The Earth Is Going to Run Out of Oil Someday — but Not in Our Lifetimes
Created when fossilized organic compounds break down over time, crude oil, in particular, has become a necessary part of daily living for nearly every person on the planet. Fossil fuels are the most effective and destructive natural resources known to humans. The moment that humanity understood the potential of fossil fuels, we inadvertently signed our own death warrant.
It should come as a relief to some that oil and other fossil fuels are not inexhaustible resources. Inventors, scientists, and industries are scrambling to find new energy sources in a mad dash to simultaneously fix our hopelessly broken climate and maintain the status quo. Meanwhile, the rest of us are pondering the question, when will the world run out of oil?
Millions of years ago, the plants and algae that died off and sank into the seafloor were treated to high enough pressure and temperatures that they coalesced into an immature, early form of petroleum. When the seas dried up and shifted about, the remaining hydrogen and carbon in the atmosphere were added to the mixture. According to National Geographic, those elements helped create what we know today as fossil fuels.
Yes, we will absolutely run out of oil. Despite the many major extinctions that have occurred throughout Earth’s long history, not every fossilized life form has been transformed into petroleum, coal, or natural gas. All of those fossil fuels are nonrenewable and irreplaceable, so when they’re gone or burnt off, we have nothing to replace them. So, unless we find a petroleum alternative at some point, we’re going to be out of luck in many ways.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
.
