lets everyone go on thinking that the age of happy motoring will last forever.

[Mesuge]

Vijay is a typical sharlatan.. perhaps "bozzo expert" would be a better term for someone openly claiming that SUV is not the problem..

But not to bash PBS completely, there is a forthcomming 4/22/08
new edition of NOVA documentary series called "Car of the future".
According to the list of experts invited this might slip some PO related themes into the audience at large. But obviously the main message "don't worry cars are here to stay" most likely remains. They will show a couple of big EVs charged from home PV system and other contraptions in addition to all those fancy concepts:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/

[peasea]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Mesuge', 'V')ijay is a typical sharlatan.. perhaps "bozzo expert" would be a better term for someone openly claiming that SUV is not the problem..

But not to bash PBS completely, there is a forthcomming 4/22/08
new edition of NOVA documentary series called "Car of the future".
According to the list of experts invited this might slip some PO related themes into the audience at large. But obviously the main message "don't worry cars are here to stay" most likely remains. They will show a couple of big EVs charged from home PV system and other contraptions in addition to all those fancy concepts:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/car/

[MD]

"The real problem with oil is not scarcity." - true statement. There are trillions of barrels of the stuff laying about all over the planet.

The real problem is rising price due to investment, production, and maintenance costs that are orders of magnitude higher that they were in the gusher years.

This means a permanent change in the way we use energy. You are watching those changes play out right now.

We are living through the end of the age of the automobile. It's in progress right now, and will continue for a number of years (barring catastrophic events) until energy use patterns adjust to new paradigms.

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '"')The real problem with oil is not scarcity." - true statement. There are trillions of barrels of the stuff laying about all over the planet.

[gollum]

I think the hot shot economists are missing the rule of suply and demand here, looks like supply is scarcer than demand.

[KingDavid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yesplease', '
')
About those pesky oil alternatives. I've messed around in the car free sub-forum on bikeforums dot net, asking what makes a car a car and a bike a bike. Apparently, streamlined EVs are cars and not bikes. Although, at that point, or even assuming something as large/luxurious as a the Aptera, the cyclist ends up using the same amount of energy to move at a half to a third of the speed, or assuming they have an average diet, ten times more fossil fuel energy than the Aptera since every calorie at the plate requires around ten calories of fossil fuels. Sufficed to say, the Aptera is rather large, so personal streamlined EVs can cut the energy requirements for personal transportation down more.

Clearly, something that uses less energy than a cyclist for transportation in relative comfort at less cumulative cost than a Prius is oh so awful. Run for the hills before it's too late!

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KingDavid', 'H')uh, 10 times more? I know food has a fossil fuel cost but this is absurd.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', 'W')e are living through the end of the age of the automobile. It's in progress right now, and will continue for a number of years (barring catastrophic events) until energy use patterns adjust to new paradigms.

[Starvid]

The real problem with oil is not scarcity - it's price.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MD', '"')The real problem with oil is not scarcity." - true statement. There are trillions of barrels of the stuff laying about all over the planet.

The real problem is rising price due to investment, production, and maintenance costs that are orders of magnitude higher that they were in the gusher years.

[whereagles]

Agree scarcity isn't the main problem, although the fact that supply is limited IS the one and only source of all problems... (hum.. did that sound like a logical sentence??? lol)

Most forecasts put global URR at 2+ tera-barrels, of which we used about 1 only, so there should be plenty left. Trouble is side effects, like gradual loss of rate of flow due to depletion and non-conventional sources being harder to process. And then you have global warming causing further distress and, of course, escalating price.