When Will Oil run Out?
One of my recent idle thoughts, apart from having laser hair removal, was on whether or not there will come a time when oil will run out. Or will it last forever.
Oil powers the world, or that’s what it seems like. With the rate of oil consumption increasing as more countries develop, a very valid question is: When will the oil run out? After all, oil is a resource that is not renewable. Oil is a finite natural resource. We cannot (at present anyway) make more oil. We can try to discover more oil, but we cannot manufacture this valuable resource.
While experts agree at present that oil is a finite resource, it is difficult to figure out when the oil will run out, since it is challenging to get good estimates of the amount of oil available in the world, as well as project oil consumption over time. However, some rough estimates can be attempted, and an even rougher estimate of years left before “oil runs out”can be attempted by dividing the amount of oil in the world by the amount of oil consumed per year.
However, such a calculation is not only rough, it is making too many assumptions. One assumption is that the consumption rate of oil will remain constant over time. That is clearly not the case, as the trend has been an increase in consumption. Also, alternate energy technologies being developed may, over time, cause a decrease in oil consumption.
Some experts say we will never run out of oil because of the power of the market economy. If oil becomes scarce, according to the laws of the market and supply and demand, the price will increase to a point that consumers will be motivated to consume less (and seek alternate forms of energy that cost less).
So in a sense, oil will never truly run out. It may just become too expensive to use, and give way to cheaper, and hopefully renewable, forms of energy.
Similar Posts:
The Future? : I’m in business, am well up with the latest…
Politics : We’ve all been there…It’s our first…
Search & You WILL Find : I can remember the first time I came…
Comments are closed!