We're running out of oil

In My Humble Opinion
41

Enip, thank you, I appreciate that…
I can’t believe the people that actually believe that we are running out of oil.
It’s just so darn funny!!
Those are usually the same ones that believe we are running out of beans for coffee and toilet paper.
And those people want the people that dont agree with them about the oil to drive what THEY think they should drive? haha

I remember back when people used to just :
“tend to their own business”
and
“kept their nose out of other peoples’ business”
I miss those days…

oh, and PS to the > ( I believe it was the OP?)
Even in my BIG truck I often get behind vans and other trucks that I can’t see around. But for some reason I don’t feel compelled to go off the deep end and demand they quit making vans. I just deal with, and carry on about my business.

I also dont have a problem with protecting and conserving our oil.
Conservation is a “good thing” in many ways.
it’s when other people start demanding,whining and complaining about someone elses choices that bothers me.

42

Whatever.

43

If the shoe fits…interesting article about the people who buy SUV’s. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14839

44

Oh good Gawd suzeekay. If you’re going to link an article, at least make it a rational one.

Also, you endanger hijacking your own thread into The Pit if you link more articles that call SUV drivers “assholes”.

45

Assuming that a good deal of the statistics on that site were accurate. I think “assholes” would be accurate for some (but not all) SUVs drivers. It’s not slander if it’s the truth. It’s just a question of if the statistics are accurate and reflective of the truth.

46

From the article—

Heh. Do you still beat your wife? Agenda? Bias? Nope nothing to see here, just move along…

Hee, hee. “Savage Jungle Cat”. That’s what Woody Allen refered to himself in Anie Hall.

Here’s the “Savage Jungle Cat”. I knew you had to have a good imagination to be a writer…but, really.

http://www.dodge.com/durango/

Vertical bars that look like teeth? Jesus, if they are going to start making stuff up, they should at least get the right car. I think they are talking about the Jeep. Which, since WWII, has had vertical bars in the grill. Watch out you nazis. grrrrr, grrrrrr. :smiley:

Yeah, I’m a real asshole when I pull people out of ditches (they are always getting stuck around where I live). Heh, there was a thread quite a way back (it may have been on the Car Talk Guys forum) wherein a poster described pulling a car out of the ditch. The people that he rescued then proceded to berate him from driveing a big vehicle.

Assuming those statistics are accurate, I would think that mis-informed would be a better term than “assholes”.

47

Gee, that changes EVERYTHING. :rolleyes:

48

Oil is a valuable resource and we may or may not be running out of it, I don’t know. but I do think it is bad that we waste so much of it. We have to drive everywhere, to the park, gym, store, work etc. Also, in most of the US, we have essentially no public transportation, and what we do have is woefully inadequate. Unfortunately the rest of the world seems to want to copy us.

And all these oil and chemicals in the air cannot be good for our health.

If we would build communities that were walkable, with places worth walking to, I feel we would be much better off.

If someone wants a huge car/truck whatever, and wants to drive over an hour from the suburbs to town to work and back, thats fine. I would like to have the option of not having to rely on a car for absolutely everthing.

If we in the US would actually give the free market a chance, and quit subsidizing one form of transportation at the expense of others, I feel we would have more diverse options (cars, rail, feet, bikes etc) which would be a good thing overall.

49

I’m sure I read somewhere we managed for 100s of years without SUVs. So why is it we need them now?

Why does Johnny L.A. need two motorbikes and a 2-1/2 foot kayak attached to his transport? Does his life really depend on it? Some people need to stop kidding themselves and re-evaluate what it is they want and what it is they need. You want the SUV because it supports the lifestyle you want. Need doesn’t come into it.

Oil is running out, it is obviously a finite resource. And bacteria farms isn’t going to solve that. The need here is energy. Where is the bacteria going to get this energy at such a rate?

50

Some people have asked me why I have two motorcycles. Why do I even have one? I have a strong sentimental attachment to the older of the two bikes. The newer one is faster and more fun.

The smaller bike gets 55 mpg, which beats out the OP’s car. A Royal Enfield Bullet, while slow, gets 70 mpg. Most people drive solo most of the time, so they don’t need to be on four wheels except on a few occasions or when the weather is inclement. I’ve never had any problems bringing home my groceries in a backpack. (Which, incidentally, reduces waste by eliminating the “paper or plastic” question.) Motorcycles take up less space on the roads, so traffic will move much faster. Less time spent idling in traffic means less fuel burned. Motorcycles use fewer materials to manufacture, too; and they can be transported to the dealership in greater numbers on a single truck than can cars. Less fuel burned transporting them.

Truly, anyone who is worried about running out of petroleum must give up his car and ride a motorcycle! :smiley:

[sub]In case anyone missed the point, here it is: A person should choose the vehicle that suits his mission. Some people can get by with a motorcycle, and others can get by with a subcompact car. Others need larger vehicles such as vans – a popular target of criticism in the 1970s and early-1980s – or trucks or SUVs. Sure, many people have “more vehicle” than they “need”. The OP is just as unjustified in slamming “gas guzzling SUVs” as I would be to slam “gas-guzzling subcompact cars” (relative to motorcycles). People have different needs, and there is no way that an observer can tell what those needs are based on random sightings.[/sub]

51

Umm, you read it somewhere. OK.

I just took a poll.

Question number One -

  1. Who here needs an SUV.

a. I do. So does my Wife.

No need to ask anyone else since they do not have the information needed to give an informed opinon. Simple isn’t it.

Remember how large cars where in the 60’s, 70’s. Nothing has really changed.

If anything, things have improved. The station wagons of the 70’s have been replaced by SUV’s. And the SUV’s get better MPG, and put out much less polution.

Bull. I live where I need an SUV. I like living here. I can’t afford to live closer to work. And even if I could, I would still need an SUV, or a full sized 4x4 truck. Which would you prefer? The truck or the SUV?

And, what the hell is wrong with having the lifestyle you want? Want to splain that to me?

And let me repeat. I like where I live. I bought my house 12 years ago because I could afford it. I also needed a place where I could let my dog live and I’m sorry to say, die, happy.

Sheeeesss, the anti-SUV folks need to get out of their own little private world and realize that people are different.

52

At the end of 2002, the U.S. had 22,667 MMBO in proven reserves, and had, in that year, seen a 112% replacement of consumption by new reserve additions. The ten year average for reserve replacements was 95.8%, influenced by a negative spike of 24% in 1998. That spike represented industry conditions rather than any technical difficulty in locating reserves. Considering that the U.S. is the most mature exploration province in the world, that replacement rate is significant.

World reserves, as reported by the Energy Information Administration, were between 1,032-1018 GBO (billion barrels) as of the beginning of 2002. It should be noted that “proved reserves” are not really proven until you pump them out of the ground. And all entities reporting have some motivation to report the best figures possible, and estimates are generated in probabilities. So, let’s be pessimistic and lop a bit off and say there’s about 850 GBO truly established.

By the end of 1997 it’s estimated that the world had consumed 800 GBO, the majority of which was produced and consumed via means far less efficient than what we have today.

One way or another, the point is that we’ve only used about half of what’s been found, we find, develop and use it more efficiently now and we continue to find the stuff.

Other considerations are that world demand is going to increase as third world countries develop industrialized economies. NYMEX light sweet has been trading around $34/bbl. and natural gas has been around $7/MMBtu. While the industry’s been subject to wild swings, for the most part those prices are, I believe, not going to significantly drop for any extended period.

As I said above, as it behooves us, we will adjust our consumption.

I agree that relying on imports for ~60% of our oil makes us dependent on foreign supply to an often uncomfortable degree. We need to develop domestic reserves such as ANWR, and I think we will.

But we’re nowhere near being out of oil.
Reading: Energy Information Administration, The End of Cheap Oil

53

Heya Johnny,

From your post -

This should be repeted a thousand times.

Anyway, cool on the Royal Enfield. Wow.

I’m trying to restore an old vertical twin. It’s a, ummm… Yamaha.

1978 650. Always liked them. It’s basically a copy of the old British twins.

54

I don’t have a Royal Enfield yet. There are other irons in the fire (restoring the '66 MGB, building a garage, chimney service, etc.). They’re really cheap (about $4,000 new), but I should probably wait until I have a job before I buy one.

Of course, 70 mpg comes at a price; the Bullet has a maximum speed of only 70 mph. But for in-town, pleasure rides, or short freeway trips, it’s low speed shouldn’t be a problem.

Anyway… Curse those bloody car drivers who are clogging our motorways and only getting ~40 mpg! Don’t they know we’re running out of oil? Cars should be outlawed, and only motorcycles and scooters allowed! :smiley: :wink:

55

70mph is plenty fast enough for my frame, when there’s so little between me and the tarmac.

Of course, I’m a coward.

56

There is plenty of oil(in spite that president carter said that the world would run out of oil by 1985).

We in America still have plenty of oil in Alaska and California.

There is plenty of oil in the middle east, and in china.

By the time oil does start to get scarce maybe a hundred years from now, we can make lots more oil from the tar sands in Canada and Isreal, and from coal in china.

57

Heya Johnny -

More hijack -

OMG. MGB’s are dangerous! So are motorcycles! But I bet you already know that.

But what the hey.

I had an accident when I was 11 years old on my Yam 100cc LT2. 130 stiches in my head. Nearly lost an ear. Thanksgiving day. Burnt that bird we did.

The 650 is something to do when I’m not working on the house. I’m pulling down the ceiling in the downstairs bathroom in between posts. Had to take a break.

The guy I bought the 650 from rebuilt the engine 180 degrees off. He didn’t tell me that, and I doubt he knew he (or his mech.) did it. It was pretty much in pieces when I got it. $200 bucks. Couldn’t resist. Pretty Bike.

It took me quite a while to figure out what was wrong.

  • Compression, Good.
  • Fuel, Good
    -Timing, Good. (or so it looked)

It would not pop. Nothing.

I finally pulled the valve covers off the thing to litteraly see what valve was opening when to find the problem.

Switched the left coil to the right, and visa versa, and instant motorcycle. That was a very happy day.

58

I had a scooter (Honda) unfortunately it was stolen almost a year ago. I haven’t replaced it (or “upgraded”) to a motorcycle because I can’t afford it right now. Maybe someday.

59

Thats why I said some SUV drivers. I hope no one is faulting people who just don’t know this stuff, but those who do know and drive for vanity or their own percieved saftey (at a huge saftey cost to everyone else) are a different story.

60

I’ve been thinking about getting motorcycle when the good money starts coming in. Weather permiting they look do like quite abit of fun.