8 Responses

1. the world will not “run out of oil”. it will just become increasingly expensive.
   that said, biofuel would work. not as well, but it would work.
   currently you can power a diesel car using pure vegetable oil.
   that would work for an airplane as well.

2. You;ll be long dead before the world runs out of oil, so you should worry about it. There will be new technology by then.

3. There is LOTS of oil, more known reserves now than there have ever been. For decades we were always in the “20 years of known reserves” situation. There are now well over a century of known reserves at current rates of consumption. If you include natural gas, which could easily power surface transportation, there’s even more.

   Much of the “easy” oil is gone, but there is a great deal of oil that is available that we have to work a little harder for.

4. As others have hinted the problem is not simply running out of oil, but not being able to extract it fast enough to meet increasing demand of 9bn humans

   In most of the major fields output is decreasing as all the easy to extract and refine oil is used up.

   Electric is suitable for small aircraft http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/world-speed-record-set-by-100-electric-airplane/
   And for domestic flights of 400 miles electric trians are a realistic alternative (they are quicker because there is no check-in wait)

   but acros oceans the increasing fuel cost post peak oil (5-10years depending on how fast we come out of recession) will curtail trans-ocaen flight to those that can afford the luxury

5. If the planet ran out of oil, many alternative fuel sources for airplanes would be possible. These include bio-derived fuels, methanol, ethanol, liquid natural gas, liquid hydrogen, and synthetic fuels.

6. To answer your question yes, and one of the very interesting things that are being worked on is electrically powered flight. While solar cells do not work for cars very well the upper surface of aircraft wings presents a different sort of situation. This is particularly true where the aircraft is flying above any cloud cover.

   What will drive this development is the potential savings in using a aircraft that can stay aloft indefinitely to replace satellites. What is needed is an energy storage system to power the craft during night time use.

   Energy sources have come and gone. Petroleum is only the latest and it will not last forever. Other options can be developed. Imagine an electric train that could go from city to city faster than the current air craft. Imagine ships that could travel the oceans using little or no fuel. It is all possible and we are not in danger of running out of oil soon. Even if oil has peaked it only means that 1/2 the cheap stuff has been extracted.

7. We can always take a ship across the ocean, or a train across the land. With ships and high speed trains, air travel is just a luxury. Think about what people did before there were airplanes, or cars! Life was much simpler. But to answer your question, oil will not actually just “run out” it will just disappear for a while and then the other fossils will turn into oil. We shouldn’t be using it, because one can easily make fuel from the following things we don’t need:
   1.Sewage
   2.Garbage
   3.Waste veggie oil (from McDonald’s for example)
   4.CO2 emissions
   5.Organic waste (banana peels, etc.)

   Airplanes can have two types of engines, both can be fueled by alternative fuels.
   1. Jet engines. These include jets, turboprops, etc.
   2. Piston engine. These are like car engines.
   Both can be powered by bio-diesel (If number 2 is diesel)
   Number 2 can be powered by ethanol, since it has a high octane number.

   Jet-prop and piston-prop engines are best, because the emissions can be captured, and they are very efficient.

8. There will probably always be enough fuel to power our planes – it will just be a question of cost. As oil supplies decline, air prices will go up. Eventually it will hit a point where synthetic jet fuel will be cost effective and will replace stuff mined from the ground. Ultimately, however, flying will be much more expensive than we’re used to. I imagine the world is going to be a much bigger place in the future.