OIL
(Turn out the lights... the fossil fuel party's over.)

Energy solutions have long been a topic for the Think Tank.

Part 1 of an ongoing series.

Pictures & Photos

All of us depend upon oil. Everything we do involves oil. I am typing this message and you are reading it using products and energy that derive substantially from oil.

Here are some numbers:

world consumption in 2001: 77 million barrels per day out of this, 5 million barrels per day were consumed by OPEC countries. So, about 72 million barrels per day were exported to the rest of us profligate consumers.

What do we pay for it: an average price might be $20 per barrel: so 72 million barrels is $1.4 billion. Per day.
Half a trillion dollars per year.
About as big as US defense budget.
And a lot of that budget is spent safeguarding oil sources.
By comparison, US GDP is 10 trillion, world GDP is $40 trillion.

So, we spend more that 1% of the world GDP on oil. (Add in natural gas, we are well over 2%.)

But that does not take into account the other costs, one of which might be all the carbon dioxide released when we burn a great deal of the 72 million barrels.

And these numbers do not tell the whole story, for the world economy is predicated on cheap oil. As in, Wal-Mart could not afford to stock 70% Chinese goods, unless petroleum products were cheap enough for them to ship goods across the globe...

Which leads me to my next point: What do we use all that oil for?

Two thirds of oil goes toward transportation. Natural gas consumption is about 2/3 of oil again, and almost all of that goes into heat and electricity production.

So, more efficient transport, heating and electric might be one way to look.

Feel free to comment, criticize, rebut... etc.

Your Name

E-mail Address

Phone Number

Street Address
City

State & Zip Code

Age
Citizenship
Religious Affiliation

Please give your input here:

Privacy & Security Policy

Click the submit button to send your knowledge.

Thank you.

About This Website
Energy Facts & Things To Do

Sidd's Science Center | The Rock N' Roll Romper Room | InternetU.org Research | Main Index
© The Philadelphia Spirit Experiment Publishing Company & KingArthur.com
These graphics, images, text copy, sights or sounds may not be used without expressed written consent of membrane.com.