Nightly, local and national news programs discuss the rising fuel costs in America and around the world. One local news program I viewed last night reported that oil prices in Utah are consistent with the current national average; around $3.20 per gallon. Reasonably, the drastic rise in the cost of oil is blamed on the decrease in supply (I only took one economics class during my educational career,however I remember my professor talking about the importance of a successful balance of supply and demand). What happens when the demand for a resource is significantly higher than the supply on hand? In addition to this inequality in supply and demand, the supply of oil is unlike other products we have come to rely on; it is irreplaceable.
Besides the personal burdens each of us may feel due to these prices, economics experts are declaring the supply and demand imbalance a serious cause for global alarm. I recently rented a documentary titled "OIL APOCALYPSE" from Los Angeles-based filmmaker Martin Kent. In the film, Mr. Kent calls for "a wake up call," about the world’s energy crisis. saying, "My hope is that upon seeing this film, everyone will be inspired to become an energy activist -- instead of sitting back and hoping that the scientists and leaders will somehow pull everything together and fix this in the eleventh hour. The time to act is now." He presents a terrifying sequence of possible scenarios. The film warns that we are fast approaching the breaking point, when the imbalance could destabilize the economies and infrastructures of virtually every nation on the planet.
(For more information on "Oil Apocalypse" or Martin Kent, view his website www.martinkentproductions.com)
One of the energy experts appearing in the documentary was author Richard Heinberg. Mr. Heinberg is a respected American Journalist who is known for his works on the subject of peak oil. Peak oil is defined as "the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, an energy crisis may develop because the availability of conventional oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
According to Heinberg and other industry and economic experts, peak oil is no longer a worry of the distant future; it is now. I was shocked to hear predictions of $300 barrels of oil (national news headlines recently reported the price rising about $100 per barrel). Below is an interview posted on YouTube of an interview with Richard Heinberg (parts one and two).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHXdS9XYVs8&eurl=http://www.indymedia.ie/article/85156
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osbQ9UHMAvY&feature=related
Clearly this is a problem. Are there any solutions? According to "Oil Apocalypse" there may be. The film refers to a "plan B" stating a coordinated system of alternative energies (laid out in his film), could replace our addiction and dependence on oil, if society mobilizes quickly to make it happen.
It’s long been known that oil is a finite, non-renewable resource, that pollutes the environment, and now mankind is coming to realize that it is also most likely causing climate change.
What are our noble Big Oil Giants doing in preparation? I searched press releases from every major website and found that they all had two things in common. One, the problem was presented as less pressing or severe. Two, just like Chevron, all claim to be doing their part in the search for an oil replacement.
In a press release on ConocoPhillips' website, I found the more interesting of the possible solutions: "In April 2007, ConocoPhillips announced its alliance with Tyson Foods, Inc. to produce the next generation of renewable diesel fuel from beef, pork and poultry fat. The alliance will create a transportation fuel that contributes to America’s energy future, helps address climate change concerns, and helps supplement the traditional oil-based diesel fuel supply. The company also said it will establish an eight-year, $22.5 million research program at Iowa State University dedicated to developing technologies that produce bio renewable fuels."
http://www.conocophillips.com/social/engagement/Conversation+on+Energy/2007+Public+Outreach+Tour/Event+Highlights/San+Antonio/sanantonio-community.htm
Sounds interesting. Could their record in this matter be cleaner (or greener?) than that of Chevron?
So far I haven't found any incriminating evidence to prove either way. The project is still running and findings may not be available for at least three years. According to an article titled "Bioprocess For Monomer From Cellulosic Materials", on a website devoted to green technology, the study looks promising.
http://www.greentechnolog.com/2007/04/
I will continue to look into it. Being the skeptic that I am however, I forecast that the world's energy problems will take much more than the chicken fat to solve.
2 comments:
Betsy, I have seen this movie as well and it was very "eye opening" to me as well. I found numerous things in this movie/documentay to be very; but he most disturbing was/is how our govenrment treats the oil crisis. It is very clear that our current govenment is in colaboration with big oil and there are many factors to support that fact. Our nation, along with China and one other...which I cannot remember, has stated over and over that our economy is almost single handedly dependant on OIL AND that our great nation will do WHATEVER it takes to ensure that we have enough of the precious resource...That equates to WAR!!! more so than what is going on right now. How crazy are things that our government has publicaly said that we will KILL people to make sure we can drive SUV's.
Brazil and numerous other South American countries are almost completely indpendant from oil and are using alternative fuels...it can happen!! I agree with the movie that we are too late, but why give up, we need to do two things: First find more oil (as much as I dont want this to be in play), but we need more oil in the moment in order to sustain us until we...Secondly we need to develop alternative energy as fast as humanly possible, this cannot be an option. The government should be dropping all of our "wonderful" billions that we are spending eacvh month in Iraq on a more realistic cause...developing alternative fuels. Good blog Betsy
Wow, after hearing that left leaning comment posted by Mr. Green himself Brant, I would like to take this opportunity to give everyone a reality check and talk about facts, not left wing hyperbolae that always ends up going back to Iraq for some reason.
Now I want to preface this comment by stating that I am upset about high oil prices and yes the oil companies and suppliers do have a hand in setting these high prices but there are so many other factors that have brought us to this point with oil and the state of our economy.
The main argument I want to make, is that the two biggest and important reasons as to why oil prices are so high is the growing worldwide demand of oil and the state of the US economy. Now before we all start pointing the finger at George Bush and his “Buddies in the Oil Industry”, let’s take a journey back into time. The National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association says that the last new refinery built in the United States was Marathan Ashland's Garyville, La., plant—and it was completed in 1976. Why is that relevant? Even though oil is in such high demand, prices would be lower if the US had higher refinery capacity. Refining oil takes time and our demand for it rises every single year. So, you can only imagine the pressure that is put on these refineries if we haven’t built a new one in over 30 years! So why haven’t we built one lately? Law makers have not approved of building new refineries due to their over concern of how it will effect the environment. Don’t you think that by over 30 years time, US industry and innovation have created better technology and methods to build more efficient and cleaner refineries? It’s important that refineries continue to develop new methods of being cleaner and friendlier to the environment, but simply not building them will not help in rising oil prices.
While we are on the topic of environmentalism, I also want to point out another road block they have given the oil industry and the American people. The huge hindrance they have given on the drilling and exploration of oil in many areas in the US itself. The two main areas that would supply billions of barrels of oil are the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and more recently in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease 193 along the Chukchi Sea. In a recent letter to the Democratic controlled, House Natural Resources Committee, representative Don Young (Rep.) from Alaska explained the impact that these areas would have on current oil supplies. He stated:
OCS lease sale 193 is estimated to contain 15 billion barrels of oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, for a combined total of 27.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent. ANWR is estimated to hold another 10.4 billion barrels of oil, for a total of 38.2 billion barrels of oil.
The amount of oil that can be extracted from these two areas represents nearly 3 Trillion dollars added to the US economy. Think of all of the benefits we could gain if we would just tap into these resources.
1. We could take away the tight grip that corrupt foreign governments have on our oil industry and economy. The only reason Presidente “Chancho”, or Chavez in Venezuela can pipe off to the US is because his country is one of the top suppliers of oil to our country. Why did we fight two fronts in the War on Terror in Iraq and Aghanistan, but not in the country where the majority of the nineteen bastard highjackers came from, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a large exporter of Islamic Terrorism and they have a large influence on the continuation of world wide Jihad. Why haven’t we dealt harshly with them? Well I guess we all know the obvious answer to that one. If we can find the majority of our oil supply in our own backyard, we will have less of a need to depend and prop up governments who do not have our well being their best interests.
2. Having our own supply will bring down oil prices because it will raise the supply to fight high prices because of demand.
3. It will add Trillions of Dollars and thousands of jobs to our economy. We have become a country that imports every thing we use. When are we going to get back to becoming a country of producers rather than consumers? For example, because of the recent demand for corn to develop ethanol, farmers are not growing as much wheat as they use to. The “Bread Basket” of the world has needed to import wheat from other countries for the first time in its history! If demand for oil keeps rising we will also have control of oil that other rising economies around the world are going to need. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were in the drivers seat for once with this resource?
I want to end this section of my comment to make the point that oil supply is eventually going to run out. I do agree with Brant that we do need to start developing other resources that are renewable and cleaner, but the reality is, that switch over isn’t happening any time soon. It more than likely will be a slow gradual move as more companies invent different motors and engines, and suppliers can develop the infrastructure that can support it. Therefore we need to work with what we use now and find as much of it was we can until our economy can make that turn over into alternative fuels.
I have so much more to say, but since this is supposed to be a comment I will end with this last point. Oil producers sell their products in dollars. How is the dollar doing these days? These dollars are used to purchase other goods in international markets. As the dollar lost its value starting in 2002, oil producers could afford to buy less in international markets with their dollars. To compensate for this loss of buying power, they may have raised the dollar price for oil. I know we all are starting to get nervous about the current economic recession and possible collapse, and that is what is having an effect on the price of oil. The more money Bernake and the Fed prints, the lower the value of the dollar. Therefore the dollar will not be able to buy as much as it used to. Our government on both ends of the political spectrum, have mishandled and lead our economy into a downward spiral. They should not have allowed bankers to offer loans to just anyone so they can make a buck and get their clients into houses they clearly could not afford. Billions of dollars in loans are being written off every month, and the Fed has to print more money to try and bail out these banks that got caught up in the housing boom dishonest practices. The correlation of the value of the dollar and the price of oil are dead on and that is not going to change until our government can figure out what is the best for the economy and the American people. (And with the current leaders in the government, I am not too confident that is going to happen.)
So before you all go to another Live Earth event and take the Live Earth pledge recited by your hero Al Gore, remember that there are actual facts out there that will show you the truth about what is really going on with Big Oil and the rising oil prices. I know we are all still pretty young and it’s more popular to blame President Bush and be Green. For me, blaming big oil is all too easy and really is just going with the popular notion of how we can find someone to blame for the industries problems. As I stated in the beginning, big oil is not the only problem behind the oil crisis we are facing, there are many other truths out there, and “the truth shall set you free.”
Sorry about the long blog comment but sometimes comments from left leaning Brant can get under
my skin.
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