Let’s say you live in a developed country and you’re concerned about your carbon footprint. You’re aware that the world generates and uses about 575 exajoules of energy a year, and that there are 7.632 billion people on the planet. Not wanting to be an energy hog, you do a quick calculation to figure out your fair share. You come to a sobering realization: One round-trip flight from San Francisco to Rome and you’re done.
Just that one flight “would blow your energy budget for the year,” says Maarten Wetselaar, Director of Integrated Gas & New Energies at Shell International Exploration and Production. “No more electricity” use. “No more heating in the winter. No more air conditioning in the summer.”
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
ROCKMAN wrote:baha - "...and appreciate the energy glut we live in.". Your comment makes me wonder how many Americans realize that. And that "glut" has nothing to do with how much oil/energy the world is producing or if oil is selling for $30/bbl or $100+/bbl. The glut is the glutonous consumption of energy by Americans compared to the rest of the world. Most Americans think they have suffered thru energy shortages at different periods over the last 6 decades or so. They really have no idea of how a true shortage would effect their lives. I've worked in countries where losing electricity X hours almost every day was common and considered a normal part of life. Or sitting in line waiting for a delivery of diesel or propane to show up...some times for a couple of days.
Darian S wrote:-snip-
The U.S. has the most powerful army in the world. Just as civilians are bombed, and countries are filled with depleted uranium, before the U.S. faces any real scarcity many other countries are going to wish they were at least Venezuela. Right now babies die day after day while most of the world resources are diverted one way or another to the U.S. so someone can get a cheap brand new phone. When things go south, you might see some countries reach 99% depopulation before the U.S. faces scarcity.
KaiserJeep wrote:I just don't understand your comment. The US does not take things by force. We buy goods and commodities on the open market. We generally pay more than do other countries, which is why we get the greater share.
KaiserJeep wrote:Darian S wrote:-snip-
The U.S. has the most powerful army in the world. Just as civilians are bombed, and countries are filled with depleted uranium, before the U.S. faces any real scarcity many other countries are going to wish they were at least Venezuela. Right now babies die day after day while most of the world resources are diverted one way or another to the U.S. so someone can get a cheap brand new phone. When things go south, you might see some countries reach 99% depopulation before the U.S. faces scarcity.
I just don't understand your comment. The US does not take things by force. We buy goods and commodities on the open market. We generally pay more than do other countries, which is why we get the greater share.
We are also a country where the population spends about 6% of our income on groceries, and 9.2% or so if one includes restaurants and fast food joints and roach coaches and other prepared foods. In a world where people starve because they can't afford to buy the food, because growing food is much more expensive without oil, we will in fact starve last. But even if food costs only triple, there will either be actual starvation in the USA, or some form of government intervention to prevent starvation, because the lowest income 20% of our population are spending a third of their income to eat, with very little of that spent in a restaurant.
That's the way money works, and it has nothing to do with weapons or war.
ROCKMAN wrote:Darian - The US doesn't consume a disproportionate share of the world’s energy because we have a powerful military. First, one big reason is that the US produces more energy then any other country. Second, we are able to outbid any other country for oil imports except for China. And China beats us by less the 2%. BTW the US produces about 3X as many Btu's as Saudi Arabia. I doubt many folks realize that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... production
But even those numbers are not a completely valid explanation. If you count the Canadian oil exports to the US as part of our “domestic energy production” the US is by far the largest energy producer in the world. Canada has little choice but to sell to the US until they develop an export infrastructure.
Sometimes it makes more sense to just collect the FACTS instead of looking for conspiracies and political or military maneuvers to explain resource distributions. The US is the Energy King because we PRODUCE AND BUY a shitload of energy. People forget that the US is the largest producer of NG on the planet…about 15% more then #2 Russia. As a result the US is the #2 electricity generator on the planet. And we are the second largest oil buyer behind #1 China. But only about 5% less. Is China #1 because they have their military scattered across the globe like the US? Obviously not. How about #3, India? Is it using its military to intimidate oil exporters? LOL.
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