How many years left until all the oil in the world runs out I am very concered about this happening in my life

Question

Ok, this is not a homework question, I am just really concerned that global warming will make the world implode or something or that we will not have enough time to come up with an alternative energy source before we run out of oil, and then what happens, I would like to live a nice full life and die of natural causes, not global warming or something terrible like that, because our leaders didn't do more to help the environment. I know that this sounds extreme but to me it is a real and constant fear. By the way, I am 21 years old.

Answer 1

Relax, the world is not going to implode, the earth is not going to collapse. The main proponents of man-made global warming are in it for the money. Al Gore just recently held a $25,000 per person event where he talked about reports he hand picked about the possibility of global warming.



Do some research on your own, trust in yourself and the creativity of humankind (look around at all of the marvelous inventions and devices we have) and don't let fearmongers keep you in the dark.

Answer 2

When you hear people talking about "running out of oil" they don't literally mean that we will run out of oil. What they mean is that eventually the larger easily accessed oil supplies will be diminished. There will still be oil to mine but the cost of mining it will be more than what the company will be able to get back when they sell it. This is called "peak oil" when the cost of mining exceeds what the market will bear.



Currently it doesn't seem like this will happen. As long as people are willing to pay the price for oil we will have it. Right now there aren't any comercial alternatives to oil so consumers have no choice but to pay the high prices. This is good for oil companies in the short term but bad for everyone in the long term.



High oil prices help drive inflation. When the cost of shipping and transporting goods goes up the cost of everything follows. This is helping to deteriorate the economy.



Also, with no alternative to oil people will continue to emit CO2. Global Warming is real but really it should be called Climate Change.



The Earth does have natural warming and cooling cycles the concern is not the fact that the Earth is warming, the concern is the rate at which the Earth is warming. Climate change will not just make the Earth warmer. The Earth is warming so quickly that it's disrupting natural processes that distribute heat energy. Some places will actually get colder.



No worries, Climate change is only a real threat to people who live in third world countries.

You'll be fine.

Answer 3

there is hidden oil wells all over the place it wont' happen for a while!



But if by chance it does there are other ways to heat your home and run your car...



just start to think before you buy a home or car see if it has those capabilties by chance something awful happends



as for the world imploding! I haven't seen any comets or anything lossing oil will not implode the earth

however it may make humans a bit psyco



Just keep that in the back of your head when doing stuff for your future

cuz honeslty no one really knows they just have educated guesses!



Be prepare but don't be freaky about it@

Answer 4

Odds are you will die from something else. You will not die from a lack of oil, humans existed without it's resource a long time.Times may get tougher. As to global warming, if humanity is responsible in any measure it is more likely because of burning of oil byproducts in uncontrolled fashions such as Sadam's burning of the oil fields and accidental massive tire fires, these cause great amounts of carbon byproducts and soot to enter the atmosphere in sudden spurts that overwhelm the ecosystem.



A dangerous side effect of global warming (Whatever the cause),is the warming of the oceans. Warmer water contains less oxygen , and more dead zones are forming in the oceans. 80% of the O2 on Earth is created by Algae and symbiotic relationships between Algae and plankton.See Wikipedia entry on Algae.If we have less cold water then there could soon be a reduction of oxygen on Earth that could cause a cascade effect.Ironic is that internal engines need oxygen in order to run, they could stop running about the same time we do.An immediate precursor to such a reduction in Oxygen could be an ocean "Flash" in which an entire body of water amongst the world's oceans could turn into a great dead zone.Many projections of events are happening ahead of schedule as to global warming, so I will refrain from making a "guess" as there does seem to be an increased rate of warming that is breaking all the models. However if a Flash were to happen then the body of water would immediately stop producing oxygen and in an area as large as an ocean there would likely be an area of lowered oxygen air content moving ashore wherever the wind blows.

"Dead Air" could be rapidly fatal.



Something killed the Dinosaurs, but all humans as well have to face death, no one gets out alive. So to fear any one way of going makes no sense, you have to go regardless.

Find ways of dealing with your own eventual mortality and fear will pass. Rather consider the potential worth of our species and other species on Earth.



We may not be able to change what is to come.But despite the bleak potentials "some" may be able to survive due to our intellect and technological advancements.

Answer 5

For starters, we'll probably never really know if global warming is real because the evidence on both sides is tainted. Science is up for sale to the highest bidder. Pro-environmental groups are funding research to prove global warming, and industrialists are funding research to disprove it, and in both camps they're getting what they pay for. So there's no way to tell, but I can tell you that scientists funded by pro-environmentalist groups 20 years ago were saying the planet has about 20 years left before it's uninhabitable. Well, here we are 20 years later and we're still alive, so that leads me to believe that environmental science is not very accurate and is more akin to "doom and gloom" prophecy.



In 2000, scientists estimated that we had enough oil left to meet the needs of the planet for at least another 50 years, but oil consumption has gone up drastically in the last decade. Leads me to believe that oil is not going to last that long. There are lots of scientists and companies developing alternate fuel technology -- unfortunately the American auto makers are not among them. They say they're working on fuel-cell technology, but they also say it'll be at least 10 years before they have it developed into a useful form that will replace gasoline-powered engines. The truth is they're dragging their feet and won't move down that road without considerable government and consumer pressure.



Something to think about: You never know when your time is going to come. Let's hope you do live that nice full life and die of natural causes, but don't forget that you could die tomorrow for any number of reasons. We're not given any guarantees, so live your life as best you can right now and don't worry about tomorrow because it may never come. Besides, tomorrow will have enough troubles of its own.

Answer 6

As a geologist, I understand that we have been warming for over 6000 years since the latest period of glaciation. It was warmer a hundred thousand years ago. We are approaching the natural cycle where we will begin to slowly slide back into a glacial period unless our technology improves to point where we can avoid that. The theories of petroleum coming from fossils is a tired old theory that doesn't fit all the facts. The theory of petroleum being produced my methane outgasing from deep within the earth and then encountering a deep hot biosphere is far more in line with the evidence in my opinion. This theory would indicate that deeper reserves of petroleum are waiting to be tapped. It also explains the methane hydrate on the ocean floor that dwarfs the petroleum reserves. We will not run of petroleum in our children's children's children's lifetime and probably by then our technology will include other energy sources. Global warming is largely a good thing. Do not believe all the hype. Ask yourself, will I really suffer if it is a couple of degrees warmer. If you ask yourself that in January, your answer will almost certainly be, "Ah, What?" Greenhouse gases have a tendency to moderate the climate and most of the increase is in the colder temperatures. In other words, the nights and winters will warm more than summers. It should be called global moderation.

Answer 7

There is a lot of oil in the ground. However, it is not very accessible. So, that means that we will need better tech. But, oil will still cause lots of bad things such as too much air pollution and too many oil spills. It would be better to get a new energy source

Answer 8

It won't happen in your lifetime, don't worry.



Every time predictions have been made about when we'll run out of oil, more reserves have been discovered, new technology has made it possible to access previously un-extractable oil, and so forth.



But you'll be less likely to suffer from the consequences of global warming if we actually were to run out of fossil fuels, since it's the consumption of those fossil fuels that is causing global warming.



So, do what you can to reduce your energy consumption--walk places you can walk to, combine trips if you have to drive, turn lights off around your house, unplug all your electronics when you're not using them (because they suck power even when they're turned off), and things like that.



And try to relax just a bit.

Answer 9

The world won't "run out" of oil. It is getting more and more expensive because of rapidly increasing consumption and increased exploration/extraction costs.



There are already well-developed alternatives. One web search you can do is "mass transit" another one is "bicycles."



The best way to address your fear is to get involved in local politics and support/promote transportation alternatives to cars in your town.



Neither one of those comments is something people want to hear about, but both are much more efficient.

Answer 10

There's more oil than we can burn in your lifetime, it's just more expensive to get to than the stuff we've been using to date.



Global warming is a fact, but it's a natural cycle. Things have been hoter than this before, and man does just fine in a warm climate. The uidea that global warming is man-made is a fairy tale, meant to scare you into kowtowing to the liberals desires. I see it's working. To say that man is causing the earth to warm up is like a bunch of fleas arguing about who's steering the dog.



Quit worrying about ridiculous things, and pay attention to the real dangers, like socialist who want to take over your government and rule every detail of your life, or fascists with towels around their heads who want to make you put your rear in the air and bow towards their moon-God in Mecca five times a day.

Answer 11

There will always be discoveries of oil. The problem is that the price of that oil is going to continue to skyrocket. We are already using more oil than we are discovering.

There are NO alternatives to gasoline that are anywhere near as good. And there isn't currently the political will to do anything about it. Like most pressing problems it will be studied to death.

The easiest solution would be electrical. Building large numbers of new nuclear plants or large scale solar or wind plants. The problem is batteries. Battery technology improvements have been very slow.