Can We Have Climate Change Without Oil?

Climate change and fossil fuels, or oil, seem to go hand in hand. We can’t have the former unless the later is gone.

It seems that political pundits have decided how much time we have left before the damage to the planet is irreversible.

Even scientists disagree on the time limit for fossil fuels to wreak their savagery on the world.

Each side of the argument has their group of experts that they embrace and use as cannon fodder against the opposition.

I think it’s high time for cooler heads to prevail. It’s time to look at climate change, oil, and fossil fuels through a lens unblurred by political party rhetoric.

What do we know for sure?

According to the EPA automobiles produce carbon. A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons (10,148 lbs.) of carbon dioxide per year. This assumes the average gasoline vehicle on the road today has a fuel economy of about 22.0 miles per gallon and drives around 11,500 miles per year. Every gallon of gasoline burned creates about 8,887 grams of CO2. For those who didn’t take chemistry a gram is about the weight of a paperclip. (Source)

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, in one year a mature tree will absorb more than 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen in exchange.

So, in one year 43 trees will remove one metric ton of Carbon Dioxide and replace it with oxygen.

It is proposed that one large tree can provide a day’s supply of oxygen for up to four people.

My subdivision by conservative count has about 200 trees.

Whew I can breathe easy because I planted four trees in my front yard plus hedge.

Let’s Ban All Fossil Fuels and Be Done with It

To do that you’d need to eliminate all oil drilling. Are you sure you’d want to live in that world?

Your planet saving bike would be useless without oil for the wheel bearings and the chain. Most construction tools would be useless.

Your lightweight automobile would have to be steel and aluminum which would require coal to produce.

Without all the plastics reducing weight your heavier car would have reduced gas mileage or battery distance.

There’s petroleum in cattle feed as well as toothpaste, deodorant, and shaving cream. No plastic toy for the kiddies in their “Happy Meal.”

In fact, the entire fast-food industry would be done unless you want to show up with your own eating utensils from home. Even the ovens and grills would be hard to produce.

Even your zero-emission electric car would need oil to function properly.

Millions of jobs would be lost. No computers, desks, chairs, paint, carpet, clothing. We’d be back to animal skins and loincloths.

What Are You Willing to Do Without?

Every product produced on earth requires energy in some form. It’s easy to be in bumper-to-bumper traffic in San Diego and see the layer of pollution in the distance.

I sat in that traffic daily for 13 years.

It’s not as easy to see the pollution produced to make your Air Jordans, your toaster, your big screen TV, or the remote control.

Are you ready to give these things up in exchange for a clean planet or is there an amount of oil produced pollution you find tolerable so you can maintain your current standard of living?

I don’t think it’s possible to buy a bathroom toilet that’s not a water saver, or any appliance that’s not energy efficient by law. Low flow showerhead anyone? Curly lightbulbs?

What Does the Future Hold?

There are 1.65 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves in the world as of 2016. The world has proven reserves equivalent to 46.6 times its annual consumption levels. This means it has about 47 years of oil left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

Remember it wasn’t too long ago that the depth of drilling we do now was impossible. Progress never stands still.

Oil reserves are at 1,650,585,140,000 barrels or 47 years of oil left (at current consumption levels). That means 47 years will be available just in case the last oil well dries up.

• The world consumes 35,442,913,090 barrels of oil as of the year 2016, equivalent to 97,103,871 barrels per day.

• Global oil consumption per capita is 5 barrels of oil (210 gallons) per person yearly (based on the 2016 world population of 7,464,022,049 people) or 0.5 gallons per capita per day. (Source)

These numbers are as hard to wrap the brain around as the national debt.

Unless you’re standing in the middle of a forest or desert almost everything you can see, smell, hear, taste or touch has oil in it somewhere.

Even if we went to totally electric planes, trains, and automobiles oil in the form of lubricants would still be necessary for all of them.

And don’t forget the amount of energy used to keep all those vehicles charged. Where is that going to come from?

China at one time was building a coal fired power plant every month. As of January 2022, China has 1,110 coal fired power plants in operation. (Source)

Other countries with coal fired power plants include India 285, United States 240, Japan at 91, and Indonesia at 84.

How much do you like and enjoy electricity? Enough to give it up to save the planet?

Coal is the only substance that can produce enough heat to melt steel. It’s hard to have an automobile frame — gas powered or electric without coal.

The takeaway from all this is that we’re going to drill until the last drop of oil is exhausted from this planet.

Because life as we know it would be a miserable existence without oil.

When it comes right down to it, we all hate pollution. But it’s too hard to pick on all forms of energy producing pollutants.

That’s like being against all diseases. You must pick and choose what you really want the end result to be.

If you want a world without oil I think you’re going to be very disappointed in that end result.

Wanting a clean planet is what we all want. No one wants bad air.

But realistically we’re going to have to live with some pollution unless you want to go back to living in caves.

I don’t think I’d be happy with the Fred Flintstone car even though it would be clean transportation.

Oils well that ends well. Respectful comments welcome.

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