With the rising oil prices doesn't it hit us all that oil is a non renewable resource all over again. Though the price rise has nothing to do with depleting oil reserves at all as has been confirmed by the OPEC countries and has more to do with a weak dollar but I feel its high time all the countries realised how soon we might be running outta all fossil fuels and the position we are in with renewable resources is not very bright. We'll be brought back to the stone age and all activites will come to grinding halt. All the civilizations will come to a nought. It would be an ideal doomsday scenario.
The present day realization about energy resources is pathetic to say the least. Governments are concerned about growth, industrialization, obliterating poverty but this issue which if we were to face in a matter of 50 years, wud be a disaster beyond imagination. Though the time scale with us is a little more than 50 years but it isn't far off. As such India's biggest operational oil-field Bombay High's output has already gone down and our dependence on crude is increasing manifold every year, the number of cars on our roads notwithstanding, most of our power requirements are met by thermal power plants. Forget about other countries, our country will be thrown into complte chaos and looking back at some of our communal clashes, the violence that will follow would be savage.
The only possible alternative for power generation is nuclear but our politicians don't have the courage to take it on. But this too is not a long term solution and is totally dependent on uranium supplies which again is not permanent.
Some other alternatives like solar power, wind power, fuel cells are either not efficient enuff or are extremely costly. A very good option would be nuclear fusion but we've not been able to have controlled reactions yet.
All in all the picture is very gloomy and there's no hope in sight. There's so much hype and propaganda over global warming, hope they extend their agenda to include alternative forms of energy too (though it's part of their agenda but the reasons are different). All the citizens of this planet must realize this basic truth, the repercussions of which may not be far away and work united to sustain our energy needs lest we want to welcome another stone age.
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Go back to the Stone Age? Not likely. What we will see is growing competition between the nations for the dwindling suplies and these can very well lead to wars across the world. China and India are going to emerge as the largest consumers and the existing competition between them can well lead to another war. And China already has nuclear tipped ballestic missiles pointed at us. Plus it is helping forment trouble with our jealous neighbour.
Fossil fuel dependency will not go away soon. Our entire economy is based on fossil fuels. A gradual change over to alternative sources is required but the bill for the change will be astronomical and will have to be borne by the man on the street.
The Govt is already doing a few things right. It is encouraging a move to electric vehicles by exempting them from taxes. These vechiles are still expensive but you see more of them on the streets each day.
Of course transportation is only one part of the story. What will we use to cook when the natural gas reserves start to dwindle?
What is required is a great thrust towards fundamental research in all areas of energy, not just generation. Remember the richest countries are those that have the best technology. Reread the history books and you will see this simple truth over and over again.
So instead of subsidizing the rich by artificial price control of petrol (only the rich use petrol), the same money should be used to pay researchers in the IITs. Pay enough to stop the brain drain to other sectors of the economy.
- Gautam Satpathy
What Ho! My Blog
No, not the stone age but the scenario depicting oil wars and nuclear threats could be a reality very soon.
We've already had two gulf wars and the base for both was oil (Bush tried hard to make Saddam's WMD as the reason but they cudn't find any). Now Iran very well could be the next target.
The issue is that the public is not conscious enough to take up the alternative fuel challenge. Very less has been achieved in this field and still a lot has to be done. Governments and people alike are in a denial mode and don't want to face the reality, they still want to somehow manage with fossil fuels.
Lot of people have been trying to create awareness about the ecological damage caused by fossil fuels but they should also leverage the notion that fossil fuels are not limitless, they too will have an expiry date and it may not be far either.
Till this kind of stark reality doesn't come out in the open there's very little that any research establishment can do, after all only an emergency will give them the funds they need to take up this challenge with the enormity it demands.
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