We should consider ourselves luckier today than our ancestors in the past because we are enjoying a much higher standard of living. Even the kings and queens didn’t enjoy the simple luxury of having airconditioner, flying in the plane or even just using mobile phones. However, there’s been a debate recently whether our quality of living standards can continue in the future.
The world economies have grown because of natural resources like oils and minerals. Eventually, the supply of these natural resources would start to run out and when these shortages occur, they may stop economic growth and maybe force our current standards of living to fall!
Over the past 8 years, the price of oil tripled from $35/barrel in 2000 to $100/barrel in 2008. This is just one sign that the supply of natural resources such as oil may not be not enough to cope with the demand in the future. There’s speculation that the oil wells in Dubai will run out in 15 to 20 years time that’s why they’re trying to convert the place into a tourist destination by building the World and the Palm islands!
In spite of this, there’s a continued technological advances that might be able to avoid the development limits set by the fixed supply of world’s non-renewable natural resources. If we compare the economy today with the economy of the past, we see various ways by which the use of natural resources has improved. Modern cars are more efficient. Recycling allows reuse of non-renewable resources. Ethanol is now used as alternative fuel to petrol. There’s a recent Japanese invention of a car that uses only water as fuel. However, such invention is not economically viable to mass produce yet. Few decades ago, tin and copper were non-renewable resources that feared to run out. There was a campaign to conserve and make them available for our future generations. Tin was used as food containers and copper was used as telephone wires. But technological advances replaced tin with plastics and copper wires with fiber optic cables which are made of sand! Fiber optics give better quality sound transmission than copper.
But some questions still remain: Are all these efforts enough for the economic growth to continue? What will happen when the oil wells in the Middle-East run dry? Are we able to fly in a plane that uses only water as fuel?
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Mister Wilson - you sound so nerd!!
But kidding aside thanks for the information. I think it’s worth to think about it. But who cares. It will be the problem of the people in the future. Not ours. ha ha haaah..
Wilson.. You know current proven reserves of oil are greater than at any other point in History?
Plus, that’s not even counting the shale oil deposits in the US that may add as much as another 50% to current reserves.
In Australia, we have enough coal reserves to last for over 200 years at current projections.
So.. maybe we won’t run out for a little while yet.
Personally I think it’s foolish to chase so called alternative sources of energy such as solar or wind power.
I think we should focus all our attention on cold fusion. This one invention would safely and eternally solve humankind’s energy needs.
Surely it would be worth pursuing with a little more vigour,,
Yes Rod I’m aware that there are some reserves that have been recently discovered that may increase the current supply but the cost of extracting for some of them exceed the benefit.
And such reserves are just estimates. At the end of the day, the supply is still fixed and there may come a time that it may run out. No one knows when it’s gonna happen as the world’s population keeps on increasing leading to higher demand.
But can you explain what that cold fusion is that you’re referring to? Has it something to do with the gas energy from the Moon known as Helium 3 that’s believed to solve the Earth’s energy crisis?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1252715.htm
H3 is a different source of energy.
Thought to be available in useable quantities under the moons surface as well as in gas giant’s atmosphere’s it would be the ultimate source of energy.
Fusion is simply a nuclear reaction that fuses molecules together instead of splitting them.
Fusion, as opposed to fission.
Fusion is the reaction that takes place in a Hydrogen Bomb, however currently, the only way we know to induce this reaction is at a very high temperature which requires a nuclear bomb for detonation.
Cold fusion involves joining hydrogen atoms at cooler temperatures. It creates a lot of energy, with no nuclear waste. Note that a Hydrogen bomb by itself produces no fallout.
It’s a really interesting area, there has been some research, and unsubstantiated claims of success, but no final solution.
We may be very close, but if it was figured out, world energy prices would collapse overnight, so they may very well be pressure by big Oil and OPEC to prevent progress in this area.
The reserves recently found of Brazil are ‘proven’ reserves. While this doesn’t mean they do necessarily exist, to the best of our knowledge, they are there, and they were cost effective to extract when oil was just US$80 a barrel. Now, they are worth twice as much.
Just one thing for sure, though. That the Philippines will never run out of its “human” resources… what do you think Mr. Wilson?
haha very good Deuts.. I completely agree. But I’m not sure if it’s helping the Philippines develop or not because most of the highly skilled workers go overseas and look for higher paying job.