Oil Supply Crunch ahead
The world's leading authority on oil markets is warning that these days of cheap ($40 barrel) oil are just a mirage and that the world is likely to experience 'an Oil Supply crunch' next year (2010) as markets begin to recover.

Reuters reports on IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka describing a potential short-term reality: "Currently the demand is very low due to the very bad economic situation, but when the economy starts growing, recovery comes again in 2010 and then onward, we may have another serious supply crunch if capital investment is not coming."

The Real Problem with Oil - No Alternative
Oil's biggest problem is 'lack of substiitutability'.  There is no other 'reserve' of liquid fuel that can compare to the energy locked up inside the hydrogen-carbon bonds of oil.

If we talk about using oil as gasoline for the transportation sector there is no commercially viable alternative that offers the same volume and performance.  Even 'Next Generation' biofuels from algae and cellulose-eating bacteria cannot provide the scale to fill even a tiny gap in global oil production vs demand.

People who push 'solar', 'wind' or 'nuclear' (which produce electricity) as an 'alternative to oil' simply do not understand the combustion engine. You cannot put electricity inside your gas tank.  We must either produce massive amounts of liquid fuel substitutes, or take a bolder step to kill the combustion engine.

Is the world ready to confront the real problem? The Combustion Engine

Category: Energy
Year: 2011
Tags: energy, oil, hydrocarbon, coal, carbon, hydrogen, bioenergy