The Entropy Watershed

Palzon · Post by **Palzon** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:45 am

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

Here's is an interesting read with links to numerous interesting reads. The main article is 2 pages long and should take no more than 15 minutes to read.

The article is about the Entropy Watershed. The basic idea for those of you with attention deficit disorder is this...

the world is not running out of oil. but, the world is running out of affordable oil. once we reach the point where the yield of our fuel is outweighed by the the cost needed to find, obtain, process, and use fuel, the entropy watershed has been reached. the author calls it "Peak Oil". i prefer the term Entropy watershed, which i first heard when i read Jeremy Rifkin's "Entropy" in the early 90's.

The idea is that once the watershed is reached, war, famine, death, and general societal collapse and chaos will ensue. whether you agree or not, the article and sources are compelling and concerning. there is no greater social concern for the coming generation than the crisis created by the population explosion and fuel shortage. Everyone should read this article.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:23 pm

Wow. Interesting article.

As faulty and porous as the authorâ??s logic is I question whether he really graduated from law school much less passed the bar.

While I don't discount the intent of the article, I think this cause needs a different messenger because clearly this guy can't put a cogent thought together.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:51 pm

I don't know why anybody needs to make up a new term to describe the point at which a product no longer is affordable. I'm sure there's already an economic term to describe it, though I can't recall what it is right off...

Anyway... as oil becomes harder to find, prices rise, and competing energy sources become more viable. It's not the apocalypse some make it out to be.

bash · Post by **bash** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 1:34 pm

A finite natural resource will eventually become unavailable?!! Who knew?!!

I want those 15 minutes of my life back.

Pandora · Post by **Pandora** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 6:08 pm

LOL ... now everybody knew about it already. I recall a discussion here half a year back, the general agreement was that there won't be any scarcitiy of oil in the coming years.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 7:04 pm

When you see Exxon et al start developing alternative fuels you'll know the end of the supply is near...they won't just give up and go away, they will adapt.

bash · Post by **bash** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:13 pm

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of running out of oil. Most of the large-scale energy needs will be replaced by newer, cleaner technologies (nuclear, in particular) and the other primary use for petroleum (synthetics) might return us to the age of wood, glass and fabrics. Cool. Atmospheric polution will be almost non-existent, as well. About the only thing I will regret is the loss of high-performance, petroleum-based engines for automobiles.

Modern science has pretty much negated the reasons petroleum became the centerpiece of our energy needs (i.e., there were no alternatives). Combine the now-available energy options (wind, solar, nuclear, hydrogen, fuelcell, hydro-electric, etc.) with the fact that we will no longer be vulnerable to Arab blackmail (and the Haliburton conspiracy freaks will be relieved of the primary source of their neurosis) and it's win-win for everybody. Yay!

Rest assured, I'll be doing my part to hasten the depletion of petroleum and will hoard only enough to race my car at the track every now and then (and to speed away from the legions of flesh-eating zombies that Chicken Little predicts will roam the apocalyptic wasteland of our post-petroleum world).