Global energy demands
Greta Thunberg arrested for disobeying the police:
Ms Thunberg, 20, joined a group of young protesters blockading oil tankers at a port in Malmö in June. Police said she refused to leave when asked to. She could face a six-month prison sentence or a fine.
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Climate activists around the world have targeted the fossil fuel industry, including the UK group Just Stop Oil which has been disrupting high-profile sports events this summer. Much of the oil and gas industry says that continued production is necessary in order to meet global energy demands.
Well, one, of course it does, because it’s the oil and gas industry. It’s not going to say “shut us down” now is it.
But two, yes, that’s true, but that’s the problem. Global energy demands are going to destroy most life on the planet. Saying “But we neeeeeeeeeeeeeed it” isn’t going to change that.
Much of the oil and gas industry says that continued production is necessary in order to meet global energy demands.
I’m sure the producers of fentanyl feel much the same way.
Blockquote fail. That first sentence wasn’t mine.
To damn the industry with very faint praise, there are participants who understand and agree with the science, and who fret about what to do about it. They’re minnows in the industry and I have no idea what those with real power think. parts of the industry think of themselves as energy companies, rather than oil and gas. They are exploring a range of (more) sustainable energy sources to phase out O&G. It’s not enough and they know it. It was never going to be enough unless this work started in earnest back in the ’70s. Which of course it didn’t, because the general populace didn’t know, didn’t care, didn’t believe; and what politician was going to disrupt the economy at the price of losing massive political capital. So, we’re in deep poo, and ditching O&G instantly as certain groups insist we do will lead to mass deaths and wars now, rather than at some date in the future. As others have said, we just have to do what we can now, and hope that enough of humanity make it through the population bottleneck to preserve a viable future.
Now, if the Oil & Gas Industry were to see itself as the energy industry with a long-term set of goals that included making a better planet for their shareholders (and everyone else,) they might see the sense in pursuing other sources of energy. Think of how spending the money on researching fusion instead of, say, figuring out how to pump beyond the North Carolina Coastal Shelf could benefit in the long run. Think of how researching into alternate batteries that don’t require cobalt could lead to cleaner air.
But for some reason, they are hell-bent on oil, gas and coal.
I’m afraid Rob is right. We had our chance, and we blew it.
The inimitable M. King Hubbert, he who formulated the idea the resources don’t “run out” but go through a maximum (“peak”) and then decline, gave a talk back in the 70s outlining his ideas and what to do about the coming decline in oil production.
That’s not a misprint: the 1970s. His audience: Health Care Facilities! Cracks me up that a seminal talk was recorded for such a specialty group.
Watch it. Toward the end, after he has discussed what peaking is and what the future holds, he draws everyone’s attention to a little solar device on the tabletop, spinning its little fins.
“We can do it now,” he says.
This is a heartbreaking moment for me. Hubbert knew, way back then, and he tried to tell us what to do, and we ignored him.
The link to the presentation is under Hubbert’s name above.
Maybe Donald Trump when POTUS* was not a dumb as his critics made out. Just sayin’ of course.
*(POTTYUS?)
Raise your hand if you recall the gas lines and needing to go on alternate days to be in line for hours at the station for gas, knowing that even with 10 gallon limits per car there was a real possibility that the station would run out of fuel before you were able to fill up. And how many people were idling away the fuel that they had while waiting?
There was a sense of urgency in the 1970’s to look towards other sources of energy than oil and gas. An urgency to free ourselves from dependency on OPEC for our livelihood. But measures that were proposed by Jimmy Carter and othes were laughed at, or ridiculed. As soon as Reagan took office he removed Carter’s solar panels from the roof of the White House, and people started taking out loans for Toronoados, El Dorados, and Cordobas and decided that the oil crisis was a hoax meant to bring America to its knees.
We had a chance, and we threw it away.
Mike, yes I do. Here in NZ, in addition to the soaring price of petrol (as we call it), we had ‘carless days’. You had to opt for a day you couldn’t drive your car and you got a colour-coded sticker for your windscreen. Driving on your carless day could be fined up to NZ$400 (over $2,500 in todays money). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carless_days_in_New_Zealand#:~:text=Carless%20days%20was%20a%20petrol,amidst%20the%201979%20oil%20crisis.
You’re quite right that the opportunity was blown back then. Instead the West’s industrial/military complex persuaded politicians, especially those on the right, that instead we should do a series of deals with key oil producers that lowered the price of oil for decades, provided them with massive military supplies, propped up their regimes, and made all concerned rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Pretty much worked for a generation too. Shame about the planet.