• Question: What resources do you plan to use after the fossil fuels run out?

    Asked by mizzlily to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 16 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Hi mizzlily!
      This is a very important question!
      I think that the best options would be renewable fuels like solar, water and wind to generate power. These would be great as they are completely clean and we would never run out!

      I think that we could make more than enough power for the entire world just using renewable fuels. I think the more important question is for us humans to decide and control just how much power we need. At the moment, much of our power is wasted.

      Nuclear power is another option which will be available for a very long time, though it is not without risks. Scientists are currently working to develop a new type of nuclear power called ‘nuclear fusion’ which uses the same process that happens in the sun.

    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      I would prefer us to use less energy (especially my son, who does not understand that lights turn off as well as on!) by cutting back as much as possible. We should walk and cycle more and make sure we turn off lights and gadgets when we aren’t using them.

      For the energy that we do use, Britain is really well off for renewable energy and we could do so much more that we do. All new houses should be built with solar panels, we can build more wind turbines and because we are an island we should build tidal energy plants to use the power of the sea.

      I am not really worried that we will suffer when the fossil fuels run out. Humans are so inventive and solving problems is what we do best. Lots of people like to talk of doom and gloom all the time and in my experience the worst NEVER happens.

    • Photo: Dilwar Hussain

      Dilwar Hussain answered on 16 Nov 2013:

      Hi Mizzlily,

      I think that’s a great question you asked, one that’s very important to think about. In the next 20-30 years, oil will still play a major part and and gas even more so. That’s because new and smart technologies have been/are being developed to extract the “hard-to-get-at” oil and gas reserves that lie deep in the ground, oceans and the Antarctic.

      After oil and gas does run out, I think nuclear power will play a much greater role and we are already seeing that in China, Russia, India and even the UK.
      Renewables are promising but have yet to prove they can be more efficient. The problem with renewables at the moment is that you have to built a lot of say wind turbines and solar panels which takes up a lot of sea or land space but doesn’t provide that much energy to that many homes. Plus, they’re depend on the weather conditions, for example, if you have wind turbines but no wind on a particular day, or you have solar panels but it’s cloudy. So there’s a lot of issues to get around.
      In the UK, we have what’s called an “energy mix” so using energy from Nuclear, renewables and fossil fuels.

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