David Roberson <[email protected]> wrote: You have put together an excellent list of current products that are > produced from petroleum. The question is whether or not good replacements > for these needs can be obtained once energy costs become insignificant.
Why would we replace them? Oil be very cheap when 80% of the market for it goes away, so I assume we will continue to make plastic out of oil, and the cost of plastic will fall. I think in the long term, synthetic hydrocarbons will be cheaper than natural oil because you do not have to extract it from the ground or ship it from distant places, and because the raw materials are not only free, but in many cases people will pay you to take them. But in the short term I suppose we will continue to use oil as a raw material. This will not add to global warming so it will not cause harm. - Jed
