Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat
@Solace
I think you are mixing two problems: finite resources and energy production. Oil can be made in a laboratory, but of course it needs energy to produce. Then why I have yet to hear of any goverment investing in solar wind?, a big one could supply all the energy humandkind requires with a surplus for future growth! |
Yes, we can make all sorts of synthetics, but as you point out, it needs energy. We built this society using what was, in the 1900s, a seemingly inexhaustible amount of oil, coal, and gas. We know better now. Not only does it cause dangerous environmental impact, there's only so much of it to go around. When it comes to the oil economy, we're on borrowed time.
As for why we haven't moved toward alternative energies seriously, it has to do with money and propaganda. People are all for "green" energy, until it has to be put up in their backyard. Then you get all sorts of complaints, most of which are unfounded. While oil is still generating billions a year in profits, there is no political motivation to move away from it.
What we can do and what we are doing are two different things. Our current energy production is tied to finite resources. It doesn't have to be. But even if we "solved" the energy problem, we still have to deal with the finite materials that make up the rest of our production chain. Growing more cotton to make more clothes is one thing, but a lot of the products we use today took millions and billions of years to form. Unless there's some huge breakthrough in technology, we're going to hit a wall.