Human resources - Oil, the mother root of social inequality
Will we run out of Oil? Can energy distribution be a fundamental factor of inequality?
Energy plays a key role in our life. Not energy at the style of "what a good vibe man" or "we're connected". Physical energy, that one that allows us to do things or the one that does things for us. Real energy.
Through history we've improved our capacity to harness natural sources of energy to reach amazing milestones. Starting thousands of years ago only with the chemical energy that we got from our food (calories that I try to dodge today, to be fit once summer arrives). One of our first upgrades was inventing and handling the tools that allowed us to hunt. Later, around 700000 years ago, we nailed it with another innovation: Fire. The fact of not having to catch the food with our own hands and being able to cook it was a key for the availability of our energy for our bodies and curious brains because it was easier to digest. Today we've the absolute antipode: We have to run behind nothing to LOSE the excess calories we eat.
This is why, the first large step into our energy pools' size was around 17000 years ago, when we noticed that those animals were easier to eat if we had them domesticated. Not to mention a few thousand years later, when we learned to grow plants. This gave us a surplus of energy with enormous consequences, because we changed from moving from place to place, to settle in a single location, that generated communities, the base of today's society. This later led into a rather curious phenomenon: a small group of people that dedicated to think and give orders, while they were fed by the rest of the population (yes, politicians). This wouldn't have been possible without that extra energy available. And I'm totally skipping the part of slave workers... it is amazing to see how much humankind can achieve, when there's not much consideration on how well the others are.
Yet, we still relied on muscle power to handle tools and labor the land. This changed around the 200ac, when we learned how to harness energy with mills. Basically, we started having two external energy sources, water and wind -those were technically limitless considering the needs of that time. The small issue was inherently human, we do not know when to stop exploiting natural resources once we find them.The extra energy that mills was not used to replace human labor; for the contrary, it multiplied it and gave us the chance of grinding more grain, travel further and manufacture machines that allowed us to work steel, a key material for a lot of other technological improvements.
Our arms were no longer the main source of energy. But the mills did not give us energy everywhere, we did not have portable mills. We needed wind and rivers for them to "work" for us.
Sometime later around 300 years ago we started using coal and charcoal as fuel (besides the obvious wood), this again modified the route history had taken. Because in there the greatest invention of the 18th century appears: the steam engine by: (we love you!) James Watt, whom we all may know about, given that we stole his surname as a power unit.
Now, wherever you had coal/charcoal/wood, you had energy to work with.
Halfway around the 19th century, coal bested wood as fuel to heat water, at the same time the steam engine bested the mills in workforce capability. Since then until today, thanks to the Oil, the consumption of energy per person grew 4 times, while the world population grew 7. This is, energy consumption grew 4*7=28=A Bunch*
*arbitrary unofficial unit used to measure amounts.
And it gets even better. In less than 40 years -around 2050-, the worldwide energy consumption will double. And by the end of this century it is possible it may double again.
Great thing that all this energy is shared in a homogeneous and fair way, right? OF COURSE NOT!, Who do you think you're talking to? Today, 18% of the world population -around 1300 million people- do not have access to modern energy sources. Then, what's going on? Who is eating the whole cake?
Since the first societies formed, they sought the way to provide for their energy needs in the best ways they could. Providing for their subsistence and development. And there's always a group that is "slightly" lacking a bit of that precious resource; while others have a huge surplus.
We've a problem with fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), we are consuming them 100000 times faster than the time they took to form. Many of those fossilized creatures that are today oil, fed by photosynthesis; technically, that energy they provide today is solar energy stored in the shape of oil. So, to juggle that energy in a more efficient way, we need to kill the middleman.
But, why? Are we running out of oil? Probably not. Cool, then there's no problem? Probably not, because the axis of this conversation changed in the latter years, oil reserves are no longer the main one available for humankind. We noticed, thanks to science, that we've a much more important problem than the oil reserves, the oil exploitation residuals and the global warming.
Today, the main variables over oil's price are: extraction, refining, transportation, distribution and usage to turn it into usable energy. As a resource becomes rare thanks to the lack of reserves, or because invading Iraq or Afghanistan is cool, the costs go up. When the resource us abundant, the situation changes completely. We all have more or less sunlight so...
Don't be a fool, GO SOLAR
For the sake of humankind, for the sake of YOUR wealth and economy.
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How we can tell you did not watch GoT... Please, remove your pity upvote (?) :p
Great points about our growing energy consumption. Agree on going solar as opposed to oil for many reasons! :)
Ohhhh! I want an animated signature too!
I'm going to make me one NOW
Solar is the future. It better be for the sake of humanity.
Going green is the best way to go, but get what you can afford.
Yeah, it does not need to be a HUGE investment. Even a portable powerstation to charge the mobilephone/tablet/laptop, is "an investment". Over time, moving in parts to solar power is cheaper than keep paying the electricity bills.
Do you have by any chance the costs (from installation to dismantling including energy production) connected to solar panels? I am just curious here. I could of course look for them myself, but not easy at the moment :p
I was actually thinking about that last night (and considering writingabout that).
There's a renowned CO2 footprint for anything we produce, while we also have an energy footprint for such.
What you're asking me for is the ERoEI (energy return of energy invested) solar panels have (with that term google is god giving you results)... the return is of 6 to 11 for solar panels (they give out 6 to 11 times more energy than the one that costed to make them)... Oil barrels have 6, sloping down to 3 in the next years while biofuels and synthesized oils have a 1.5.
Eolics have a much higher ERoEI. Yet, you need a place where winds are constant, and strong.
Thanks for the info! It is then definitely good enough as a local help to reduce the energy bill. It is however probably not enough to significantly contribute to the energy budget at a national level.