You are hereForums / General Discussion / BMORC Chat / Catalyst on ABC1 tonight (28/04/2011) 8pm- Peak Oil
Catalyst on ABC1 tonight (28/04/2011) 8pm- Peak Oil
Tonight on the Catalyst program on ABC1 at 8pm there wil be a story by Bronwyn Herbert about peak oil. She will interview the chief economist of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol.
For those that are unfamiliar with the term, peak oil is the point in time when the global production of oil will reach its maximum rate, after which production will gradually decline. This in turn will lead to fuel costing massive amounts at the pump.
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Tags
correct me if i'm wrong, wasn't peak oil reached in the 70's?..as i say, i will stand corrected, i was lead to beleive it was 1973 to be precise!
Thanks JP. Bummer I just missed it. Hope they put it on iview.
Todd, I think the problem is no one actually knows for sure whether we have hit it yet as the size of the world resources are hard to quantify especially in countries which have less than open policies.
The other problem that no one mentions is that oil isn't just burnt for energy - it is used for lubrication etc which machines still need even when powered from renewable/green energy.
That must be why we are paying 'massive amounts at the pump' now!
I think the 1970s was when US production topped out. Have a look at the graph on Wikipedia... which is clear as mud unfortunately
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
Our PVR says it will record a later broadcast of this episode of Catalyst (due to some other girlie stuff on this evening) so can't comment on the show.
I do listen to one podcast that regularly brings this topic up though (although Peak Oil isn't the main topic, it has a lot to do with some other themes in the show).
One thing I regularly hear is that although the size of the bucket is a problem (the amount of oil actually left) it's the size of the pipe coming out that will limit production in the coming years that will be the real problem. Eg. oil companies claim that the Canadian Oil Sands contain a lot of oil, but extraction of that oil is very slow and very costly in terms of energy input (eg. you burn 30% of a barrel of oil for every full barrel extracted from these sands[1]) and environmental damage.
Personally, the oil sands disgust me, as does the whole quest for black stuff at the expense of everything else (environment destroyed, wars fought, seas polluted, local peoples poisoned, etc, etc).
On the sands - I read somewhere that the producers had pledged to rehabilitate the landscape when they had finished extraction. Well, fair enough so what have they done? Since 1978 Syncrude like to boast they have "...reclaimed over 4,600 hectares of land disturbed by oil sands mining operations."[2] Sounds impressive until you realise the scale of the oil sands operation and that has taken 30 years!
Official government figures[3] state "There are 530 square kilometers (km2) of land disturbed due to oil sands mine operations... Currently, over 65 km2 of disturbed lands have been reclaimed. Reclamation certificates will not be issued until monitoring through time demonstrates these particular lands meet our criteria for return to self-sustaining ecosystems... In March 2008, Alberta issued the first-ever oil sands land reclamation certificate to Syncrude Canada Ltd. for the 104-hectare parcel of land known as Gateway Hill..."
So in 30 years of operation only 1/8th of the land that has been damaged has been rehabilitated as defined by miners. Of that, only 104 hectares of that (that's around 1 km2 or 0.2%) has been certified by the government. Call me cynical, but I imagine that when the oil is gone, so will the money for this rehabilitation (even though the above says there is a fund put aside for that, but how is that held?) and all that will be left is a wasteland.
Sorry for the slight rant folk, but do not put off tomorrow what you can do today. We have to stop burning oil sooner or later. Why put off finding a better source of energy? Because we could trash the planet first, then find the replacement! Hardly common sense is it?!
[1] http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/scraping_barr...
[2] http://www.syncrude.ca/users/folder.asp?FolderID...
[3] http://environment.alberta.ca/02012.html
Apparently this will be repeated tomorrow night at 11pm. If you haven't nodded off watching that other think with Wills & Kate
Rob,
You should be out on our ride instead.
http://bmorc.com/node/21141
Still not up to riding off road, but perhaps might get to take a spin on the road if the sun comes out. At least I've managed to get on the trainer a few times this week and can feel a tiny bit of strength coming back.
Sorry Rob - forgot about the Mont. Get well soon.
Picture the world as one of those cadbury eggs with the soft filling (oil), now put a chuppa straw in the egg (oil well), now start sucking, doesn't want to come out easy but keep tryin, now as you extract the good stuff picture you are wearing a fullface helmet( the atmosphere) and a scarf, liitle by little things start heating up the egg continues to yield her fruits and as she is hollowed out she begins to cave in on herself (earthquakes), things are heating up you begin to sweat (Floods)
just a theory but it seems obvious