Almost Free energy!

In medieval times, King Henry VIII (1491-1547) already had an energy problem. He worried that England could not produce enough wood for heating, cooking and building houses and urged citizens to conserve. Coal mining in the 1700s lifted this concern and an abundant new energy source was made available(Sony VGP-BPL9 battery). Coal soon became the nucleus of the Industrial Revolution to power the steam engine and provide heat for homes, but soon burning large amounts of coal began to darken the cities and cause health problems(Sony VGP-BPL11 battery).

Hooked on Cheap Energy

In 1859, explorers discovered oil, first in Pennsylvania and then in Texas. In 1900, the Middle East became a key oil supplier and by World War I, Mexico, Venezuela and Iran began producing liquid energy. Oil was cheap, plentiful, easy to transport, relatively clean to burn and soon became the preferred energy resource(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M battery ).

Figure 1: First US oil well.

Searching for an alternative to the scarce whale oil, Edwin L. Drake erected a derrick and started drilling for oil using an old steam engine. To prevent the shaft from collapsing, he lowered the drill inside an iron pipe. In 1859, Drake found oil but his fortune was short-lived; he did not patent the drilling invention. Within months, oil fields sprung up across northwestern Pennsylvania, the oil price dropped and Drake lost his family savings on speculative oil stock investments(Sony VGN-FZ15 battery).

Drake Well, Titusville, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1859

Although seemingly endless in supply, oil is non-renewable and will eventually run out. With an unrestrained and liberal consumption for over 100 years, no one wants to be reminded that we might have to do with less, or even go without it. We are in denial and cannot fathom life without this cheap energy source(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18M battery). Cars run on oil, roads connecting cities are paved with an oil product, so are plastics used in our everyday products. Oil-based fertilizer enriches food yield and oil-fed farm machinery harvest the produce inexpensively and transport it to our diner tables. Every calorie of food we eat is backed by several calories of oil and we are practically eating oil(Sony VGN-FZ31E battery). Heating our houses is a matter of setting the thermostat and gathering wood for the stove is a thing of the past. Oil makes us live like kings; we eat rich food, wear fine cloths and travel on motorized wheels. We could not have it better(Sony VGN-FZ17 battery).

But what shall we do when the oil gets expensive or runs out? Go back to the olden days? Many would rather die than think about it. As slave labor elevated the standard of living in the 1700s and 1800s, so too has oil boosted our prosperity today(Sony VGP-BPS18 battery). We got accustomed to our comfortable existence and claim it as our entitlement, not realizing that this life style is not sustainable. Taking the oil away would cause an economic collapse of immense proportion, and everyone knows this(Sony VGN-FZ29VN battery).

As wood lead to coal and coal to oil, scientists count on hydrogen as the next energy miracle. It’s unlimited in supply and clean to burn. Cars powered by the hydrogen fuel cell run so clean that the hot water from the tailpipe could be used to serve tea. But hydrogen is expensive to produce and it takes as much energy to create as it delivers(Sony VGN-FZ220E battery). In addition, an affordable fuel cell for cars might still be 20 years away. Not to worry… we’ll still have enough oil for this long; so let our grandchildren fret.

We remember the biblical story of multiplying bread and fish to feed the hungry, a miracle that reproduced food without labor(Sony VGN-FZ11Z battery). What strikes me is the crafty mind of a few clever businessmen then who wanted to harness this bonanza for the good of the land and their own pocket book. The plan failed; Jesus knew about their craftiness and withdrew(Sony VGN-FZ11M battery).

In much the same way, oil is a free gift that took millions of years to develop. As multiplying bread and fish fed the multitude for only one day and the crowd got hungry again, so also is oil finite and we must find alternatives. An endless supply would corrupt mankind and bring eventual destruction. Wars over oil, past and present, are a clear sign of greed and power. Mankind survived before the oil and will continue to do so after(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31M battery).

Peaking of Oil

Oil is cheap. When considering that a barrel of oil provides the equivalent power of 25,000 farm workers, we begin to understand the term “virtually free.” John Meyers of “The Crude Awakening” is aware of the eventual end of oil and reminds us that discoveries have peaked in the 1960s, global oil reserves have not increased since 1990(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31Z battery), and explorations are yielding diminishing returns. Chevron Oil quotes that the world consumes two barrel of oil for every barrel discovered. As this valuable resource is becoming difficult to find, oil companies are reverting to more complex extraction methods that raise environmental concerns(Sony VGN-FZ19VN battery). Removing a barrel of oil from tar sands devours one third of the energy it yields and consumes ten times the amount of water it produces in oil.

Figure 3 shows the oil consumption from 1900 to 2000 and the predicted decline towards 2100. The graph also reminds us of the growing debt that governments and citizens have accumulated during time of plenty and there is little effort of paying off the debt(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ38M battery).

Figure 3: Oil consumption from 1900 to 2000 and the predicted decline towards the year 2100. While drawing from this valuable resource, governments and citizens sank into record debt obligations(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31S battery).

The then president Nixon said in the 1970s that we have enough oil to last for centuries. Then came the energy crisis and citizens adjusted to a more frugal life style. When the shortage ended, president Nixon told the American citizens to revert back to the former gluttony and “go, go, go, drive, drive, drive, burn, burn, burn!” The critical mass obliged and began burning more than ever(Sony VGN-FZ11L battery). We have doubled and quadrupled the horsepower in cars. The buyers wanted it and gas is cheap. We only need to work for a few minutes to buy a liter (34oz) of this super energy. Accelerating two tons of steel from 0 to 100km (0 to 62 miles) in 10 seconds costs next to nothing and is exhilarating. So why stop the fun – it could harm the economy(Sony VGP-BPS9/B battery).

In the 1930s, Europe had a different vision of the car. With a large rural population, farmers needed low-cost transportation and Citroën, the French carmaker, designed a “rugged umbrella on four wheels” that could carry workers and 100 kg (220 lb) of payload and travel at a speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) (Sony VGN-FZ190 battery). The car was to drive across a ploughed field without breaking the eggs it was carrying and consume no more than 3 liters of gasoline per 100 km (78 MPG). The first models had a 375cc motor that developed 9 hp; the 2CV (my first car) had the larger 425cc engine with about 18 hp and would reach 85 km/h (53 miles) with tail wind(Sony VGN-FZ190E battery).

Today, 275hp (200kW) motors propel large cars and SUVs, a power plant that could provide electrical energy to ten houses. Most vehicles carry only the driver and there are no restrictions as to vehicle size, horsepower and distances driven. Our highways are mostly free and whatever we can afford to put on them is fine – the gas tax pays for the highways. If this were true, experts say that the price of gasoline would need to be five-times the current price(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21E battery ).

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, transportation consumes, 71 percent of the oil consumed in the USA is for transportation and 51 percent goes to passenger cars and light trucks. This makes private transportation the largest single consumer of oil. “Driving is our privilege,” we say, and motorists crowned the car as the ruling king of the land(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21S battery).

Driving cars is one of the least efficient modes of transportation in terms of energy usage. Vehicles have very low fuel efficiency – only 25 percent of the energy is utilized for propulsion from tank to wheel. This calculation looks even worse when taking vehicle weight and a single driver into account. Typically, the ratio of machine to man is ten-to-one(Sony Vaio VGN-FZ210CE battery). When accelerating a 1.5 tone vehicle, less than two percent of the energy moves the 75kg (165lb) driver, his briefcase and the lunch bag; 98 percent goes to kinetic energy, heat and friction. Even a modern jet plane has better fuel efficiency than a car. A fully occupied Airbus 340 gets 3.4l/100km (70 mpg) cruising at 950km/h (594 miles) (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18S battery).

Trains are one of the most efficient modes of transportation. The 36 km Yamanote circle line connecting major urban centers in Tokyo carries 3.5 million passengers per day. During rush hour the 11-car train runs every 150 seconds. Such a passenger volume would be unthinkable by private cars on city streets. Trains are also economical in moving freight. Transporting one tone of freight consumes only 0.65 liters of fuel per 100km (362MPG). Moving back to rail for long-distance freight is one way to conserve fuel(Sony VGN-FW11 battery).