Thus spake Jochen Fromm circa 10/26/2008 07:25 AM: > http://blog.cas-group.net/2008/10/the-true-crisis-is-still-to-come/
I'm currently reading "The Deep Hot Biosphere" and Gold presents a pretty persuasive argument that the hydrocarbons (oil, methane, coal, ...) we burn for energy are not (mostly) fossil fuels. I'm still too ignorant to have my own opinion on whether the hydrocarbons are [a]biogenic. But I wonder how you guys think abiogenic origins of hydrocarbons would affect "peak oil"? On the one hand, if oil is percolating up from deep sources, although still finite, the estimates of the total amount of oil we can exploit would rise significantly. (And much of the peak oil problem would be solvable through new technologies for getting at the oil.) But on the other hand, our burn rate, being exponential, will eventually outpace production rates, despite advances in extraction technology. Does that mean that the peak oil argument is essentially unchanged regardless of whether the hydrocarbons are primordial or biogenic? (I know it's reductionist of me... I'll say a few Hail Marys in penance ... but I'd like to separate the peak oil issue from the global climate change issue and focus solely on peak oil and the origins of oil... for now, anyway.) -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-219-3846, http://tempusdictum.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
