>And, as someone else added, we are now approaching an even the likes of
>which modern society has never seen--the depletion of a resource that we
>have allowed to become our one essentially immutable need--i.e., society
>will collapse without it--and we have no replacement in place.

> lucasea@sbcglobal.net writes

>>And, as someone else added, we are now approaching an even the likes of
>>which modern society has never seen--the depletion of a resource that we
>>have allowed to become our one essentially immutable need--i.e., society
>>will collapse without it--and we have no replacement in place.

>
> That may be how it appears to us-ians.
>
> Its never been that way to most of the rest of the world where coal was
> until recently (and in many countries still is) a major energy source
> and coal, nuclear and hydro are also very important.

>
> Also, don't forget that estimates of the longevity of coal resources are
> based on currently foreseeable increases in usage. What happens to those
> numbers when you have to use coal to replace all of the fuels and
> petrochemicals that used to come from oil?

> lucasea@sbcglobal.net wrote:
>

>>
>> Also, don't forget that estimates of the longevity of coal resources are
>> based on currently foreseeable increases in usage. What happens to those
>> numbers when you have to use coal to replace all of the fuels and
>> petrochemicals that used to come from oil?

>
> Using EIA's growth projections and BP's reserve numbers, (all coal), we
> would see peak coal in about 50-60 years.