In the next hundred years or so, the Sun will cool down and the Earth along with it. The only thing that might help us stay warm would be the greenhouse effect, but we probably don't have enough oil to make it happen.
Read the whole amazing, scary thing over at FuturePundit.
Posted by Phil at October 9, 2003 08:57 AM | TrackBackA couple of comments. We clearly only have so much oil that takes less energy to extract than it contains. So there some limit to how much we can extract (assuming geological oil replacement rates are geologically slow). However, there are oil substitutes. Coal has been used before to make sythetic oil (and it's just fine as is for an energy source). Second, we can make electric cars which takes care of the biggest energy-based consumer of oil. These alternatives currently aren't better, but as oil becomes more scarce, it will also become more expensive (assuming that demand doesn't decline and supply doesn't grow).
PS, I haven't heard much about the technology that was supposed to be able to generate oil at $10-15 per barrel from bird carcasses, coal, and the like. If it's for real, then that might be an economical way to recycle some of our carbon output into one of the most usable forms.