Re:The Danish climate minister closing down the nation’s oil...
by solstice on Monday December 07, 2020 @06:05AM
(#25331056)
> and much of that oil can probably come from sources other than pumping it out of the ground.
More importantly, it will hopefully come from onshore wells which are easier to access and manage than the crazy underwater shenanigans necessary of deep offshore extraction.
Re:The Danish climate minister closing down the nation’s oil...
by godelski on Monday December 07, 2020 @02:43PM
(#25336275)
Not to mention that there have been research into making bioplastics[0]. Though they currently aren't as good as petroleum plastics, a push for more research and using blends can significantly reduce that dependence even more. Every step forward is still movement forward. Yes, we should be moving faster, but moving forward is better than not moving at all (or moving backwards). At the end of the day we won't be able to stop all CO2 production, but we should be able to achieve sustainable levels.
People often forget that the problem isn't producing CO2, the problem is producing too much CO2. If we have sequestration techniques (natural or man made) you can produce as much CO2 as you want as long as you have sustainable levels (which currently we need negative net production).
"Modern medicine relies on petroleum, particularly to transport patients, staff, and supplies"
That part is largely 'solved' problem and the rollout of those solutions over the next 30 years will probably be significant. As far as plastics and pharmaceuticals are concerned the paper puts it at "an estimated 0.2% of petroleum used in the United States was for medical plastics"
As for plastics in general the current number seems to be in the 6-10% range globally depending on who you ask. With a combination of reducing, recycling and misc. technology improvements I'm sure we can get that down further in the next 20-30 years. And much of that oil can probably come from sources other than pumping it out of the ground.
So on the whole I think winding down the petroleum industry as we know it today over the next 30 years to a fraction of what it is today (no one is seriously suggesting 100% shutdown) is absolutely doable, from a technology point of view. The reasons why it won't happen are political.