Saturday, February 11, 2012

Big Oil ... Come Get It While We've Got It


I understand the need for oil products at this time in history, but personally, I think we have done far too much to keep the oil industry comfortable in its earnings. The problem is we have known for decades that oil is eventually going to run out, yet we keep on exploiting it. It may not affect us, our children, or our grandchildren, but our great-grandchildren may have to deal with it when the oil runs out, and eventually it will.

The limited oil resources we have now are forcing prices higher and higher while promoting what I believe to be possibly dangerous explorations. In light of the discovery that some earthquakes in Ohio were linked to fracking operations, and with all the loss of income by the fishing industry in the gulf recently, I believe further uncontrolled oil exploration could damage the income of hundreds of thousands while employing just a few thousand just because the demand is so high and the financial return for a few is so great.

The fact is, oil is a limited resource and is also partially responsible for air, water, and earth pollution. If we don't start looking for other cleaner energy resources and try to discover alternative means for producing those things we now make from oil and its by products, I believe we will be contributing to the development of a serious disaster for all of mankind. If we wait until the oil runs out before we start seeking to employing viable solutions, it will be too late to do anything. I do not want future generations saying that it was our generation's fault for not doing something sooner.

2 comments:

  1. As the cost of oil goes up, alternatives become competitive. Back in '08 I read about an outfit in Iowa that uses a heat and pressure process to turn old tires back into oil—well, diesel, anyway. The article said that the process was competitive if the price of oil was $80 a barrel or more. At that time oil was pushing $140. I hope those guys are still in business.

    Plastics and other petrochemicals actually account for quite a small fraction of our oil usage. We'll still have plenty for those purposes even after oil has gotten too expensive to use for fuel.

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  2. I guess what bothers me the most Jerome is that we have known about this for a long time, and as far as I can see we have still not gotten serious about finding a solution. I am curious as to what percentage of the US budget our government is spending on research or other things that relate to this area? ... also what percentage of the national business private dollars are being spent to discover and provide a viable solution?

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