Energy Crisis Over?

[faireydelta]

Energy crisis is postponed as new gas rescues the world - Telegraph

Innovation and new technology to the rescue, it would seem...Certainly good news for our industry and, more importantly, an energy hungry world.

[barit1]

Now if only some ChemE would find a cracking process to transfer some of the hydrogen content of methane into the heavy hydrocarbons of crude - and make a lower-density, higher BTU-per-mass jet fuel. This would extend the range (or increase payload) of every turbine-powered aircraft, reduce carbon footprint, improve relight capability... all sorts of good stuff.

Ahhh, we can dream, can't we?

[RatherBeFlying]

Shale gas recovery is a sudden bit of good news, just when conventional gas was showing signs of being on the last dregs. For home heating and power generation, that puts the problem back maybe a hundred years.

If cryogenic methane reemerges as an auto fuel (some may remember automotive outlets 20-so years ago), the SUVs might shrink that interval to 30 years

[ChristiaanJ]

Originally Posted by RatherBeFlying

If cryogenic methane reemerges as an auto fuel (some may remember automotive outlets 20-so years ago), the SUVs might shrink that interval to 30 years

I've never heard of cryogenic methane, except for bulk transport.
Aren't you thinking of LPG (liquified petroleum gas), which is not cryogenic, but stored under pressure to keep it liquid, hence needs a pressure tank in the back of the car.
Still exists, certainly here in Europe, just not as widespread as petrol (gasoline) or diesel, hence fewer distribution points.

CJ

Correction (just looked it up): LPG is a mix of propane and butane, not methane, my mistaek.
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is basically methane, but requires big pressurized tanks (200 bar, 3000 psi typical). Here in France I see it more and more being used for buses, but not for cars, in the absence of a country-wide distribution network.

[411A]

...just when conventional gas was showing signs of being on the last dregs.

When I see this, I find it quite amuzing.
Good friend of mine owns/manages a natural gas producing company in Tulsa, and according to him (and T. Boone Pickens, no less) the USA has a 120 year supply, and more is being found every day...so much in fact, that natural gas prices in the USA are the lowest....ever.
The general public has so many misconceptions about oil/gas supplies, it beggers belief.
Oil.
In the Rhub alKhali (empty quarter) of Saudi Arabia, there exists proven oil/gas reserves that are at least seven times (not counting secondary recovery, which often times doubles the quantity) the proven reserves of the very large find (in 1938 by Chevron/Texaco) at Dhahran...the alHassa basin, which, for all practical purposes extends up to/including Kuwait.
The world is awash in crude/gas, some more expensive that others, nevertheless, there is plenty to go around for quite a looooong time.

And yes, I used to fly the exec air transport for a very large oil company, and still have many friends in the industry....who know the score.

[172_driver]

Is that 120 years and current population/energy demand, or at current growth? Year 1800 the world's population was about 1 billion, estimating to be 8 billions by 2026 (approximately 220 years later).

[Superpilot]

Great, all we need now is the demise of the low cost airline and things will be back to normal!

[TyroPicard]

And what about all the empty spaces inside Planet Earth - won't they cause wobbling and orbital disturbance?

[HarryMann]

Isn't it it about what happens if we burn it all very quickly, as much as whether it's there or not?

Ducks into hardened shelter