Decius wrote:

Nothing but reduced consumption is the answer.

You're saying there is absolutely no medium or long term energy solution? I thought we had 400 years of coal in the US. I haven't read about plutonium supplies. Is there an absolute limit of 100 years worth? Clearly, in 100 years a moon based solar system could be constructed, if there is no other option.

Long term energy solution? Not possible. We can't absolutely foresee the world's energy needs in 2050, or how that might change as we react to the changing needs of the next half-century. Too many damn variables. :-) How high can energy consumption go? What if Africa starts to industrialize? The U.S. consumes a 1/4 of the world's energy production, yet China has 4 times as many people; what is the energy [political] environment going to be like when they hit full capacity and eclipse us? When world population hits 9 billion in 2050? Will energy consumption for agriculture outweigh the need for an inefficient vehicle? No one can really say. Economists will tell you that we will invent new ways to harvest energy, find new technological fixes for the growing demand. We can't address anything unless we start now with what we have. I think only conservation, and not technology, has the exclusive potential to be the only answer. If we conserve now, there's no telling how far we will be able to get with current technology -- we can certainly get as far into the future as anyone can reasonably predict.

-janelane, passionately

RE: Atlanta may run out of gas.