Energy: Refined out of existance.

Ducimus · 04-10-12, 11:16 AM

The subject title reminded me of a thought that not many pay attention to anymore. Petroleum. It used to be called a "Fossil fuel". Which is true. All that oil is basically organic matter (plants and such) from the earliest days of the planet that fermented into a sludge.

The thing is, there is no such thing as free energy. Energy can change its physical form, but it doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere. Not to get "all green", but oil's energy arguably comes from the plant material it originally was. Those plants energy came from Photosynthesis, or to boil it down further, the energy stored in oil can trace it's roots back to the sun. Anyway....... we've been sucking on oil for so long, It seems like its free energy that just comes up out of the ground, all we gotta do is pump it out. I suppose that's true, but eventually it will run out and It's irreplaceable as it's taken millions of years to create. Sooner or later we'll have to find a new energy source.

Odds are we'll just pass the problem down to the next generation like we always do. That's human nature you know? I'll be dead - not my problem.

04-10-12, 11:16 AM	#3
Ducimus Rear Admiral Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,987 Downloads: 67 Uploads: 2	The subject title reminded me of a thought that not many pay attention to anymore. Petroleum. It used to be called a "Fossil fuel". Which is true. All that oil is basically organic matter (plants and such) from the earliest days of the planet that fermented into a sludge. The thing is, there is no such thing as free energy. Energy can change its physical form, but it doesn't just magically appear out of nowhere. Not to get "all green", but oil's energy arguably comes from the plant material it originally was. Those plants energy came from Photosynthesis, or to boil it down further, the energy stored in oil can trace it's roots back to the sun. Anyway....... we've been sucking on oil for so long, It seems like its free energy that just comes up out of the ground, all we gotta do is pump it out. I suppose that's true, but eventually it will run out and It's irreplaceable as it's taken millions of years to create. Sooner or later we'll have to find a new energy source. Odds are we'll just pass the problem down to the next generation like we always do. That's human nature you know? I'll be dead - not my problem.