A world without petroleum

Since about a sixth of the plastics in use now are biological (or rather, botanical) in origin, we can get around that. All petro gives us is a fuel with a lot of bang for the buck. Without that, well, steam cars come back, electric cars will get a lot more love (and money), shipping will likely continue the transition to TGV, and aviation...is screwed.

A couple notes on energy useage that I found interesting.

A DVR uses more energy each year than a refrigerator.

That 42" Plasma TV you're looking over in the store uses over twice as much energy as the 'standard' 27" TV.

Something to keep in mind the next time you look at your power bill.