Something that Environmentalists don’t want to admit is that fossil fuel has produced the modern world. Without coal, oil and gas as fuels (and much, much else) we would still be living like the peasants in medieval Europe did in the 1300’s. Coal was the fuel that made steam power possible which produced locomotives and steam ships. Oil became the default fuel for electrical generation, automobiles, modern trains and also the basis for the myriad petrochemical products that make possible everything from pharmaceuticals and clothing to building materials and every other thing that’s made of what we call polymers. Natural gas is the fuel for most of the modern electrical generation installations built in the United States over the last forty years or more. And it heats a large percentage of homes and businesses. Without these fuels we would literally be poor, cold, hungry and sitting in the dark.
And the Left knows that. Now Jeff Bezos and the rest of the plutocrats are fine with this. They know that they would still be able to reap the benefits of energy even if they denied it to the rest of us. Bezos could have his own private solar collecting system and wind turbines with battery back-ups that could allow him to enjoy all of the modern comforts that would be denied to us. His jet and helicopter and cars would mysteriously be able to use fuel while we would only be able to purchase a battery car that could only go a short distance and would be hard pressed to recharge by the next morning when we had to commute back to work. Impoverishing and disenfranchising us is actually the goal of this whole exercise. A new feudalism would replace a free country and the aristocracy and their minions would lord it over the rest of us deplorables.
Of course, we may not be happy about letting them do this. Right now, $3.50/gallon gas and the inflation that causes in our economy is making Dementia Joe awfully unpopular. When it reaches $5.00/gallon he may get tarred and feathered. And that would be a wonderful thing. Impoverishing the American people should be considered treason. So hopefully the environmental insanity being pushed should create a strong reaction to the progressive agenda. That would be a good outcome.
But there is something that needs to be faced. There is a finite amount of hydrocarbon fuels in the Earth. I’m not saying we’re close to the end. I’m only saying there is an end. And now is the time to be doing the basic research to find the next energy source for the modern world. Maybe it’ll be nuclear fission plants, safer versions of the ones currently in place, maybe it’ll be better applications of solar power, perhaps solar collectors outside the atmosphere beaming microwave energy down to collection stations on earth. Maybe it’ll be geothermal hot spots.
An inexhaustible energy supply solves one of our problems. With it we can produce electricity to run our factories and if it is truly inexhaustible, we can even heat our homes with it. But whatever it turns out to be we will still need a fuel for our cars and planes.
Airplanes will never be able to run on batteries. The power density is too low. And as we’ve seen battery powered cars are very limited in their range. Unless there are large gains to be made in battery technology which is unlikely, the best solution is a synthetic fuel.
Maybe it will be hydrogen. Hydrogen is highly energetic and when it is burned with oxygen its combustion product is water. It doesn’t get cleaner than that. But hydrogen is a small molecule gas and it leaks easily and it blows up mightily. So extremely fail-safe equipment will be a necessity if it becomes the fuel, we run our automobiles and planes on. But hydrogen is not the only option. With unlimited electrical energy engineers could very easily produce synthetic methane (natural gas). Or with a little more work they could make longer hydrocarbons. Octane is the optimal component of gasoline. That could be the main product we produce as our global fuel. Of course, we would be using water and carbon dioxide as our starting materials so at that point we would have a carbon neutral effect on the environment which unfortunately would make the environmentalists happy. I wouldn’t feel so good about that but I guess it will have to be.
So, the exhaustion of supplies of natural hydrocarbon fuels is something we should be anticipating. But instead of giving up the modern lifestyle we’ve gained from these energy treasures we need to use our ingenuity to invent replacements that enhance our ability to control our environment and improve our way of life. And that’s my version of following the science.
You are more correct than you know. The green revolution is powered by oil. Oil to make diesel fuel for the giant tractors and combines that plant and harvest the crops. Oil to make energy to make the fertilizers that turn marginal soils into high yield soils. Without petroleum we would be poorer, hungrier and there would be fewer of us. Millions would have starved to death over the last 100 years that, instead, thrived due to petroleum. If you want carbon free energy you have to look at nuclear. The greens may not like it, but its the only… Read more »