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Problems with Global Reliance on Oil

The modern global economy is no longer gold based, but oil based. Every modern country in the world relies on oil in some way to help fuel their way of life. A commonly held belief is that there is a one hundred year supply of fossil fuel based energy left in the world. Therefore many people conclude that the world will not experience problems related to its reliance on fossil fuels for one hundred years. David Goodstein author of Out of Gas suggests that this may not be true due to rising demand for energy in the world. Destruction of our environment is also another issue with fossil fuels and Rebecca Solnit paints a picture of the negative impact humans are having on the world in her “Diary” about the recent BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. The bottom line is, the world cannot just assume that the heavy usage of fossil fuels will not be an issue for one hundred years.
One of the reasons people how so much difficulty understanding the issues with how much fuel is left in the world is how difficult it is to put a measure on how much fuel humans actually use. In A Cubic Mile of Oil, experts Hewitt D. Crane, Edwin M. Kinderman, and Ripudamin Malhotra attempt to simplify all methods of measuring energy into one easily understandable unit that they refer to as one cubic mile of oil or a CMO. A cubic mile of oil is equivalent to 1.10 trillion gallons or 26.2 billion barrels of oil and currently the world uses 1.06 CMOs per year of oil which makes up about one third of the total energy used in the world (CMO 6). This means that oil accounts for a very large portion the global energy needs. This also means that there could be big issues if it were to run out.

Most geologists can agree today that the amount of oil left in the world is not infinite. However most of the countries in the world continue to burn fossil fuels like oil as if there was no threat of running out. This is evident by the numbers shown earlier using the Cubic Mile of Oil data. The world uses significantly more fossil energy than any other type of energy. David Goodstein’s Out of Gas discusses geologist Marion King Hubbert’s ideas on the oil supply. Rather than sticking with the idea that the world can use fossil power for one hundred years Hubbert takes a more practical approach as Goodstein describes:
[Once] the population is big enough so that the resources no longer seem unlimited, the rate of growth starts slowing down. The same happens with oil discovery, because the chances of finding new oil get smaller when there's less new oil to find. Hubbert showed that once the rate of increase of oil discovery starts to decline, it's possible to extrapolate the declining rate to find where growth will stop altogether. At that point, all the oil in the ground has been discovered, and the total amount there ever was is equal to the amount that's already been used plus the known reserves still in the ground. Hubbert noticed that the trend of declining annual rate of increase of oil discovery was established for the lower forty-eight states by the 1950s. (26-27)
This means that, as the human demand for oil increases the amount that can be assumed left for discovery will rapidly decrease. As the world approaches the point where all oil to be found has been found there will be serious consequences in all countries. It will present great economic challenges to mankind and will also mark a significant change in standard of living in all industrialized nations not prepared for such circumstances. In the worse case scenario it could lead to global conflict on an unprecedented scale. Goodstein remarks “desperate attempts by one country or region to maintain its standard of living at the expense of others could lead to Oil War III” (31). With the right circumstances a lack of oil could definitely lead to a large-scale military conflict.

The countries and regions that are the largest fossil fuel consumers also need to be taken into consideration. Right now the Asia/Pacific region consumes nearly thirty percent of the oil used yearly in the world; the North American region of the world consumes about twenty-nine percent (CMO 49). Both the Asia/Pacific and North American regions are areas with large populations. Both of these regions could be devastated in a fossil fuels crisis. The United States maintains a very high standard of living and its main source of fuel is oil. Without it transportation throughout the country would be impossible. In the Asia/Pacific region China is a very heavily populated country that is currently in the process of modernizing and requires large amounts of fuel to do so. Both of these countries are military and economic superpowers and an energy crisis that the world is not ready for will drive these countries to search for any means of acquiring a fuel source.

Another major issue with mankind’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels is the negative impact they can have on the environment. When discussing negative environmental impacts and fossil fuels most people think of the pollution output from their use in generating energy. Energy generation is definitely the main cause of pollution from fossil fuels; however there is another issue to consider, which is the effect on the environment from the extraction of fossil fuels. Rebecca Solnit writes about her visit to the Gulf of Mexico following the recent BP Deepwater Horizon Oil rig disaster: “Before the blowout Katrina seemed like the worst thing that could have happened. Now people mention the hurricane to explain how much worse the blowout is” (Solnit). The Deepwater Horizon spill is the worst of its kind. It has taken an already fragile area of the world and made the environment their far worse.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster has majorly impacted marine wildlife due to the change in the undersea environment as a diver Solnit interviews describes how “from the surface the chunky brown stuff looks like vomit” (Solnit). These floating globs of oil have contaminated the local fish. Dead or contaminated fish present a host of economic problems for the area as “They [local fisherman] have PhDs in fishing, but some of them did not go to high school – did not go to grade school. The skills don’t transfer. Oyster fishermen especially” (Solnit). The Louisiana area is already “in many ways a semi-tropical Third World country”, and in 2007 it was struck by Hurricane Katrina, now only a few years later it has suffered an even worse disaster not at the hands of nature but of man.

The Deepwater Horizon is an example of how much worse mining for fossil fuels can become if something unexpected occurs, however even if the mining goes well there will be sever negative impacts on the environment. Oil drilling is known for “releases colossal quantities of methane hydrates, thus releasing methane, a greenhouse gas at least 20 times as potent a climate-changer as carbon dioxide,” (Solnit).

This disaster is just an example of how bad things are if oil drilling goes well. It is should be noted that even when drilling or mining for any other fossil fuel is done properly they are incredibly destructive processes. Mining for any kind of fossil fuel usually involves dangerous or toxic practices, drilling for example “releases colossal quantities of methane hydrates, thus releasing methane, a greenhouse gas at least 20 times as potent a climate-changer as carbon dioxide,” (Solnit). There are thousands of oil drilling sites throughout the world, the extraction process harms humans and the environment, as does the burning of the actual fuels. No matter what fossil fuel is used the process is destructive. Coal strip mines devastate entire areas or mountaintops and can make the unlivable environments for years to come. The world needs to consider this and begin investing resources into other alternative forms of energy to diversify and improve the environment.

One of the most important concepts to be considered when implementing alternative energy solutions is that diversification is critical. The world is in this situation in part because geologists originally thought that oil was virtually an inexhaustible resource. It needs to be understood that filling an entire state with solar panels will not alone fix the problem. It will take a combination of many types of alternative energy sources to meet and sustain the needs of the world. Pollution also needs to be considered when constructing, and using new energy sources. There are ways that newer alternative energy sources can have a negative impact on the environment. When building a new global energy system humankind needs to look at all the facts and try to design a sustainable system, this generation should not “band-aid” the crisis and then leave it for a future generation to fix.

The world needs to recognize that it can no longer have such a high reliance on fossil fuels. The time to begin changing energy policies is now before it is extremely difficult or impossible. New generation techniques need to focus diversifying the world’s energy sources while minimizing their environmental impact. An energy crisis can be prevented, technology exists to ease reliance on fossil fuels; all the world needs is the proper initiative.