[playaguess (OP)]

Greetings all,

New to the site.  Thought someone here might have at least an approximate idea of an answer to this question.

If every person on earth was able to acquire and use as much energy as the United States does per capita how long with our fossil fuel reserves (coal/gas/oil) last, assuming we could get it out of the ground and distribute it without effort?

My gut tells me that it would not be a particularly long period of time, perhaps only a few decades.

It seems to me the answer to my question would perhaps be a more convincing driver for development of alternative energy sources than the very real and serious environmental effects of fossil fuel use.

Thanks in advance for your comments,

playaguess