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The energy farce
Oil isn’t the problem. Our government is.
By W.T. Lewis
The world is in quite a pickle when it comes to energy, right? That is what the media would have you believe anyway. Oil demand is skyrocketing due to emerging third world economies! We have reached peak oil production! The Middle East isn’t pumping enough crude! Oil ! Oil! Oil! The truth however, is a little less Chicken Little than you might think.
Last year, world-wide oil consumption increased by only 1.1% Yes, you read that correctly. Even in the rapidly growing Asia/Pacific region which includes China, consumption only rose 2.3% last year. In America, our energy conservation efforts are already beginning to pay off. Our oil consumption decreased by 0.1%. Meanwhile, worldwide oil production fell by just 0.2%. If you add biofuel (ethanol, biodiesel, etc) production to the mix, fuel production actually increased slightly. The “sky is falling” argument when explaining oil prices holds no water.
So why are oil prices the highest they have ever been? I have no idea. Neither do the “experts”. If you can blame anyone, start looking toward the commodities market which prices today’s oil based on future speculation. Whatever the reasons for the ridiculous price of oil, it begs the question… why not eliminate the problem altogether?
The world has essentially been using the same primary form of portable fuel for over 100 years. Yet our technology in nearly every other arena has developed to staggering proportions. From fission to microprocessors, humans have overcome incredible obstacles in breaking new scientific ground. Yet, we’re still mostly using smog-inducing internal combustion engines.
Certainly, much of the reason we are still addicted to oil has to do with the marriage of Big Oil with our world governments. The oil industry will squeeze every last penny from the investments they've made to locate, extract, process and ship current energy resources. They will do this until the very painful (for consumers) end when the wells run dry.
Perhaps it’s time for our own government to play the role of hero and extract themselves from the political and economic grip of the oil industry. We need not look to the not-so-distant past for a solution.
The Manhattan Project was responsible for perfecting nuclear fission and the development of the Atomic bomb. Scientists overcame tremendous theoretical and technological hurdles in a few short years. The project eventually employed more than 130,000 people and cost nearly $2 billion – about $24 billion in 2008 dollars.
Does it not make sense for our government to create a National Energy Project in the form of what was done at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge? Hire the best scientists in the world, build an "Energy City" somewhere in the US and give them three years to come up with a viable alternative energy source. The cost could easily be absorbed by our massive budget, costing perhaps less than $100 Billion. That’s only about 3% of the current U.S. federal budget.
Once successful, this new technology could be licensed to private companies for production whereupon market forces would take over to help dictate price. The government recoups its investment, the U.S. becomes an energy hegemony, we likely stave off environmental destruction and possibly save mankind in the process. Sounds like a pretty “American” idea to me.
Then again, a project of this magnitude would take guts. The kind of guts and determination America showed in the first half of the 20th Century. Sadly, our political establishment of the past half century has not shown the resolve to make big bets to solve our most pressing problems – Social Security, education, health care and energy. Our politicians are too busy placing band aids on gaping wounds. Upsetting the status quo means risking the support of the big money interests which fuel their re-election campaigns – from oil to insurance companies and unions to senior citizen groups.
The “sky is falling” indeed. But our ruin as a nation and perhaps a people, will not be brought about by the oil companies, the sheiks in the Middle East or the speculators at the oil exchanges. We bring it upon ourselves by not electing leaders who will make the big bets necessary to protect the economic security our nation. What are you going to do about it?
Originally Published: June 25, 2008
