Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
tury or longer and that new technology will allow us
to recover more oil from existing oil wells. Others ar-
gue that even if much more oil is somehow found, we
are ignoring the consequences of the high (2-5% per
year) exponential growth in global oil consumption.
It is hard to get a grip on the incredible amount of
oil we consume. Maybe this will help: Stretched end to
end, the number of barrels of oil the world used in 2004
would circle the equator 636 times!
Suppose we continue to use oil reserves at the cur-
rent rate of about 2.8% per year with no increase in oil
consumption—a highly unlikely assumption. Here are
some of the results of using oil under this conservative
no growth estimate:
Trade-Offs: Advantages and Disadvantages
of Conventional Oil
Conventional oil is a versatile fuel that can last for at
least 50 years, but burning it produces air pollution
and releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Figure 13-9 lists the advantages and disadvantages of
using conventional crude oil as an energy resource. A
serious problem associated with the use of conven-
tional crude oil is that burning oil or any carbon-con-
taining fossil fuel releases CO 2 into the atmosphere
and thus can help promote climate change from global
warming. Currently, burning oil mostly as gasoline
and diesel fuel for transportation accounts for 43% of
global CO 2 emissions.
Figure 13-10 (p. 294) compares the relative amounts
of CO 2 emitted per unit of energy by the major fossil fu-
els and nuclear power.
Saudi Arabia, with the world's largest known
crude oil reserves, could supply the world's entire oil
needs for about 10 years.
The estimated reserves under Alaska's North
Slope—the largest ever found in North America—
would meet current world demand for only 6 months
or U.S. demand for 3 years.
T rade-Offs
Conventional Oil
The estimated reserves in Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) would met current oil de-
mand for only 1-5 months and U.S. oil demand for
7-24 months.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Ample supply for
42-93 years
Need to find
substitute within
50 years
Just for the world to keep using conventional oil at the cur-
rent rate, we must discover global oil reserves that are the
equivalent to a new Saudi Arabian supply every 10 years.
According to most geologists, this is highly unlikely.
Many developing countries such as China and In-
dia are rapidly expanding their use of oil, putting them
on a collision course with the United States. China is
now the world's second largest oil importer after the
United States. By 2025, that country could be using as
much oil as the United States, and the two countries
could be competing to import dwindling supplies of
increasingly expensive oil. Indeed, if everyone in the
world consumed as much oil as the average American,
the world's proven oil reserves would be gone in a
decade.
Exponential growth is an incredibly powerful
force. If oil use grows by 5% per year, doubling the size
of the world's oil reserves will add only 12 years to the
life expectancy of these reserves. Even if we had a
1,000-year supply of oil, using it at a rate of 5% per
year would deplete it in only 79 years.
Here is the problem in a nutshell: Oil is the most
widely used energy resource in the world and its rate
of use is growing exponentially. Most people in devel-
oped countries are oilaholics, and the world's largest
suppliers for this addiction are Saudi Arabia, Canada,
and Iraq.
Low cost (with
huge subsidies)
Artificially low
price encourages
waste and
discourages
search for
alternatives
High net
energy yield
Easily
transported
within and
between
countries
Air pollution
when burned
Low land use
Releases CO 2
when burned
Technology is
well developed
Efficient distribu-
tion system
Moderate water
pollution
Figure 13-9 Trade-offs: advantages and disadvantages of
using conventional crude oil as an energy resource. Critical
thinking: pick the single advantage and disadvantage that you
think are the most important.
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