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A Thousand Barrels A Second. This is how much oil is used worldwide EACH second. That's right folks — straight from the pages of Peter Tertzakian's book. Hmmmm...maybe Americans really should consider taking some action before our energy infrastructure collapses like an imploding NFL football stadium.
Tertzakian is an oil analyst who takes us through various countries energy sources starting with whale oil and ending with predictions of what America’s energy future may look like between 2017-2037.
American’s have faced several oil crises and while other countries, including Britain, enacted higher taxes at the pump and policies that reduced dependence on oil, Americans weathered the storm, weathered it again in the 80s and now it appears that we’re planning on weathering it again. Governments historically and publicly respond to these crises as did President Nixon in the 70s. He called for, “a new Manhattan Project that would lead to energy self-sufficiency in the United States by 1980 –a response that sounds familiar today as politicians 30 years later react to the energy pressure we are facing today.” Huh, call me uninformed, but I don’t think America achieved its energy independence goal by 1980. And with American’s inherent resistance to change and moderation we won’t ever achieve energy independence without government intervention. Now raise your hand if you want that. I do! I do! Not.
Let’s talk some stats:
• The majority of oil used in America is in the transportation sector.
• Between 1973-1985, gasoline prices were $1.20 per gallon (call your parents or grandparents if you don’t believe me, and yes, they DID walk to school in 10 feet of snow, uphill both ways).
• In 1986, the price of oil dropped from an annual high of $35.69 per barrel, down to $14.43 per barrel and gas prices dropped to 93 cents per gallon. I don’t suspect we’ll ever see those types of prices again...
• A $1.00-per-barrel move in the price of oil eventually translates to a 3-cent increase in a gallon of gasoline. So a $100 barrel of oil translates to a gas price between $3.50 - $4.00 per gallon.
Today, the price of oil hovers between $90-$100 dollars per barrel and the average price of gas is hovering around $3.00 per gallon. Now, I’m not a math genius, but even accounting for inflation, this seems exorbitantly high.
Now, Tertzakian is not a proponent of “the sky is falling theory” and doesn’t believe the world has hit peak oil. It’s just that the remaining oil we have is harder to reach and more expensive to retract. But with American’s energy needs exponentially increasing each year, our current tactics (improved fuel economy, alternative fuels, hybrid cars, etc.) are not even enough to stabilize our oil needs. And with China coming online with oil as its energy platform, we really need to take action.
Terkzakian also notes throughout the book that we’ve always been saved by a “silver bullet.” Kerosene with whale oil was scarce, electricity, natural gas, etc. But, he says, there are no more silver bullets.
So, if we don’t change, what’s the worse thing that could happen? Collapse. And societies have collapsed for centuries—including the former Soviet Union less than 30 years ago. Jared Diamond, in his book “Collapse” studies many societies and systems that have collapsed and asks a very important question, “Why do societies make disastrous decisions?” For a whole sequence of reasons, he states. “…failure to anticipate a problem, failure to perceive it once it has arisen, failure to attempt to solve it after it has been perceived, and failure to succeed in attempts to solve it.” America has perceived the problem but are we going to finally succeed in our attempts to solve it or are we going to let our energy structure collapse?
Definitely burn the midnight oil (but use a soy candle to save some energy) if you want to learn the ins and outs of how America has become addicted to oil and what will happen if we continue down this path.
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