What products will be eliminated when we run out of petroleum?
Asked by
YARNLADY (
46587
)
January 17th, 2011
over 6000 products are based on petroleum. What will you miss?
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@AstroChuck Actually cities now are cleaner than they ever were before we started using oil to heat our homes and move us from place to place.
With 141,000,000,000,000 (141 trillion) cubic metres of crude oil left it is unlikely that we will ever run out. But as the price continues to rise then alternative materials/fuels will become even more competitive, maybe even better :)
@WestRiverrat – But the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change.
Lipstick and other cosmetics including hair colours. We had better find other ways to make ourselves pretty
Plastic bottles in all shapes and sizes – might have to go back to glass.
Crayons and paints – won’t be doing much art work either.
Heaps and heaps of things are made using petroleum.
Concrete, roads, plastic… shit pretty much all of them… seriously.. think about it.
@AstroChuck So you believe that being dependent on coal or lumber is somehow cleaner than petroleum?
@WestRiverrat That’s because the primary pollution of petroleum heat isn’t from the home, but from the refinery and extraction processes. Fuels like propane and natural gas are only clean at the end point.
@YARNLADY Yes, it can be, if people are smart enough to use things like thermal mass heaters and rocket stoves, rather than inefficient wood stoves and fireplaces.
I honestly can’t think of anything I’ll miss that’s made from oil.
Yeah, plastics will go. We’ll have to go back to using glass bottles and having wood dashboards and trim in our steam-powered cars.
Nylon stockings and many other fabrics and carpeting.. Many cleaning chemicals. Combustion engines such as lawn mowers and vehicles.
@YARNLADY I thought I’d look at the list and find one or two I would really miss, but in actuality, anything on that list that I would really miss is also stuff I know how to make myself, without oil. Computers might be missed for a bit, but in the long run no. I mostly use them for keeping in contact with people and for reference. I can do that plenty well without them. Plus, it’s not like a crashing oil economy will make my computer suddenly disappear; it’ll be around for a few years. Most of what we will see disappear is consumables and power.
None. Because there will be replacements. The trouble are the associated costs of the replacements.
@mattbrowne Oh, I would love to have a wood and leather case for my computer – although aluminum would be easier to carry.
World peace! the best & most exploited product ever..period!
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