Just as food is fuel (no pun intended) for our bodies, crude oil is food for our way of life as it provides the products we need for prosperous lives.
Originally Published January 22, 2024, at America Out Loud NEWS
Ronald Stein is an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”
The elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is that we’ve become a very materialistic society over the last 200 years, and the world has populated from 1 to 8 billion because of more than 6,000 useful products and different fuels for planes, ships, trucks, cars, military, and the space program made from crude oil that did not exist before the 1800’s.
Crude oil is the current foundation of our materialistic society as it is the basis of all products and fuels demanded by the 8 billion on this planet.
Until a crude oil replacement is identified that can support making the more than 6,000 products in today’s society, the world cannot do without crude oil that is the basis of our materialistic “products” society.
Without crude oil, there are several conundrums that the 8 billion on this planet would need to adjust to:
- There would be no products that are based on oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil to make tires, asphalt, refrigerators, televisions, air conditioners, X-Ray machines, life-saving medical equipment, and the other 6,000 products that did not exist 200 years ago that make our lives better, and just about everything we take to be modern, such as cell phones.
- The elimination of all of today’s hospitals, airports, militaries, and space programs as the world reverts to when civilization existed without the products and fuels from oil, i.e., the pre-1800’s.
- There will be no electricity. All the parts to generate electricity from wind, solar, coal, natural gas, hydro, and nuclear, and all the things that need electricity to work, are all made from the oil derivatives manufactured from raw crude oil. In the pre-1800s, before crude oil, humanity had no electricity.
In the event world leaders wish to continue their efforts to have the 8 billion currently on this planet to live without fossil fuels, here is an introductory preliminary A-Z list of Products that Wind and Solar Renewables CANNOT manufacture for Humanity.
| A | Airlines, Aircraft Carriers, Appliances, Athletic Shoes, and Asphalt for the millions of miles of roadways in the world that accommodate the automobiles, trucks, and construction equipment that were not around a few hundred years ago. |
| B | Bridges, Broadband, Batteries, and Bicycles for the billions on this planet as wind and solar CANNOT make any of the products that were not around before the 1800’s. |
| C | Communications, Cameras, Cosmetics, and contact lenses and more. |
| D | Detergents and Derivatives that are manufactured from crude oil, that are the basis of more than 6,000 products that were not around 200 years ago, NONE of which can be made from wind turbines or solar panels. |
| E | Electronics, EV Vehicle Parts, components, and tires that are now made from those oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. |
| F | Fertilizers, Filters, foot balls, fishing rods, fishing lures, and more that wind and solar CANNOT manufacture. |
| G | Grease, Gasoline, and “Give me a Break”, as John Stossel often says about the very few parents, teachers, students, politicians, and those in the media, have any clues or understanding that the “GREEN” movement to occasional electricity from wind and solar CANNOT manufacture anything for humanity! |
| H | Hospitals, Heating Equipment, and Hydro Power Plants that were non-existent 200 years ago, before the arrival of the oil derivatives that are manufactured from crude oil that are now the basis of all medical equipment and medications. |
| I | Irrigation Plants, iPhone, iPads, and Insulation for electric wires and households, and much more. |
| J | Jackets, Jugs, and more that were not available a few hundred years ago. |
| K | Kerosene and Knowledge that wind turbines and solar panels only provide JUST intermittent electricity generated from unreliable breezes and sunshine, as those renewables cannot manufacture anything for the 8 billion on this planet. |
| L | Lubricants, Laptops, Life Saving Medications that support Life Expectancy increases from 40+ 200 years ago, to 80+ today that continues to increase from the thousands of products made from oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil, the same products that wind and solar CANNOT manufacture! |
| M | Machinery, Mass Transit, Medical Devices and Medical Materials in hospitals that we’ve become used to that did not exist 200 years ago, as the world has populated from 1 to 8 billion. |
| N | Nuclear Power Plants and Nylon Rope made with the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil! |
| O | Oil Lubrication for all the mechanical moving parts of machinery as wind and solar CANNOT make any of the mechanical equipment, nor the lubrication. |
| P | Pharmaceuticals, Private Jets, Public Transportation, Pesticides, Phones, pianos, and all their parts and components, as renewables like wind turbines and solar panels CANNOT make anything. |
| Q | Quality of Life that began after the 1800’s with the development of more than 6,000 products made from the oil derivatives manufactured from oil. |
| R | Railways, Roads, Rubber, Respirators and more are made the oil derivatives that are the basis of everything, none of which can be made from wind and solar. |
| S | Solar Panels, Sanitation, Styrofoam, and Space Program components as well as all the components that make Smart Phones, surfboards, spandex and more are the basis of our daily lives! |
| T | Tires, Transportation, Telecommunications, tennis rackets, and more that CANNOT be made by wind turbines or solar panels. |
| U | Umbrellas and Upholstery that did not exist pre-1800’s. |
| V | Vitamins, Vaseline, and Valves, that regulate, direct, or control the flow of gases, liquids, fluidized solids, and slurries by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways, such as heart valves. |
| W | Wind Turbine Components, Water Treatment, Wastewater Treatment, Washing Machines, and Waxes are made with oil derivatives from crude oil that were not available a few centuries ago. |
| X | Xylene Solvents are used in the printing, rubber, and leather industries. It is a common component of ink, rubber, and adhesives. In thinning paints and varnishes but cannot be made by wind turbines or solar panels |
| Y | Yoga Pants, Yarn, needles, patterns, and supplies for knitters, crocheters, weavers & more! |
| Z | Zero Products being made from wind turbines and solar panels, as those renewables can only generate occasional electricity from unreliable breezes and sunshine. |
Wind and solar do different things than crude oil, as wind and solar only generate occasional electricity, but wind turbines and solar panels CANNOT make any products for humanity.
So, before we jump out of the airplane without a parachute, and revert to the pre-1800’s, let’s identify the back-up “source” that can continue to support the making of more than 6,000 products and the various fuels for our materialistic society of the 8 billion on this planet that are now based on crude oil.
Please share this information with your friends to further enhance conversations about Energy Literacy as Breezes and Sunshine cannot manufacture anything. Electricity CANNOT exist without crude oil !
Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure, Co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations”, policy advisor on energy literacy for The Heartland Institute, and The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and National TV Commentator- Energy & Infrastructure with Rick Amato.
Ronald Stein, P.E. is an engineer, energy consultant, speaker, author of books and articles on energy, environmental policy, and human rights, and Founder of PTS Advance, a California based company.
Ron advocates that energy literacy starts with the knowledge that renewable energy is only intermittent electricity generated from unreliable breezes and sunshine, as wind turbines and solar panels cannot manufacture anything for the 8 billion on this planet.
