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How come we have twice the proven reserves of oil today that we had 30 years ago? In spite of the fact a lot of the reserves from 30 years ago have been used up?

Look at the chart here: http://www.apme.org/media/public_documents/20010918_091529/PEI1B.pdf

And that's just oil -- natural gas "proven reserves" are growing even faster.

Why? Because we're better at finding the stuff than we used to be. Technology again.

And refining is more efficient than it used to be -- that will also continue to improve.

Have you seen any of those hybrid cars on the road yet? They get twice the fuel efficiency of old-fashion IC engines, and produce less polution. That's only the beginning . . .

Find more . . . produce it more efficiently (less waste) . . . use less . . . eventually switch to alternative energy systems (it all comes from the sun one way or another anyhow) . . . yes I think in 100 years we won't be needing "oil" anymore.

People have been predicting doom & gloom & the "big crash" since the 1800's . . . still no sign of it.

Association of Plastics Manufacturers? I can only be forgiven for maintaining a degree of doubt regarding their 'argument' for producing plastics from oil.

What about http://www.dieoff.org/

Hybrid cars are still thousands of times less efficient than HPV's, although we cannot pedal (unless one is a world-beating gossamer-light HPV pilot) from London to Washington, neither can we drive there. We have to do everything TODAY, with the minimum effort, in order to pay for the things that we want that can do everything TODAY, with minimum effort, i order to allow us to enjoy ourselves enough for it to be an incentive to do everything TODAY, with minimum effort, in order to earn enough to...

It doesn't make sense? I mentioned ages back the concept of annexing a desert in order to use photovoltaic cells to split hydrogen and transport it to fuell cells, yet I 'm prety sure that was disproved as energy inefficient. The problem is our lifestyles are (by large) energy inefficient. This warrants a whole other thread methinks.

Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe? you're shitting me rite? i happen to live down river from a major plastic/chemical plant, although they have NOTHING to do with the fact that the water is unpotable, and the city has the highest incident rate of cancer in the mid-atlantic... rite...

from what i have been able to surmise (from folks i figure know what they are talking about) everything thats gonna be found, has been found... http://www.dieoff.org/#oildepletion

...and yes i've seen hybryd vehicles... both of them... did you see the teaming masses exiting manhattan perhaps?... no segways... no hybryds... i certainly salute your optomistic attitude, but saddly i don't share your pov, which is fine, that's wot it's awl about... i just don't see 300 millon people suddenly realizing that we need to change our ways... and i don't see the politicians letting on nor do i see the corporate oil folks telling it like it is... thunderdome here we come... that's of course if we don't involk any of the other impending ecological disasters that we're flirting with...

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