I think 50 to 75 years. Our biggest problem right now is a lack of refining capacity.For how many years from now do you think that the oil reserves on earth will be depleted ?
It won't so much be depleted, as it will be too expensive to use. It may already be here.
There will be a tipping point, at which the expense of fossil fuels becomes more expensive than alternatives.
I think the energy companies would like us to stay with the fuel-provider model, by switching us to nuclear energy or alternative fuels. But these alternatives will still provide more expensive energy.
I think we would all be better off if our buildings were as energy self-sufficient as possible by adding solar collectors to roofs and wind turbines of various sizes to out neighborhoods and backyards.
Amoco/PB has fitted many of their stations with solar, and Wal-Mart is working on this as well.
I expect a boom in solar like the 80's, only more sophisticated, with grid tie-ins and other efficiencies, soon.For how many years from now do you think that the oil reserves on earth will be depleted ?
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there is plenty of oil around the world they have created a shortage to raise the price up
thats a scary thought..umm i dont know by the pace we're useing it now i would say atleast 70yr from now...lucky most of us here today wouldnt be there to witness the problems that might be caused by that but i also believe men r really smart and they'll come up with somethin to replace oil..or find more oil reserves somewhere hidden today....
At current rates of consumption and economic growth, there is enough for about 200 to 300 years. But there are major concerns here - one is that the rate at which oil can be refined has peaked because we are getting close to the point of depleting all of the oil that is easily accessible - meaning that while there is still plenty of oil out there, it will get harder to find and more expensive to refine and bring to market. Another concern is climate change - if we continue to burn oil at our present rate, we are certain to cause catostrophic harm to the planet in about 100 years.
We need to boost our refinement and collection technology for oil shale. Crude Oil can not only be drilled and pumped from a well, it can be seperated from solid rock called oil shale. The only problem is that it involves strip mining and the it currently takes a lot of energy and money to seperate the crude oil from oil shale. When we do get this technology, oil will not run out for a long time, best of all there is a lot here in the US. There is something like 300 billion barrels of crude oil that has been found has been consumed in the past and may be drilled and consumed in the future. We have used about 100 billion so far in history making 200 billion left. In the case of oil shale, there are over 1.3 trillion barrels of oil to be recovored in the state of Colorado alone, then we won't need OPEC.
Humans have been mining gold for say 5,000 years as a rough estimate, in that time we have never run out of gold. Gold is still valuable and used around the world in all niches of society. The processes we have used have changed, the value of gold has changed but so far we haven't run out. We utilize fossil fuels in a variety of applications from fuel to plastics, some of those things can be done with other sources. When it is economical to change those process they will be changed. Instead of focusing all our energy on when something is going to run out (the problem), we need to focus on other ways of doing what we need to do (the solution).
It will never be completely depleted. But it will become so scarce compared to the demand that it will get ridiculously expensive. I would think that would happen within a few decades, or a century at most.
Last I heard 50 years. But that does not include Alaska or any other untapped areas.
If you watn REAL answers that are unbiased, check out the book, ';Resource Wars';. It has a section devoted to oil, siting LEGITIMATE sources (governments from around the world, scientific community, researchers, oil companies, etc...). At our current pace of production, 15-30 years. The remaining oil will be too costly to extract. Increasing capacity at the refining arena only draws down the supply quicker. We should be using the oil for plastics, not burning it up through the tailpipe or smokestack.... So many other options that even British Petroleum (BP) has a rollout plan for Hydrogen fueling stations.....
If we continue at our current pace, we could be looking at a great need for alternate energy sources in a few decades. Demand is rising, oil production can't keep up with consumption.
I'd say 20-25 years. I might be over optimistic on that number too.
at max iu would say that there is about 100years of oil left on the planet at the minumim i would say 50 but the reasherch in to alternative means of enargy is one of the top proritys but in the end everything runs out just like the sun is going to die in 50000years or so
