Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Oct 19, 2007, at 7:17 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> > Consider the influence of a consortium of OPEC, Russia, Argentina and
> > other producers.
>
> Obviously that would do it, for a short while.  But it's as with the
> suggestion of super-advanced extraction methods, all that does is  
> get the oil out
> faster, deplete it faster.  At some point we are going to have to  
> address the
> problem.  Thinks I, propping up our level of consumption is only  
> going to make
> matters worse.  For example, with the advanced methods of  
> extraction in use today
> (soda straw wells, bottle brush wells, water injection, CO2  
> injection, etc.)
> the wells keep up  a level of production longer but then suddenly  
> collapse
> rather than go into a slow decline.

There is no doubt that due to diminished remaining black gold, oil  
prices will one day be unbearable. Somewhere on the road to that  
happening there will be sufficient pain and profit motivation to  
create, promulgate and implement viable alternatives: conservation,  
workplace redesign through decreased commuting and increased  
telecommuting, new technologies in transportation, heating and  
electric generation. For those of us low on the food chain, that pain  
will occur faster. The pain of the masses will create motivation for  
our elected followers to subsidize research. Better, it will create  
profit motivation for the innovators and entrepreneurs.