I don't really see anything wrong. Except the soaring gas prices. (Everyone bitches about it, although, I can understand why.)

Mmm... nothing, just electricity. Petroleum is nothing, wait till coal runs out.

This is too depressing...

Fusion is the way to go. That or orbital solar power plants.
Fission reactors may be needed to keep us going until we can get reliable power from those sources, though...

Fusion is not viable... and how will those Orbital Solar panels transfer their power? Coal is the way until we find something.

Coal is what we've been using. We need to change.

There is no alternative. Whatever it is, you'll have to sell the idea to the third world, and that ain't easy.

Nooo....there has to be a way. *wah*

There isn't.

NO! All lies.....NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Why isn't fusion viable? They've almost got it as it is - just takes a bit more work to push it into decent energy production.
Of course, producing antimatter with particle accelerators and annihilating it could work too.

Get the solar power stations in geostationary orbit, and beam power down as a high-energy microwave, or string a carbon nanotube wire up to it.

Please don't tell me you are a science geek and get the highest scores on science tests. (There's this kid who always gets higher grades then me in science, me and another dork who used to get the highest grades want to throttle him.)

Ignore her.

And Whatever. It'll never work, whether it's doable or not. The US will never wean itself from Thermal Plants, Doing so will slow down economic growth. And if the US doesn't the first world doesn't (Cannada, New Zeeland might, but their the exception.)

The third world hell won't buy it, They can barely make ends meet with coal and Dams, they'll never agree to environmentalism. They'll always try to find strength in numbers against 'US Impearilism.' Look at the Kyoto Pact. No country will protect the environment at the cost of devlopment. Anyways, if even the wanted, they simply don't have the tech to launch geostationary Solar panels.

Oil prices aren't Hurting everyone: Look at Russia. Russia, The Middle East, South America. They need High Oil Prices to fuel economic growth. The Petro Dollar Wars Cometh.

The future is Bio Fuels, Actually. Ever heard of Ethanol? It's an Oil produced by a certain Dry crop. it can be mixed with Petrol, reducing Emissions and Cost. We're talking of 70% Ethanol, 30% Petrol Mixtures here. That's the future. Brazil will lead the way.

Mwamba, I'm sorry to break it to you. I am a science geek and get the highest scores on science tests.


Post, ethanol simply isn't viable as a fuel for the whole world. The vast amount of land space and the precise climate required to grow the stuff means that only a few countries, primarily Brazil, are actually capable of producing it in meaningful quantities. Plus plants actually release methane while growing, which is over ten times (might be more - can't remember the exact figures) more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Rising oil prices may not hurt the countries who produce oil directly right now, but they will later. When oil runs dry, their economies will implode because they're fuelled too much by oil. The more the prices rise first, the more dependant on it they become.

As for orbital power stations, there's one really big reason why the third world will use them. In order to be geostationary, they have to be directly over the equator. It's pretty much exclusively third-world countries on the equator. MEDCs provide the money and the hardware, the LEDCs on the equator get the power and sell it on to the rest of the world.

I'm going to have to second that.

What the hell are Greenhouses for? (Okay, I know nothing about Agriculture. Fine.) And the methane...? Uh, yeah.

For one thing the Equator runs through Africa. Things are changing in Africa: The chinese are sending entire Diplomatic Corps to invest in it and secure Oil deals. That and rising Oil Prices has had an effect: an African renaisance. Did you hear about Nigeria? It paid off a century of debt via it's Oil riches. It isn't a lone case. Civil Wars and dictatorships are in the decline. Economies are actually starting to lift people out of poverty. All thanks to Oil. As with all devloping countries, the African Union is short sighted. It'll oppose the sattilite jig tooth and nail.

Next up: Indo China. The countries here might consider that, but it's unlikely.
Oil has seriously hurt them; but they'll look toward more conventional techniques, Dams, Nuke Plants. And Vietnam and co. will never accept anything that has 'USA' stamped on it. Indonesia, the sub continent might, but it's not likely.

And finally: South America. Leftist governments are surging to power. Nationizing of industries is becoming common; Bolivia is the moot point. But Brazil's the biggest say for the region. And Brazil is going to support Ethanol for a looonng time.



Maybe in Fifty Years; the African renaissance will be underway. China and\or India will be on the rise to economic super power status. The US will be on the decline... Oil levels will be beyond critical.

But that's what economies do: Adapt. Look for short term gains. The H2O Cars, Ethanol or whatnot will be reinging supreme. But not Solar panel sattlites. Why? Because Thermal plants will still be there. Coal is still in abudance. But not for long. The coal crunch will be looming. That's when your sattilites get launched.

Greenhouses, Post? Greenhouses? I've no idea how much land space Brazil uses for ethanol production, but it'll be bigger than the total area of the UK. You're suggesting not only finding that kind of vast amount of space across the world to grow ethanol on, but actually turning the things into greenhouses? Untold thousands of square miles of glass or plastic!

Think of all the debt the African countries will suddenly fall back into when oil runs out after they've built up an economy that's used to running on it. They'll be trying to support far more expensive economies than they do now. Remove the primary income and their situation is worse than ever.

Ethanol isn't viable, as I said, and hydrogen is doomed to failure. In order to extract it, a vast amount of electrical power, or alternatively expensive, hard-to-get reactants, are needed. It might replace oil for transport temporarily, but it'll only increase the electrical power demands, and does nothing to replace oil for making polymers. It's dodging the problem, rather than addressing it.
As far as I can tell, fusion will be the eventual solution.

Eventual yes, but in the reasonably near future, we should invest in Hydroelectric IMO. Wind farms are all but useless.

Norway runs on 96% Hydroelectric IIRC....

Then they sell all the oil that they mine, they've got a good deal.

Solar energy sucks. We can't store it. We should start making more Hybrid cars to save oil

What the hell have I been ranting about? Hybrid cars, yes. Hydroelectricity, yes. And Solar power can be stored. As far as I can tell, Fusion is a joke, no one has ever done ('cept some nutters: 'Cold Fusion', Even I can laugh at that.) Okay heres my prediction for 2050:

Oil levels are critical; but no bother: Hybrid Tractors are sowing the fields and super effieccient cars are rolling the streets. Thermal is predominant, but less so: Maybe 60-50%. The rest is Hydropower and some fission. But not for long: Coal is running out; about the same situation as petrol today. The world is panicking and the United Hammer Nations (UHN) orders full speed reasearch in Fusion and lauchs some of Sent's sattilites too, but mainly continues to devolop more Dams, maybe even Tidal Power.