• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

End of the oil age and the rise of renewables/nuclear/new sources.

Is this the end of the age of oil?


  • Total voters
    29
That is true. There is a break point though at a certain number where that won't matter. By the looks of it, we have passed it already, the number of ICE vehicles sold peaked in 2017 or something like that and just keeps dropping heavily and being replaced with Electric. ICE car sales dropped to the level 2000-2005 so went 20-25 years back. Mostly because of Electric vehicles and to some degree because of Covid and inflation.

Yes the global sale of fossil fuel cars peaked in 2017 / 2018.


There it can also benefit with reducing car dependency there this also can save families a lot of money.





While for developing countries it will be very costly to build the infrastructure needed for car centric cities and it could also lead to the destruction of many local neighborhoods

 
I mean, sure but that hardly changes anything for renewables pro or against them. Mass adoption only comes when it is economically viable/profitable in comparison to something else. Irrelevant what industry and for what reason we are doing something, if that happens there is no stopping it and private investment will pump it to the moon with money.

Hence why MAGA or anybody else complaining about it or trying to shut it down is irrelevant. They won't be able to. Money flows to where money is made efficiently.

While often you need government support to get the ball rolling. Because initial cost of new technologies can be very high and private companies also profit alot on the existing technologies. While investments into renewable energy, electric cars and other green technologies have really payed of. Three the transition could have come a lot sooner if it wasn't for the destructive influence of fossil fuel companies and other powerful interests.


 
Last edited:
We still use rocks, bronze, iron, steel and coal but a lot, lot, lot less than we used to when we heavily relied on those products. The question is not if usage will disappear entirely but in % terms how important is it.

very.


The question is not if usage will disappear entirely but in % terms how important is it.

very. and we will not run out of oil; peak oil is false

so i give you The Truth...

learn how God creates oil in the earth with no Dinosaurs....



Abiogenic (Abiotic) Theory


The abiogenic petroleum origin hypothesis proposes that oil and gas are formed from deep-Earth processes, not from decaying biological material. According to this theory:


  • Oil can be produced from primordial hydrocarbons present since the Earth's formation or generated by chemical reactions deep within the mantle.
  • Methane, a simple hydrocarbon, is abundant in the Earth and could be converted into more complex hydrocarbons (oil) through heat and pressure, potentially in various types of rocks, not just sedimentary ones
  • Some proponents suggest oil is continually produced in the Earth's crust and could be a renewable resource on a geological timescale


Key Points of the Abiogenic Theory


  • Oil may originate from deep-Earth processes involving methane and other hydrocarbons, not just decayed organic matter
  • Methane could polymerize under heat and pressure to form oil, and this could happen in various rock types, not only in traditional "source rocks" like shale or limestone
  • Some evidence cited includes the presence of hydrocarbons on other planets and moons (where no life is known to exist), and occasional findings of oil in igneous or metamorphic rocks

Is the Earth Still Producing Oil?


  • The biogenic process that forms oil is still happening, but at a rate much slower than current consumption
  • The abiogenic theory suggests that oil could be produced continuously deep within the Earth, but there is limited direct evidence that this contributes significantly to current oil reserves



This is the first MAJOR step that will undermine fossil fuels since transportation is such a major part of oil usage from 50-70% basically. Depending on what you include just cars and vehicles or all transport etc. Eventually we will find a way to replace it also in ships and then planes besides the highest performers. It is heading in that direction then less lubrication might be needed and so on.

Sure, some of it will remain there it just will be a lot less from the peak.
 
very.



very. and we will not run out of oil; peak oil is false

so i give you The Truth...

learn how God creates oil in the earth with no Dinosaurs....



Abiogenic (Abiotic) Theory


The abiogenic petroleum origin hypothesis proposes that oil and gas are formed from deep-Earth processes, not from decaying biological material. According to this theory:


  • Oil can be produced from primordial hydrocarbons present since the Earth's formation or generated by chemical reactions deep within the mantle.
  • Methane, a simple hydrocarbon, is abundant in the Earth and could be converted into more complex hydrocarbons (oil) through heat and pressure, potentially in various types of rocks, not just sedimentary ones
  • Some proponents suggest oil is continually produced in the Earth's crust and could be a renewable resource on a geological timescale


Key Points of the Abiogenic Theory


  • Oil may originate from deep-Earth processes involving methane and other hydrocarbons, not just decayed organic matter
  • Methane could polymerize under heat and pressure to form oil, and this could happen in various rock types, not only in traditional "source rocks" like shale or limestone
  • Some evidence cited includes the presence of hydrocarbons on other planets and moons (where no life is known to exist), and occasional findings of oil in igneous or metamorphic rocks

Is the Earth Still Producing Oil?


  • The biogenic process that forms oil is still happening, but at a rate much slower than current consumption
  • The abiogenic theory suggests that oil could be produced continuously deep within the Earth, but there is limited direct evidence that this contributes significantly to current oil reserves


I know this might be a useless question but why do you care one way or the other? If renewables and EVs are more profitable and efficient why is it such a big issue for you?
 
Beats Biden's "drill baby drill" policy that led to record oil production.

Glad we're finally talking about the end.
 
I know this might be a useless question but why do you care one way or the other? If renewables and EVs are more profitable and efficient why is it such a big issue for you?

John, that is a Great question and we should look at it: ALL of us

maybe i can throw a few crumbs....

End of the road for EVs? Electric cars encounter nearly 80% more problems than gas alternatives, report shows - but experts suggest they're just teething issues TEETHING PROBLEMS MEANS THEY'LL CHEW YOUR BUTT OF FINANCIALLY!

  • Electric vehicles are almost 80 percent more problem-prone than gas cars
  • Plug-in hybrids are more problematic than fully electric vehicles, report said
  • Most reliable are traditional hybrids - with 26% fewer problems than gas cars
John, i need a car not another Problem in my drive way, i can find enuf of those myself and do. my neighbor has a hybrid, Toyota couldn't fix it right and suggested a new 6000 dollar battery. um Wrong...

it really was a 200 dollar part which another neighbor found when towing it down South to an Independent repair facility. forget Tesla, nobody can fix those either. so what to do?..............well i don't know. it is hard enuf getting my Chevy fixed without some air head mechanic destroying the car.


may continue.

.
 
We will always need oil to:

Some but not all of what you say is true.

• make plastics
• make diesel fuel for trucking


and trains
• make jet fuel for military and commercial aviation
• make fuel oil (HFO) for global shipping
• provide Heating and electricity in remote locations

Solar is already doing some of this

• lubricate machinery
• manufacture paints and solvents
et al . . .

The oil age is here to stay. Renewables can facilitate cutting down on oil, but they will not ever totally eliminate the need for oil.
Oil is here to stay, but the idea of the oil age meaning oil dominance is slipping away.
 
John, that is a Great question and we should look at it: ALL of us

maybe i can throw a few crumbs....

End of the road for EVs? Electric cars encounter nearly 80% more problems than gas alternatives, report shows - but experts suggest they're just teething issues TEETHING PROBLEMS MEANS THEY'LL CHEW YOUR BUTT OF FINANCIALLY!

  • Electric vehicles are almost 80 percent more problem-prone than gas cars
  • Plug-in hybrids are more problematic than fully electric vehicles, report said
  • Most reliable are traditional hybrids - with 26% fewer problems than gas cars
John, i need a car not another Problem in my drive way, i can find enuf of those myself and do. my neighbor has a hybrid, Toyota couldn't fix it right and suggested a new 6000 dollar battery. um Wrong...

it really was a 200 dollar part which another neighbor found when towing it down South to an Independent repair facility. forget Tesla, nobody can fix those either. so what to do?..............well i don't know. it is hard enuf getting my Chevy fixed without some air head mechanic destroying the car.


may continue.

.

Electric cars have often lower maintenance cost than fossil fuel cars.

 


Unfortunately...the best chance EVs have of becoming more affordable and successful is in the form of a man leftists have branded a Nazi.
Or China. They are so far ahead of the "branded" man on the EV playing field.. but we don't like them. So we continue our generations long trend of American complacency and regression while inexplicably bitching about how we are being outcompeted.
 
using more electricity = burning more fossil fuels
Not even close to true

I use more electricity than I did 2 years ago and STILL get refund checks for the excess energy I provide. My annual KWh of usage has been negative for the last 2.5 years.

Apply your simplistic equation to that scenario please!
 
what % of our electricity is generated by oil products ??

serious question - does anyone know the answer?
0.4%. Most of our electricity production comes from natural gas.
 
I know this has been a topic of discussion since the early 90s but for whole other reasons that we might run out of oil. I would like to bring another argument here, that we are at the end of the oil age not because we have run out of oil but because we just won't need as much of it anymore.

According to statistics, we use oil for gasoline/diesel transport around 55-70% of it. While the remaining 30-45% is everything else from products to lubricants to high octane kerosine and anything else.

But there is a trend that EVs adoption seems to be increasing in pace against our wildest imaginations with China and Europe taking the lead. And the tempo seems to be only accelerating world-wide. The only major economy slow at adopting this is America and Russia.

Share of EV sales compared to ICE(combustion engine):

View attachment 67569788

Trend in 2025:

Snapshot electric vehicle sales in Q1 2025 vs Q1 2024, YTD %

  • Global: 4.1 million, +29%
  • China: 2.4 million, +36%
  • Europe: 0.9 million, +22%
  • North America: 0.5 million, +16%
  • Rest of World: 0.3 million, +27%
Basically 29% increase from 2024Q1 to 2025Q1

View attachment 67569789

This will put the sales at roughly 30% of total if the trend keeps up in 2025.
Right now we are still not feeling the decrease of oil consumption from it that well since the numbers started spiking fast in 2020 but it seems in the next 1-2 the drop will start and in 5 years from now severe drop in oil consumption will start.

Source: https://rhomotion.com/
What your charts show is that we need to get rid of Trump if we want to have better prices on EVs. Look at the alternative, drill for oil someplace and place it into ships that will carry it over the ocean to a place where it can be refined into 4 different products. Then, pump it back into ships or diesel powered trucks and deliver it to about every street corner in the world. Meanwhile, solar power is made where you need it and ...guess what.... the fuel is free. Go figure.
 
Not even close to true

I use more electricity than I did 2 years ago and STILL get refund checks for the excess energy I provide. My annual KWh of usage has been negative for the last 2.5 years.

Apply your simplistic equation to that scenario please!

all your vehicles are electric? your lawmower/weedeater etc? chainsaw? when you fly do you include that? the grocery stores, wal-marts, where you work all use electricity ..... no, you're not a negative

the more electricity we use, the more fossil fuels burn
 
0.4%. Most of our electricity production comes from natural gas.

While natural gas currently provides a larger share of electricity generation in the US, coal still plays a significant role. In 2023, natural gas accounted for 42.7% of utility-scale electricity-generation capacity, while coal accounted for 15.2%. Coal was the largest source of electricity generation in 15 states in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Yes, natural gas is considered a fossil fuel
 
using more electricity = burning more fossil fuels

Not even close to true

I use more electricity than I did 2 years ago and STILL get refund checks for the excess energy I provide. My annual KWh of usage has been negative for the last 2.5 years.

Apply your simplistic equation to that scenario please!

all your vehicles are electric? your lawmower/weedeater etc? chainsaw? when you fly do you include that? the grocery stores, wal-marts, where you work all use electricity ..... no, you're not a negative

the more electricity we use, the more fossil fuels burn

You are moving the goalposts and comparing apples to oranges. Your statement that I responded to was "using more electricity = burning more fossil fuels" I demonstrated that is not always true. I provide 125% of my electric usage via solar panels, which = burning less fossil fuel.
 
We still use rocks, bronze, iron, steel and coal but a lot, lot, lot less than we used to when we heavily relied on those products. The question is not if usage will disappear entirely but in % terms how important is it.

This is the first MAJOR step that will undermine fossil fuels since transportation is such a major part of oil usage from 50-70% basically. Depending on what you include just cars and vehicles or all transport etc. Eventually we will find a way to replace it also in ships and then planes besides the highest performers. It is heading in that direction then less lubrication might be needed and so on.

Sure, some of it will remain there it just will be a lot less from the peak.

Fossil fuels are more energy-dense than other renewables except for nuclear. If we want to wean ourselves off of oil, nuclear will have to make a comeback and play a more integral role in the energy grid.

We'd still need fossil fuels for transportation and movement of goods, though. EVs can certainly play a bigger role, but I don't see us ever getting rid of oil/fossil fuels, which are still the dominant source of energy worldwide.
 
While natural gas currently provides a larger share of electricity generation in the US, coal still plays a significant role. In 2023, natural gas accounted for 42.7% of utility-scale electricity-generation capacity, while coal accounted for 15.2%. Coal was the largest source of electricity generation in 15 states in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Yes, natural gas is considered a fossil fuel
We need more nuclear.
 
"Drill baby,drill."

-D.J. Trump
 
As much as I like nuclear, it is not viable with the current safety standards and people totally unwilling to be or live near by any nuclear power plant. That is just the reality of it. It is literally the most unprofitable energy source to build or replace because the project go overbudget all the time if you look at almost all recent projects. Alternatively you can slash the standards heavily which basically means cutting security measures big time lets say on redundancy in systems and other safety measures which will reduce the price but will make people panic even more when it is near them.
On the contrary, nuclear energy is a safe, reliable, less expensive to operate energy generation option. US plants are built to exacting safety standards for construction, operation and waste disposal. While the largely Chinese made solar and wind energy facilities only work when the sun is shining or the wind blowing, nuclear power plants run consistently 24/7. The major factors in inflated construction costs are unique designs and regulatory cost burden. Unsubsidized nuclear energy plant operating costs

"Nuclear, on the other hand, although the most expensive to build, has an industry-wide capacity factor above 90 percent, the highest for any form of generation. Reactors also have life expectancies of at least 40 to 60 years, as opposed to only 20 years for wind, solar and natural gas. This keeps nuclear's levelized costs low, despite the initial high costs of construction."

 
We will always need oil to:
• make plastics
• make diesel fuel for trucking and trains
• make jet fuel for military and commercial aviation
• make fuel oil (HFO) for global shipping
• provide Heating and electricity in remote locations
• lubricate machinery
• manufacture paints and solvents
et al . . .

The oil age is here to stay. Renewables can facilitate cutting down on oil, but they will not ever totally eliminate the need for oil.
I doubt the world will get over the use of petroleum products any time in the near future...not even sure what would replace how those products are made without Petroleum. Also petroleum is the prime ingredients in asphalt used in our roads.
When the USA get over their fear of Nuclear energy power plants the road to complete renewable energy will be long road to no where. There should be a real concerned effort to research Fusion energy.
 
You are moving the goalposts and comparing apples to oranges. Your statement that I responded to was "using more electricity = burning more fossil fuels" I demonstrated that is not always true. I provide 125% of my electric usage via solar panels, which = burning less fossil fuel.

that's impossible

maybe for your house .... but for all your electric cars (you don't own gas do you? ) all your electric things ( i listed a few) ... and then of course all the electric used to make everything you consume ....

yeah ... no. The more electricity used/demanded is literally more fossil fuels that will need to be burned. Unless liberals allow nuclear power plants, that's going to continue
 
Yeah because Russia used Gas as a weapon. So ofcourse the prices skyrocketed, simple supply and demand.

One more reason for Europe to move away from Gas in energy production. Why import energy when you can produce it locally at same or cheaper prices?
Germany who has depended on nuclear power and Russian oil is shutting down their nuclear plants and have been partially cut off from Russian oil when the under sea pipe line was blown to hell.
 

End of the oil age and the rise of renewables/nuclear/new sources.​

I voted NO.

I wish we were at the end of the oil age, but we are not even close.
 
Back
Top Bottom