Some life style changes made possible by Petroleum

10:00 AM 6-21-2008 Notes, about technological advances my father saw in his life.

He was born 1903 November, which is approximately 13 years after the first oil well was doug in the USA (August 1890). He lived 84 years and died in November 1987. In that time he saw more life style changes than any other generation. Almost all were a consequence of the use of petroleum.

The discovery of petroleum and its' subsequent use allowed:

• The Wright Brothers to make a "Flying Machine"
• Henry Ford to put America in cars
• Highways to become "Oiled Roads"
• The end of "Coal and Horses" for transportation and farming
• Farming with tractors produced much more food for people. Also, the land used for "Horse Food" was freed up.
• Power for pumping water and generation of electricity far in excess of what could have been done without the use of vast quantities of petroleum
• Fertilizers based on Ammonia.

  Approximately 83% (as of 2004) of ammonia is used as fertilizers either as its salts or as solutions. When applied to soil, it helps provide increased yields of crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans. Consuming more than 1% of all man-made power, the production of ammonia is a significant component of the world energy budget.

• Weed and insect sprays make possible much more productive farming. The results are a population explosion unlike anything before, and has not ended to this day.

As a consequence of all of the above dad witnessed the arrival of:

• Transportation for people going from less than 10 MPH to: 60 MPH for shorter trips, and around 400 MPH for longer trips.
• Indoor lights
• Plumbing with hot and cold water
• Refrigerators
• Washing Machines
• Electric Stoves
• Telephones
• Radios
• Moving Pictures

I was born in 1934, and all the above were available before I can remember. But, I did see the arrival of:

• Television
• Jet Airplanes
• Helicopters
• Cars with Automatic transmissions
• Rockets able to leave earth's gravity
• Nuclear bombs
• Florescent lights
• Air conditioning, in homes and cars
• Centrally heated homes, and offices
• Transistor portable Radios
• Computers

Dad lived long enough to see the arrival of these also.

A few things that came about after he died are:

• Cell phones
• GPS
• Digital Photography
• Internet

While significant, they are small changes in the everyday life of people compared to the changes which occurred during my father's life.

Since my father's time we have been using more and more stored energy as fast as inventors can come up with new ways to use, or waste it. Except for energy from the sun (generally captured by plants) the available energy on the earth will run out. Unlike the past, today none is being captured and saved.

Today, many are fantasizing that by some magic, nuclear energy will provide an endless supply of energy without any consequences. They are ignoring the fact that none of the many shut down nuclear reactors have been cleaned up, and it will be thousands of years before the radiation levels reduce to where clean up will be possible.

Virtually all the advances in technology since about 1800 has been based on the use and consumption of stored energy. Without stored energy to use technology falls flat on its' face.

The big change in life style for the future will be living using less and less stored energy. We will have to use petroleum only to produce food, not to heat and cool the buildings we live in, or simply move us around. It will involve hard choices, but most would choose to live in a cold house rather than starve. We will have to only produce essential foods, not luxuries such as wine, strawberries, and lettuce.

But, to live on renewable sources of energy the world population will have to reduce to less than what it was in 1800, because the lifestype people want demands the use of more enerby. All the while the forests that were available when the first oil wells were dug, have also been decimated. The wood that was available to burn then has all been cut down and is gone.

The big question is not if this change will come, but when and how fast. Peak petroleum production in the United States was in 1970. Since then US oil production has decreased every year. In 1974 we had an energy scare. The politicians immediately pronounced the United States, for military purposes, had to become "energy independent". Everybody was told with "new technology" the United States would increase domestic production. But, it didn't happen. Every year since 1970 United States has been importing more and more petroleum.

World petroleum production will also have a peak year. For the last three years: 2005, 2006, and 2007 world production of petroleum has been at a plato around 80 billion barrels a year. It remains to be seen if the "year of peak world production" will turn out to be one of these years, or sometime in the future. But it will occur.

With India and China rapidly increasing their importing of petroleum the amount available for the USA will certainly decrease. In the eyes of the world the United States has already used far more than its' share of the world supply of petroleum. Consequently, when the limited supply gets serious, it is very likely the US supply will be drastically cut.

Even with nuclear weapons the United States cannon take on the whole world. It would be foolish to even try or make threats. Will American government be smart enough to realize this? Who knows? Since the development of the Atomic Bomb at the end of World War II the United States has tried to dominate and dictate what every country in the world could and should do. Is there any hope for change?

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