 Energy. A product that the world cannot live without. It powers everything we do in today's world. From mops that are used in cleaning to the clothes we wear daily. From the sports our athletes play to the ballpoint pens that are used in educating students and in the business world. But where does this energy come from and can the human race continue with the use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas? Let's look at big oil.
Oil is formed in the Earth when the remains of ancient marine organisms are buried under layers of sediment and subjected to intense pressure over millions of years, causing the organic matter to transform into hydrocarbons, which we call oil. Dating back to ancient China in 600 BC, the earliest known oil wells were drilled in China as early as 350 BC. using strong bamboo bits to a depth of nearly 800 feet. The oil was extracted and transported through bamboo pipelines and was burned as a heating fuel. It wasn't until 1859, when Colonel Edwin Blake successfully drilled the first commercial oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania, marking a turning point in the oil industry. The discovery of the Spindletop geyser in Beaumont, Texas in 1901 led to a major boom in oil production and further development of the industry. It was John D. Rockefeller, who established Standard Oil, that dominated the American oil industry in the late 19th century and became the world's first oil baron. Standard Oil quickly became the most profitable in Ohio, controlling nearly 90% of America's refining capacity. At the current consumption rate, the United States has enough oil to last another 227 years. This figure is based on an estimate of 1.66 trillion barrels of technically recoverable oil. This study was released by the Institute for Energy Research in May 2024. The Unites States also has large shale deposits, which could provide an additional 114 years of oil. There is a lot of oil that is currently inaccessible or too deep to quantify. Some of this oil is located in Antarctica and in deeper parts of the Earth's core. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a reliable safeguard against short-term oil crisis. However, it is unlikely that the U.S. would run out of oil entirely. American renewable energy (wind, solar, tidal, bio-fuel, hydro-electric, and geo-thermal) has hovered between a low of 5.37% (in 2001) and a high of 11.44% (in 2019) since 1949. Nuclear energy, not used until 1959, topped out at 8.89% in 2002. In all, alternative energy use in the United States has never topped 20% of total energy use. Further, international agreements have failed to put a dent in America's fossil fuel use. In the years since the U.S. signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 to reduce greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2050, American fossil fuel use has only minimally fluctuated between a high of 81.22% in 2015 and a low of73.08% in 2020. With only 25 years until the 2050 net zero emissions deadline, no statistical increase in the use of alternative energies, and no clear policy changes, how can we expect alternative energies to replace fossil fuels? And let's be real. Oil is used in the production of green or renewable enrgy! What's needed instead are reasonable interim steps, not pie in the sky policy making that will force everyday Americans to further change their lifestyle. Responsible programs can better assist down the road to eventual cleaner energy use. With doomsday-like predictions looming about climate change, it's essential to focus on realistic, broad based approaches that are already advancing environmental progress. There will come a time (not in my lifetime) that green(renewable) energy will prevail over fossil fuels. Maybe in the next couple of centuries. In the meantime, I, along with most everyone else on this third rock from the sun (that's Earth for those who don't know our solar system), will continue using the fuels provided. #QUESTIONEVERYTHING |
KWMC
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