Rebuttals to common arguments against peak oil

[danielsangeo]

Humans have to exploit the earth to survive (capitalism)

 

Wait, WHAT?!

[Michael Archer]

Man, You have to get it into Your head that the former has nothing to do with the latter.

 

Wait, WHAT?!

[/quote

 

Sorry, I should've elaborated:

 

The only system that respects and upholds man's nature as a rational being is capitalism as it's the only system that bans the initiation of force to survive.

 

So the only system that lets us exploit the earth is capitalism. Therefore, the only system that lets us live to our full potential is capitalism.

[danielsangeo]

The only system that respects and upholds man's nature as a rational being is capitalism as it's the only system that bans the initiation of force to survive.

 

Okay, like I said in another post, define "capitalism" in your own words. Don't tell me to "look it up yourself" or give me a dictionary definition. I want you to define it in your own words.

[ProHypster]

The only system that respects and upholds man's nature as a rational being is capitalism as it's the only system that bans the initiation of force to survive.

 

Okay, like I said in another post, define "capitalism" in your own words. Don't tell me to "look it up yourself" or give me a dictionary definition. I want you to define it in your own words.

Like I said in another post, look at his reputation rating, lots of people said what you said.

[Michael Archer]

Like I said in another post, look at his reputation rating, lots of people said what you said.

 

And like I said in another post; this is why the reputation is retarded.

[BTGBullseye]

And like I said in another post; this is why the reputation is retarded.

-rep for that.

[Razor235]

There is one problem with the electric cars of today, they aren't as clean as purported. Electricity, like all other energies, is not spontaneously created. It has to come from somewhere. Guess what that somewhere is? Coal, oil, biomass, etc., etc. Perhaps, when we finally accept nuclear power, they will become clean as a whistle, but right now, they are pretty dirty.

 

The argument developers are giving about these vehicles is that they put out less emissions then a petrol-fueled car. NOPE.AVI They actually put more of a strain on the NIMBY power plants, leading to more pollution. And in the case of coal plants, this means a lot more radiation released into the atmosphere. When burned, coal releases all of the radiation absorbed into what once were plants.

[Ross Scott]

The argument developers are giving about these vehicles is that they put out less emissions then a petrol-fueled car. NOPE.AVI They actually put more of a strain on the NIMBY power plants, leading to more pollution. And in the case of coal plants, this means a lot more radiation released into the atmosphere. When burned, coal releases all of the radiation absorbed into what once were plants.

Actually everything I've read indicates that even if the electricity is being produced via coal, the amount of pollution from an electric car is less than or roughly equal to what would be produced via gasoline. And this is a worst-case scenario coal plant, not one with secondary scrubbers, etc.

 

Regardless, I see the pollution as a secondary issue. The larger one is that our society is incredibly dependent on oil and I think we'll start seeing a decline for it in a few years, with not having any real solution in sight. Having a giant switch to electric cars isn't an end-all solution, but it could buy a lot of time.

[Razor235]

True. I am currently theorizing ideas about how we could make fuel-cell cars much more affordable, or even find a way to just run on hydrogen. Better yet, just find a way to run them without any combustion, which wastes heat, light, and sound energy; or major energy-consuming processes such as the mass-electrolysis fuel-cell cars would need. Essentially, possibly tap energy from the Earth itself, find a way to convert it to electrical energy, then run it under roads. Cars could use a device that is in use now, transmitting energy from wires under the road to the vehicle. Combine this with a few solar panels, and instead of an engine, duct air into a turbine that generates power for things like radio, A/C, and other accessories. If we could find a way to harness waste kinetic energy, the need for oil could disappear almost completely.

[Vapymid]

There are several threads that ended up talking about the same thing, so I post this here as it seems the most relevant:

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/22/synthetic_hydrocarbons/

 

I think the author is probably a bit on the optimistic side when he is making his 15 years prediction and abundance of oil IMHO will not by itself put an end to all human conflict but it's still an interesting overview.

 

Rehatfs