What happens when the oil runs out?
Posted Wednesday, July 02, 2008, 8:48 PM by Lonely Planet
Everybody these days knows about Peak Oil. Even if they never heard the phrase, folks from Marseille to Malaysia know that it's getting damn expensive to fill the tank. But if you thought filling a car was costly (and General Motors knows all about it), how would you like to fill a plane? That's the reality that is making airline executives today wish they were on holiday.
According to the New York Times, the inexorable rise in the price of jet fuel is behind the biggest shake-up of the airline industry since 9-11. It is leading to route cuts and fare increases, bankruptcies and mergers the world over, and worse is forecast.
So...the big question for travellers: is this the end of cheap flights? And if so, what happens next? Will we see the return of sail? Or is it time to revive the romance of rail? (Cue plug for one of our favourite sites, The Man in Seat Sixty-One.)
What are your thoughts? What is the future of travel when the oil runs out?
Michael Day
Labels: budget flights, fuel prices, oil, petrol
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10 Comments:
Travelling by air can not be the only form of travel to increase in price ... many other forms of transport also need fuel. So not only will planes become expensive but so will trains, buses and boats.
So what will happen??? Perhaps we should invest more money into forms of transport that do not rely on oil/fuel.
Oh what a delicate yet necessary topic to discuss ...
Should we turn to sailing boats? Or cycling? Rollerblading? Kayaking? The options are endless!
The romance of rail was a different era - they had no choice. Who wants to spend 12 hours in a train when you can spend an hour in a plane?
I imagine by the time the oil runs out we'll have other pressing concerns (how to pay the rent?) and we'll be well and truly over this self indulgent exercise (travel).
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I would like to be there. I think that travelling is a way of your mind. We will discover a different way of travelling
If we run out of oil, huge chaos will erupt around the world, especially in the U.S.
When we get to the point of running out of oil completely there will be a bigger crisis than it is right now.
In my opinion other sources of energy should be implemented in our everyday life. For example, more use of the solar energy, etc.
We are not going to run out of oil. Prices would come down tomorrow if The United States decided to stop listening to the Socialists and envriomentalists in this country and made the decision to start drilling the oil in ANWR, off the coasts, and developed the oil Shale fields in Colorado and Montana. The oil is there, we just need to go get it.
So many more things require oil than just fuel, All plastics require petroleum, as does carpet pad.
I am not saying don't conserve oil and gas, it is never a bad idea to save money where you can, but it is irresponsible to scare people into thinking we will be out of oil in a few years
It took millions of years and special circumstances to make all of the worlds precious and coveted oil, and we are going to use it up in less than 500 years. We need to invest more time, resources, and money into the development of cheap and clean renewable energy sources.
The days of quick continent hopping will come to an end if we do not act fast and develop new technology…and that’s not necessarily altogether a terrible thing. We will be thrown back into the days when traveling meant taking a journey, and reaching your destination was a real and lasting experience rather than something you could sleep through.
I can't imagine people not traveling for business or leisure. I really think that people will continue to travel regardless and hopefully there will be some alternative energy options to help make it more affordable..
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Well, we've come a long way in the last 150 years so should we ever run out of oil or get even close to I'm sure by then some clever brains have thought of another energy source.
I'm not worried.
I more worried about scaremonger governments who try and call exuberant tax increases a "Green tax" and then use this money for other projects that were miscalculated in the first place. Or pay expenses for member of parliaments.
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