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WSRL.ORG / Rural Colorado Energy Issues - July. 2005 - Revised July 2010 - Page 1
Note - Ethanol Scam is on Page 2. Oil is of strategic importance to the U.S. for many reasons. As with global warming, many feel there is an inexhaustible supply of world oil that only needs to be discovered and then developed.
Dr. Hubbert - Father Of Peak Oil Peak Oil -
Dr. Hubbert, now deceased, is known for accurately predicting the oil production peak for the U.S. The techniques he used for his estimations have, of course, been used to predict production peaks in other parts of the world and for other commodities. Because of the large sums of money oil reserves represent, most countries are very secretive about the amount of oil remaining in their countries. The end result is a very high stakes game of estimating how much oil the planet really has left.
Energy In vs. Energy Out
For rural dwellers there are currently few alternatives to oil for transportation or crop production. Smoke and mirrors solutions add to the belief that solutions to the oil crisis are just around the corner. The production of ethanol from corn may be just such an example.
Barstow, CA - 6/2008 U.S. Consumption -
As stupid as this sounds, the vast majority of U.S. infrastructure is built around the consumption of petroleum. The percentage of available world oil consumed by the U.S. can be found on the Nation Master website. Only 7 to 8% of world oil is produced domestically in the U.S. The remainder needs to be imported at great cost. Besides the huge economic penalties currently being imposed on the U.S. by imported foreign oil, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what would happen if a major percentage of imported foreign oil stops flowing.
What are some major energy consumers?
From www.oilcrisis.com - It should be noted that trains in many countries are electrically powered and use no petroleum products for fuel. For a more complete listing of fuel efficiency vs. mode of transport, see the ORNL Transportation Energy Data Book.
Freight Fuel Efficiencies - Less Is Better In addition to the data above, the chart to the right shows the fuel efficiencies for the different modes of moving heavy freight. This data does not apply to moving passangers. According to government data, there does not appear to be a great deal of difference in fuel use between the different methods of moving people. The same, however, is not the case for heavy freight. As you can see from the chart, air freight is by far the most inefficient use of fuel. The second most wasteful use of fuel is large trucks. Long haul trucks consume approximately twelve and a half times more fuel per ton-mile as opposed to rail. Currently, rail even beats out marine (barge) transport of heavy freight. Trucks will always be needed for the local distribution of goods but it would be much more fuel efficient if freight, transported over long distances, was moved by rail. As a side note, cars are getting smaller. The combination of small cars and large trucks on Interstate Highways is not a good mix. It would be much safer and fuel efficient if long haul freight was moved by rail rather than Interstate Highway. Copyright WSRL.ORG © 2005 thru 2012
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