Charles Brown wrote:
> Mark, is there another energy source besides oil, coal or nuclear ?
Wind, geothermal, solar, muscle power, biomass. But these are all based on solar energy flows or natural and self-limiting fluxes, not on fossil hydrocarbons which trapped millions of years of solar energy input, and which we will burn off in 3 centuries. It was a huge gamble, and there is no sign it will pay off in the long run.
People forget that you have to use fossil fuels to make wind turbines, insulate homes, manufacture photovoltaics. Cheap oil contributes around 40% of world energy but it's real importance is that is cross-subsidises all other forms of energy and/or conservation. Of course, in time we will cover the Gobi and Sahara and Mojave with photovoltaics and building millions of bird-mincing wind turbines in Texas, but life as we know it will definitely be discontinued. The world's energy-system will be decarbonised, is being already as we move to carbon-light gas. We will ride bicycles and the 'burbs will be ghost towns. But no-one has figured out how even the 20% of us who live in the west will sustain our present life styles; as for the othe 80%, they have no better future to look forward to than the present.
Mark