How the Fossil Fuel Industry Can Save Itself and the Planet
The fossil fuel industry seems to have a romantic fascination with “all the oil in the ground”, a fascination that shields it from financial reality.
There are two things absolutely true about the fossil fuel industry.
It has a finite end because there is a finite end to the oil and gas in the ground.
The second truth is that extracting the remaining oil and gas keeps becoming more environmentally harmful, but more importantly to the industry, more costly. Indeed we are probably already at the point where their investments would have a greater profit by diverting them from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
But their romantic fascination with “all the oil in the ground” keeps them from seeing this.
If they want to maximize their profit would it not make sense to ration production of the easiest and cheapest oil and gas over future years, while leaving the most expensive and most environmentally harmful resources in the ground. This way prices could be maximized due to reduced supply while the environmental impact per year is reduced as we transition to a fossil fuel free economy, which they can move their investments into.
2 comments:
Oil shortages were predicted in the 1920s, again in the late 1930s, after World War 2, and again in the 1970s and 1980s. Shortages have been used by the non-competitive industry to drive up prices. In Vancouver this weekend, gasoline was $2.14 per litre, up $0.10 overnight. I drove by in my EV, knowing that my car's energy cost was well less than a quarter of what I would have paid in my former ICE car.
Electricity can be made with very little harm to the environment. Wind and solar offer convenient, low-cost energy. Grid-scale battery storage is available using a variety of technologies.
We need to end the use of oil and gas for transportation and heating. It's entirely possible today.
https://in-sights.ca/2024/04/04/33-false-claims-about-solar-wind-and-electric-vehicles/
If our various governments would stop subsidizing carbon the price would rise substantially. People are complaining about the carbon tax which is peanuts compared to the subsidies we pay to some of the wealthiest companies in the world.
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