What Barack Obama does on his free time instead of fixing America.

[ksv]

I work in an oil company, so I see things from two sides. I find the whole climtae/energy debate a little absurd.

Yes, there is global warming ("climate change"). Yes, it is caused by emissions. But the Kyoto agreement was a joke, the world leaders will never come up with a functioning deal that actually makes a difference, if emission actually go down, it will be because of technological innovation, not political action.

But unfortunately, there are no really good alternatives to fossil energy at the moment. Electric cars are useless, doesnt matter if they get the range up to 300 or 500 kilometers, if it takes more than 5 minutes to "fill up" the battery, it is not an alternative to a fuel tank.

Hybrids are cool, but the Toyota Prius actually uses as much gas pr km as many normal petrol cars do today, and most diesel engined cars already use less. Taken into consideration the environmental issues with the battery, it is not a green alternative, but future hybrids may be better.

Nuclear power is politically dead in many countries, and most countries dont have other power sources than oil or coal (some lucky ones have hydropower capacity).

Thing is, I don't think it's about not using oil anymore, it would take a major, major technological breakthrough to replace it completely, but it's about using it where it is needed, and using other energy sources where they fit best.

In Brazil, especially in São Paulo state, they have a huge sugar production, more sugar than is healthy to eat :) So they make ethanol from sugar. You can get it at every gas station, all new cars sold there can run on it, and it's clean, the air quality there is a lot better than just 10 years ago.

In other areas, other alternatives will be better. In some cities, major investments from the city authorities may make electric cars viable for commutes to work, so that you can atleast move the emissions out of the city environment (will not help on global warming, but hopefully fewer kids will get asthma).

But for the most part, people will still use oil, so it's about using the oil we still have left efficiently. When something better comes along through innovation and technological breakthroughs, the transition away from oil WILL happen, but it's impossible to tell how many decades that will take.

I doubt we will run out of oil though.

As you know, the stone age didn't end because they ran out of stone, but because they came up with copper. :)