• Question: how long will it take for all the resources in the world, such as coal to run out

    Asked by 456evnb35 to Adam, Emily, Thad, Thomas on 12 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Emily Seward

      Emily Seward answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Good question. I don’t think anyone knows. Probably by the time we run out of coal we will be using a new technology. Things like the energy from the sun will almost never run out (certainly not until humans are probably extinct anyway).

    • Photo: Thomas Clements

      Thomas Clements answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Good question and the answer is a little scary.

      Current estimates suggest if we continue to extract the 4 billion tonnes of oil a year (that we currently do) we could deplete all known oil deposits worldwide by 2052.
      Gas reserves could be used up by 2060 and recent estimates of coal reserves worldwide suggest we will run out by 2088.

      It is important to note that these are estimate and the people who came up with these figures have been questioned about the validity of their results. That being said, we should all be worrying about this and it will become a really important job sector in the future.

    • Photo: Thaddeus Aid

      Thaddeus Aid answered on 12 Mar 2015:

      Hi,

      Thomas has given the dates. So within your lifetime we will run out of energy. The question is what to do about it, now, while we still have a chance? We need to be really pushing towards renewable energy sources. If we stop using coal, gas, and oil (all the remnants of ancient life forms by the way) and replace it with energy generation from wind, wave, and solar we can power our civilization forever. The sun provides us with more energy than we can ever use and if we solidly invest in renewable energy now we won’t have a problem when we run out of oil, coal, and gas.

      I hope that answers your question!

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