Biofuels - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 182

use increased at a rate of 2.5% per year (doubling every 30 years) compared with the
worldwide population growth of 1.7% per year (doubling every 40 to 60 years) (Pimentel
and Pimentel 2008). Developed nations as of 2010 (roughly corresponding to the 34
country OECD membership), having 18% of the world population annually consume
about 46% of the all energy used worldwide, while the developing nations (non OECD
members), possessing about 82% of the world population, use only 52% of world fos-
sil energy - the per capita energy use of people in the OECD countries is about four
times that of people in non OECD nations (US Energy Information Agency 2013a;
OECD 2013)!
Although about 50% of all the solar energy captured by worldwide photosynthesis is
used by humans for food, fiber, forest products, and other systems, this solar energy is
still inadequate to meet all human needs—namely, food production needs (Pimentel
2001). Although photosynthesis appears inefficient for current human needs, it has been
effective for all human history and prehistory except for the past couple of hundred
years.
Each year, the US population uses three times more fossil energy than the total solar
energy captured by the total annual growth of all harvested US crops, forests, and
grasses (Pimentel et al. 2009). Industry, transportation, home heating and cooling, and
food production account for most of the fossil energy consumed in the United States
(USCB 2009). Per capita use of fossil energy in the United States per year amounts
to about 9,500 liters of oil equivalents—more than seven times the per capita use in
China (Pimentel and Pimentel 2008). In China, most fossil energy is used by industry,
although approximately 25% is now used for agriculture and in the food production sys-
tem (Pimentel and Wen 2004).
The world supply of oil is projected to last 40 to 50 years if use continues at current
production rates, and if unconventional sources such as oil shale and tar sands are
not included (Campbell 1997; Duncan and Youngquist 1999; BP 2002; Conway 2004).
Worldwide, the natural gas supply is considered adequate for about 100 years and coal
supplies also will last for about 100 years (BP 2005; Youngquist 1997; Lunsford 2007;
Konrad 2007; IEA 2007). Before fracking technology became widespread, US natural
gas was in short supply, and projections indicated that the United States would deplete
its natural gas resources in about 20 years (Youngquist and Duncan 2003). Current esti-
mates suggest that fracking technology has increased natural gas production by 25%,
and natural gas reserves are expected to last another 50 years (Bloomberg and Mitchell
2012). Many petroleum geologists agree that the world reached peak oil and natural gas
in 2007; from this peak, these energy resources will decline slowly and continuously
until exhaustion or the cost of extraction and processing exceeds the value of the fuel.
“Peak oil” is not a theory but an observation that 50% of proved oil reserves have been
extracted, refined, and consumed from large, easily exploitable, easily refined, and easily
accessible deposits. Much of the unknown reserves left tend to be smaller deposits that
are more remote and more difficult to extract, and of lower quality (more expensive to
refine) (Youngquist and Duncan 2003; Campbell 2006; Heinberg 2003; Lunsford 2007;
Konrad 2007; IEA 2007). Just as the world leadership has paid little more than lip service