Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How much would you save on Fuel...and how much will the electricity cost to run it are the big questions ...unless you are always at a mates place going "can I use ya power point"

Even more scary than the scientists saying peak oil is just around the corner, is when the prince of Dubai says he needs to move bits of his economy away from oil and towards more tourism. (on TV show about that palm island thing he built)

It must be a strange feeling knowing your going to lose 10 % of your economy in 20 years. In Australia we tend not to run out of stuff. (unless you count genocide and species extinction)

Would "tourism" include the World Cup?

How will tourism be affected by increased cost of oil? I read somewhere that Dubai has a high per-capita energy usage (just like Australia). It may be an expensive place to visit in future.

On Dubai....

Was it Sheikh Mohammed (Emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE) that was speaking?

I only ask because if it is was Sheikh Mo speaking then his comments make absolute sense because Dubai doesn't have much petroleum resources on its own - the bulk of the resources (and therefore power) belong to another family in the state of Abu Dhabi - Sheikh Khalifa/General Mohammed (the other one, not Sheikh Mo). If Sheikh Mo's family is to maintain influence within the Emirates, then it is very much in their interest to increase tourism. Relatively, increasing tourism makes oil-poor Dubai more important over the oil-rich state of Abu Dhabi.

As far as the electricity usage in Dubai, this is absolutely true. It is driven by a few things. Obviously, air-conditioning is a big thing for 3/4ths of the year. So is desalination, where they get the bulk of their water. People still have lawns so water consumption is quite high. Another bit is that electricity and water is free (or nearly so) to the Emiratis so there is very little incentive for anyone to conserve. That said, the Emirati people are only about 15% of their own country. Most people that live there are expats and pay for utilities.

No idea sorry snazzy.

My understanding of world politics is mostly based around snappy catch phrases glimpsed out of the corner of my eye as I go about doing stuff.

There's only so much useful information to be gained from watching a show about making big things. (I think it was called "Really Big Things!" or similar)

I try not to watch TV because its either too irritating, or too engaging. Either way I find it's flashing talking pictures too captivating to do much of anything else. If I allow to have it's way with me I feel a little used.

You are probably better off that way anyway.

I rarely watch tv anymore and if I do, at the end of it, I usually wake up out of the semi-comatose state and look around and wonder why I wasted so much of my time when I could be doing something productive. So, I like your comment on feeling used - sums it up.

I see this is an older thread on "Peak oil"

When crude oil was cheap, in 2004, I wrote an article, saying specifically, directly, that before January, 2008, crude oil will reach $100. / barrel.
I explained why. . I posted it on forums. . I sent it to newspapers. . No newspaper would print it.

On January 2, 2008 for the first time, crude oil reached $100. / barrel.

Ahhhh, so you were wrong then, it wasn't before January....

Sorry, couldn't resist..

It amazes me that there are still people who think oil can keep going on and on indefinitely..

Although I had written this almost 4 years earlier, and missed the target by 2 days, there were a few people who specifically pointed out that I was wrong. .
AT least I was not stoned for being a false prophet.

Yes, lucky for you we live in modern enlightened times...?

I just took a look to see if I could find a copy.
It is not the oldest copy but so far with a short search I found one, dated in 2005.
I am not sure if everyone can access this group posting.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/energyres ... sage/73625

I'll make another prediction.

In the future, everyone will hate us.

Not if you give them your aquaponic food !!!!!!!!!!!

Gorgon Gas Project - maybe this should be in the venting thread...

Taken from Perth Now here:
http://www.perthnow.com.au/business/gor ... 5773926117


Lets ignore the stupid estimate Chevron provided about providing energy for 800 years for 1 million people, that is related to... well... absolutely nothing.

So consumption apparently doubles every 6 years (the article was written in 2009) which is around 12%
Natural gas has a specific gravity of around .65 (65% of air).
One barrel is 159 litres so one barrel is
159 x .65 = 103kg of gas
So Gorgon has an estimated total of
6,700,000,000 x 103 = 690 billion kg of gas (690 million tonne)
I'll assume the above quote is metric tonne, not US ton, however all other measurements are imperial, and Perthnow are idiots, so my calculation may be out (low) by around 10%.
Lets say Gorgon started running in 2015, if they supplied all the gas for the Asia Pacific region, they would run out in less that 4 years.
(160 x 1.12 x 1.12 x 1.12 = 765 million tonnes)

However Wikipedia states they will only supply 15 million tonnes per year. So will last around 46 years by my estimate.

Either way, that really isnt alot of gas is it?

I'm gonna make a crazy prediction.... Hardly any of us will live to see peak oil. That's not to say that fossil fuel energy prices won't still rise, but the high prices ($70-$90 US dollars per barrel) mean that shale formations are economically recoverable. For example if the Bakken Formation in the US were capable of supplying all of Americas energy needs at current consumption rates it would last about 3 years. It's not capable of producing that much oil at one time, but there is a lot of oil in there (estimates range from 10-24 billion barrels). Bakken is just the first of the close to fully exploited deep shale formations. While the US is rich in these formations they occur throughout the world. I have to agree with Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani who said "the stone age didn't end due to a lack of stone," The oil age won't end due to a lack of oil, but rather because of a better technology. I think we'll see a shift away from fossil fuels for energy production as wind, solar and other renewables become competitive and grid sized energy storage matures. The advantage to Renewables and storage is the stability of their prices for energy production. If we ever get fusion figured out then fossil fuels will only be used for plastics, oil, roads, fertilizers, etc...