Whether fossil fuels are biotic or abiotic has nothing to do with whether or not we need them for plastics, fertilizer, etc...
Fossil fuels being purely biotic or not has everything to do with scarcity (in that purely biotic oil/gas coming from fossil sources has to run out, while abiotic sources would imply they could/would regenerate without meteorites having to kill everyone off and putting a layer of dust onto everybody for a few ages to turn them into liquid 'black gold'. (more on the Swedish science report)
Anton Kolesnikov1,2, Vladimir G. Kutcherov2,3 & Alexander F. Goncharov1
Abstract
There is widespread evidence that petroleum originates from biological processes1, 2, 3. Whether hydrocarbons can also be produced from abiogenic precursor molecules under the high-pressure, high-temperature conditions characteristic of the upper mantle remains an open question. It has been proposed that hydrocarbons generated in the upper mantle could be transported through deep faults to shallower regions in the Earth's crust, and contribute to petroleum reserves4, 5. Here we use in situ Raman spectroscopy in laser-heated diamond anvil cells to monitor the chemical reactivity of methane and ethane under upper-mantle conditions. We show that when methane is exposed to pressures higher than 2 GPa, and to temperatures in the range of 1,000-1,500 K, it partially reacts to form saturated hydrocarbons containing 2-4 carbons (ethane, propane and butane) and molecular hydrogen and graphite. Conversely, exposure of ethane to similar conditions results in the production of methane, suggesting that the synthesis of saturated hydrocarbons is reversible. Our results support the suggestion that hydrocarbons heavier than methane can be produced by abiogenic processes in the upper mantle.
http://www.viewzone.com/abioticoilx.html
Besides, organic oils have been used for plastic (Ford auto company even experimented with making the 'plastics' of a car out of hemp oil). Reasons for using crude oil or other sources are a question of cost-effectiveness, consumer-preferences,....
My point was, that if the peak oil theory is true (and I know about the gaussian curvature that model -presuming it is true- would take, so thank you for your explanation, but there was no need), we could turn down the fossil fuel consumption for transport and/or heating, but we'd presumable would still use a lot for all the petrochemical usage (untill the market would presumably change its cost-effectiveness beyond a certain point where alternatives would be cheaper).
Well, they will pay for themselves....there are studies that not all 'green' tech is as green as you and I may think. Consider the wind-mill won't last forever, a lot of times it can't be used (too little or too much wind), construction and material per wattage is smaller than you imagine,.... I am not against green tech...I just plac questions by hyped up bubbles that are so common with our market boom/bust cycles. In Belgium we had tons of people getting solar screens, but a study pointed out that without the royal subsidies the government gave, it would not have been 'paying for itself' at all. But still...not against alternative energy ideas, just against the hype.
I did not state what you read about scarcity of oil being linked to global warming itself.
So unless the scarcity of oil is not there as they claim, they should have nothing to fear from global warming. What I ment with this statement is that with the theory of peak oil which presumably we passed (and according to some already did in the past....and I'll make a small wager will do in a couple of years
encore une fois) they would steadily find it more and more difficult to get oil. Hence the product would become more and more scarce. But there would still be a need and at the moment since we are in no way anywhere near a full fledged alternative energy system, there would be more than enough need for society to pay lots of money in order to make this needed transition (again...in the model of peak oil and such). Scarcity is something that people strive for when it comes to commercial activity. (see the diamond industry if you are interested in an example)
Furthermore....unless you think that everybody in the oil industry is blind, they would already know much better than anyone of us that peak oil is a reality, companies like that tending to plan further than the next couple of months. Those companies are not just oil companies, they are large corporations with lots of assets, financial and otherwise, that they want to advance towards a 'greater yield'. Why would they destroy their own goose with golden eggs by mindlessly opposing anything that might stop their quick momentary gains if it will follow that 1. the economic system will eventually crash due to a tipping point where oil needs for basic economic continuation can not be delivered anymore at a reasonable working/financial cost and 2. the planet will be so polluted and warmed up that an economic crash totally disrupts their quick momentary gains
Either any question mark towards manmade global warming is funded by oil companies because they are stupid and can't foresee into the future (i.e. they know all too well that what they are doing is 'bad') or they genuinely believe that it is not going to be a problem so they fund these stories.
The 'it's just for economical gain'-argument is riddled with fallacy towards emotional appeal...those bad bad oil companies....they just want to sell oil and the good guys (i.e. Al Gore and Ken Ley, ex-Enron and one of the people behind the capping trade scheme) want to stop them. I hope the healthy dose of skepticism is not something that is just administered to those whacky conspiracy theories but would get pulled out in real life as well.
Oil companies are against the idea of anthropogenic global warming because they want to sell as much oil as the ground will yield and people will burn. If people decide that burning oil is harmful and the amount of oil that can be burned is capped then the oil companies will loose money. Oil companies want to prevent people from switching to other energy sources as long as possible so they can keep demand high while prices continue to increase.
As I stated above...corporations are not married to singular industrial activities. If they would genuinely see peak oil as the problem that it is claimed to be, it would seem to me that they would invest their money in the new up and coming industries of the future. Oil companies ar not mindless 'believers in oil'...they are crude and clever businessmen who know much more about making money than this simplistic view you (and countless others) at first sight seem to hold (btw...if I come of as attacking...my apologies). If you would think that their prime motive is money...and peak oil means that production costs will go up, while production itself will fall... if they would stick to their oil-guns, their energy market would get overrun by different alternatives that would get the necessary capital for investment (since people would be put off by the sky-rocketing prices). Again...in what world do you see this scenario of 'stupid oil companies' as plausible?
What is happening with the new 'green tech' (in Europe at the very least, I have to say I can't speak for the USA) is that governments have been flowing lots of tax payer money into these new technological industries and that a lot of companies (alas...also those bad bad oil companies) have reaped huge profits with the free money.
"These are the rules of big business. They have superseded the teachings of our parents and are reducible to a simple maxim: Get a monopoly; let Society work for you; and remember that the best of all business is politics, for a legislative grant, franchise, subsidy or tax exemption is worth more than a Kimberly or Comstock lode, since it does not require any labor, either mental or physical, for its exploitation."
-Frederick C. Howe, in Confessions of a Monopolist (1906)
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/353...int-1906-pdf-february-10-2012-6-5?dn=y&dnad=y (p166)