The Need For A New Oil
Video: The New Petroleum
The world uses a cubic mile of petroleum every single year. As we burn this petroleum, we release it back into our environment, which creates a huge carbon debt. The challenge of how to remedy the world’s oil addiction without disrupting our infrastructure, heavily reliant on internal combustion engines, is addressed in this presentation, which includes impressive and algae and CO2 statistics.
Exponential Demand for Oil Petroleum has fueled the world’s energy needs for the past century. Today, rapid industrialization in once-developing countries such as China and India is dramatically increasing worldwide oil consumption. In 2007, global oil demand rose twice as fast as it had the year before, reaching 36 billion barrels per year and a critical price point of more than $140 per barrel before finally pulling back in late 2008. The Energy Information Association’s predicted global oil demand of 43 billion barrels per year by 2030 may well be reached long before that date.
Old Oil is a Problem Unfortunately, oil supplies are decreasing. Producers are now drilling in ever-more-remote, war-torn and environmentally sensitive areas. On the way to running out of oil altogether, the world will experience serious shortages that will cause catastrophic economic dislocation and decades of continued fighting over the last remaining reserves. In addition to being a fast-depleting resource, oil is a dangerous polluter and a major contributor to global warming when it is burned as a fuel — emitting over 3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year into the atmosphere.
Replacing Oil Is a Challenge Alternatives like hybrid, hydrogen and electric power are attractive but will take decades to phase in because they will require new infrastructure. Petroleum still powers the world today in the form of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, as well as chemical products like plastics, solvents, fertilizers and pesticides. Trillions of dollars are invested in the world’s oil infrastructure. The only viable replacement for petroleum is a new fuel that is cost competitive and can be used directly in the existing oil network. The world needs a new oil.
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