Jim,
I would like to add a little something to Mr. Church’s article. I have worked in the refining and petrochemical business for over 30 years. I am not a chemical engineer nor a mechanical engineer, however, I am a piping designer. I design the routing or path all the pipes in a refinery or petrochemical plant take to move product from one piece of equipment to another. Basically it’s like a giant chemistry set.
Now, I know what a lot of sheeple don’t understand about oil is that it is not only energy (gasoline) that we get from crude oil but also most of the other products we consume everyday. Less than half of a barrel of oil is used for gasoline. Mr. Church talks of this but it needs to be brought down another level.
People think solar, corn or whatever is going to save us. It’s not. Mr. Church is right. Where do people think plastics come from? Oil! Where does hair curlers and lipstick come from? Oil! Where do motorcycle helmets , nylon rope, ballpoint pens and guitar strings come from? Oil! Where do heart valves, crayons, trash bags and vitamin capsules come from? Oil! Many or most of our clothing/ textile, office supplies, sports/hobbies/games, infant/children products, medical/ health/beauty products, house hold products, building and home maintenance products and auto products come from oil! You can have all the corn you want but if you don’t have the insecticides, herbicides and fertilizers to grow them your going to have a poor yield. All that won’t mean a hill of beans without oil. Our high standard of living is directly related to oil. That’s probably why most of the world hates the US because we have roughly 10% of the world’s population and consume 80% of the energy. You can’t get any of this from corn or solar. We have lost the old ways. The infrastructure that supported life 100 years ago is gone. So whenever the collapse happens, society will slip way past that time to reach a level where we are left to live in mud huts. Not just America but the rest of the world as well.
China is now expanding it’s energy consumption tremendously. Price of metals is going up. Not precious metals, I’m talking about Iron, steel and alloys. The price of concrete is going up.
Folks, we are in a sinking row boat and no matter how fast we bail we’re going swimming.
Here are some links to check out for uses of oil. It’s analogous to the American Natives who relied so heavily on all the products/ uses they got from the Buffalo. The white man came and all but exterminated the buffalo and [by doing so] almost [exterminated] the natives.
www.nuenco.com/investors/products.htm [4]
www.anwr.org/features/oiluses.htm [5]
www.imoga.com/refoutput.htm [6]
www.ioga.com/special/petroproducts.htm [7]
I hope this is helpful in some way.- Larry in Kansas