I attended the IPA's annual H.V. McKay Lecture on Technology in Melbourne last night. Philip Burgess from Telstra was the guest speaker on the topic of 'Future Proofing'.
He gave an interesting and wide ranging talk that included two reasons why we will never run out of oil:
1. As the price of oil increases, we will find more of it.
2. As the price of oil or any other commodity goes up, inventive people will start looking for substitutes.
He suggested there were all kinds of examples of 'substitutes' including: plastic for copper tubing, grain for fuel and aluminium studs for wooden studs in home building.
He also said that we should perhaps strive to use more, not less energy, because it is through the use of energy that we create wealth.
i came to this link & have read the entire blog & still have one question. is it necessary that 'fossil fuel' & abiogenic theory are mutually exclusive. each agrees an 'insubstantial' amount of the other. the Malthusians have cried wolf too many times, they have lost all credibility. technology will provide replacements. wired w/ recent article on replacing plastics w/ biotic chems. read closely the comment by the individual discussing recent world oil prices. they will fall & it does NOT signify new reserves being found (or 'created'), only less demand @ previous prices. (due to world recession). IS ABIOGEN THEORY ACCEPTED in Russia/ Ukraine? furthermore re: market pressures. simply that recent polling idicatate 50% Canadians would prefer government ownership of oil resources doesn't mean this may not be the 50% badly mis-informed. Look to Mexico's Pemex (recent WSJ article by M. Anastasia).