The choice is ours: Big Oil or Chavez?

In the coming century, the world will transition from cars that run on liquid fuels to cars that run on something else, perhaps electricity or hydrogen. Until then, we have a choice. Either support the “Big Oil” companies that are SEC and IRS regulated, traded on the major stock exchanges, contribute to our economy and national security, and whose employees are our neighbors, or butt into energy myths and stand by idly (gleefully?) while Hugo Chavez ejects “Big Oil” from Venezuela.

The American public is severely misinformed about energy. A few energy myths:
• American energy independence is possible.
• “Big Oil” companies control gasoline prices.
• “Big Oil” companies make obscene profits.
• We are running out of fossil energy (oil, natural gas and coal).
• There are renewable (clean) alternatives to oil, natural gas and coal available today.
• People will pay more for clean energy.
• The oil industry is a major polluter today.
• Energy efficiency and conservation can solve the problem.

Here are a few energy realities.

• Political spin has little basis in energy reality; talk about energy independence is misleading and naive. America is energy interdependent for the foreseeable future and policies should be made accordingly.
• The cost to transition the transportation infrastructure to nonliquid energies is in the trillions of dollars and will take many decades, even if we implemented a full-scale commitment today.
• Big Oil companies combined control less than 10 percent of the world’s conventional oil reserves. So “Big Oil” cannot control gasoline prices.
• U.S. political leaders beat up on Big Oil with unfounded rhetoric about obscene profits. Big Oil companies, even in the past few “obscene profit years” have typically made less than 10 percent profit annually, which is not very good relative to many other industries. A healthy industry does not exhibit the kind of layoffs and mergers that continue to characterize the U.S. petroleum industry.
• Oil, natural gas and coal provide 86 percent of global energy. Consumers must be prepared to pay for cleaner forms of fossil energy, such as electricity from gasified coal plants that are ready to sequester carbon dioxide emissions underground, and unconventional oil and gas reserves whose exploitation demands more expensive technology.
• Because of its massive pursuit of coal-based power, China must be a major part of any global strategies to reduce carbon emissions.

Energy can do many things, but it cannot be renewed. Sources of heat and motion that seem sustainable on a human time scale, such as wind, solar and geothermal, supply only around 1 percent of the world’s energy.

Houston Chronicle