Coal, then oil and gas, have driven the mechanization and industrialisation responsible for lifting billions out of agrarian poverty, and all in the space of little more than a century.
As a band of miserable misanthropes would have it, oil, coal and gas are an unadulterated evil to be driven back to the earthly depths where they shall remain. None of which applies to their own selfish energy needs, of course. Despite their theatrical stunts and ranting, none of them would last a day without gas, light or power.
While we prefer to call them hydrocarbons, others brand them ‘fossil fuels’ – a tag meant to conjure up notions of antiquity and scarcity. Unfortunately, it’s a tag that’s stuck.
Notwithstanding nomenclature, coal, oil and gas continue to provide the underpinnings for the prosperity and progress we take for granted, as Rogan O’Handley explains in his punchy little lecture below.
A World without Fossil Fuels
PragerU
Rogan O’Handley
18 December 2023
Transcript
The Los Angeles Times predicts doomsday unless we pursue “a world without fossil fuels.” The Secretary General of the United Nations agrees. So do many politicians and environmentalists.
This raises two questions: is such a world possible? And, is it desirable?
Let’s try to answer both.
It’s a fact of modern life that virtually everything we depend on depends on fossil fuels–oil, coal, and natural gas–not only because they provide 80% of the world’s energy, but because so many of the products we use and even consume are made from them.
I’m talking about petrochemicals; that is, chemical products derived from fossil fuels. “Petro,” as in “petroleum.”
Let’s start with something everyone encounters every day: asphalt. The US alone produces over 420 million tons of asphalt per year. The key ingredient of asphalt is crude oil, which binds all the materials in asphalt together. No oil, no asphalt; no asphalt, no paved roads.
But I’m only getting started. The paint on the walls, the flooring beneath your feet, the blinds over the windows – these are also derived from petroleum. The tube that holds your toothpaste, the detergent you use to wash your clothes, the containers you store your food in, the bottles that hold your medicine and your vitamins. They’re all made from petroleum.
Your computer screen, your cell phone, your keyboard, your mouse, your mouse pad, the coating around the cords that charge your phone; the casing for your car battery, the buttons on your shirt…
Yep: fossil fuels. Specifically, plastic–another fossil fuel derivative.
But that’s still only a fraction of a fraction of the full portrait.
The raw materials from which these products are made have to be transported to factories by vehicles mostly powered by fossil fuels. The machines in the factories are also largely and sometimes completely powered by… fossil fuels. Then, these products have to be shipped from the factory to retailers and consumers. Fossil fuels again.
And we haven’t even talked about food production.
In 1950, more than 60% of the world’s population was undernourished. By 2019, it was down to less than 9%, despite the fact that there are now three times as many people.
What has changed? The answer is, the introduction of modern herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizer–all of which depend on petroleum products, specifically natural gas.
Let’s just look at fertilizers. Before the 20th century, your fertilizer options were limited to waste products like animal dung. Thanks to the invention of the Haber-Bosch process–one of the great breakthroughs in modern chemistry–natural gas could be used to produce ammonia, a critical catalyst in plant growth.
To see how dramatically this changed crop yields, consider this: in America in the 1920s, a farmer produced less than two tons of corn per hectare; today that same plot of land produces eleven tons.
Combine that with improvements in farm equipment—powered once again by fossil fuels—and the results are astonishing. The human labor required to harvest a kilogram of American wheat has declined over the past two centuries from 10 minutes to two seconds.
Without fossil fuels much of the world’s population would starve to death in a year.
Even renewable energy, the presumed antidote to fossil fuels—at least in the power and transportation realm—is completely dependent on… fossil fuels. What do you think those wind turbines and solar panels are made of? Fiberglass and myriad other materials derived from petroleum. Like so many other industries, there’s no renewable energy without fossil fuel energy.
But the dependency is even more than you think. Since wind and solar are inherently intermittent–it’s not always sunny and it’s not always windy – there has to be a source of fossil fuel energy as a backup nearby—unless of course you’re lucky enough to still have a nuclear power plant in your neighborhood.
Let’s put it this way: if you’re having surgery, you want the hospital to have reliable power.
You should be getting the idea by now. Fossil fuels are not just about driving your car and heating your home. Fossil fuels are everywhere and in everything.
Facts and Souces
- Progressive politicians, environmentalists and media outlets are calling for “a world without fossil fuels” — claiming dire consequences if we don’t stop using them. (The Los Angeles Times predicts doomsday unless we pursue “a world without fossil fuels.” View source
- The secretary general of the United Nations agrees. A climate “catastrophe” is coming if countries do not phase out coal and other fossil fuels. “We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” UN Secretary General António Guterres has declared. “It’s time to wake up and step up.” View source
- Many politicians and environmentalists hold this same alarmist view. View source
- Virtually everything we depend on in modern life depends on fossil fuels — not only because they provide a vast majority of our energy, but because so many of the products we use are derived from them. (Fossil fuels — oil, coal, and natural gas — provide 80% of the world’s energy. View source
- A vast number of the products we use and even consume are made from fossil fuels, namely petrochemicals, or chemical products derived from fossil fuels. “Petro,” as in “petroleum.” One ubiquitous example: asphalt. The U.S. alone produces over 420 million tons of asphalt per year. View source
- The key ingredient of asphalt is crude oil, which binds all the materials in asphalt together. View source
- Without oil, we do not have asphalt; without asphalt, we have no paved roads. View source
- A vast number of the products necessary for modern life are derived from petroleum: paint, many types of flooring, window blinds, toothpaste tubes, laundry detergent, food and storage containers, medicine and vitamin bottles, computers, cell phones, the coating around electrical cords; the casing for car batteries, and the list goes on and on. View source
- Plastic is a petroleum derivative; thus, anything that contains it is a fossil fuel derivative. View source
- The raw materials from which these products are made have to be transported to factories by vehicles mostly powered by fossil fuels. The machines in the factories are also largely and sometimes completely powered by fossil fuels. Then, these products have to be shipped from the factory to retailers and consumers, again using fossil fuels. View source
- The use of fossil fuels in farming products and processes has massively increased crop yields over the last century. In 1950, more than 60% of the world’s population was undernourished. By 2019, it was down to less than 9%, despite the fact that there are now three times as many people (p. 19). View source
- What has changed is the introduction of modern herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizer — all of which depend on petroleum products, specifically natural gas (p. 47). View source
- Before the 20th century, fertilizer options were limited to waste products, like animal dung. View source
- Thanks to the invention of the Haber-Bosch process — one of the great breakthroughs in modern chemistry — natural gas could be used to produce ammonia, a critical catalyst in plant growth. View source
- This natural gas-based process dramatically increased crop yields. In America in the 1920s, a farmer produced less than two tons of corn per hectare; today that same plot of land produces eleven tons (p. 67). View source
- Combine that with improvements in farm equipment — powered once again by fossil fuels — and the results are astonishing. The human labor required to harvest a kilogram of American wheat has declined over the past two centuries from 10 minutes to two seconds (p. 51). View source
- Without fossil fuels, much of the world’s population would starve to death in a year. View source
- Renewable energy — the presumed antidote to fossil fuels in the power and transportation realm — is completely dependent on fossil fuels. Wind turbines and solar panels require fiberglass and myriad other materials derived from petroleum. Like so many other industries, there is no renewable energy without fossil fuel energy. View source
- Wind and solar are inherently intermittent, as it is not always sunny and not always windy. View source
- Due to this intermittency, wind and solar require a reliable back-up energy source, like fossil fuel energy. View source
- A world without fossil fuels would cause worldwide poverty, mass starvation and the end of civilization as we know it. According to one of the world’s foremost experts on energy, Vaclav Smil, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba, “Fossil fuels… [are] the most important factor in explaining the advances of modern civilization” (p. 18). View source
- Smil’s research demonstrates that since 1800, the energy available to each human being has increased 700-fold. View source
- If you live in the Western world, it is as if you have the 19th-century equivalent of 240 personal servants: cooking your food, doing your laundry, heating your house, and helping you get from one place to another (p. 19). View source
- Modern life for the average Western citizen offers far more amenities than even Louis XIV enjoyed two centuries ago (p. 23). View source
STOP THESE THINGS 