Michael T. Klare, The Energy Crunch to Come

[AG78]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0322-31.htm

Data released annually at this time by the major oil companies on their prior-year performances rarely generates much interest outside the business world. With oil prices at an all-time high and Big Oil reporting record profits, however, this year has been exceptional. Many media outlets covered the announcement of mammoth profits garnered by ExxonMobil, the nation's wealthiest public corporation, and other large firms. Exxon's fourth-quarter earnings, at $8.42 billion, represented the highest quarterly income ever reported by an American firm.

"This is the most profitable company in the world," declared Nick Raich, research director of Zacks Investment Research in Chicago. But cheering as the recent announcements may have been for many on Wall Street, they also contained a less auspicious sign. Despite having spent billions of dollars on exploration, the major energy firms are reporting few new discoveries and so have been digging ever deeper into existing reserves. If this trend continues -- and there is every reason to assume it will -- the world is headed for a severe and prolonged energy crunch in the not-too-distant future.

[hatrack]

1. Kicking a thread that needs to be read

.

[Zan_of_Texas]

2. Professor Klare is very smart.

I believe what he says.

For instance, that US oil output peaked in 1972.

and

the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) predicts that, for all future energy needs to be satisfied, total world oil output will have to climb by 50% between now and 2025; from, that is, approximately 80 million to 120 million barrels per day. A staggering increase in global production, that extra 40 million barrels per day would be the equivalent of total world daily consumption in 1969. Absent major new discoveries, however, the global oil industry will likely prove incapable of providing all of this additional energy. Without massive new oil discoveries, prices will rise, supplies will dwindle, and the world economy will plunge into recession -- or worse.


:kick: :kick:

[chlamor]

3. Kick-This is a fantastic article

:kick:

[mhr]

4. Energy Flows In The US Economy - For Perspective

[Tansy_Gold]

5. Clarification on graph

I just want to make sure I understand this correctly --

Does this graph indicate that approx. 38% of the energy consumption in this country is spent on the generation of electricity, and that approx. 2/3 of that is lost in the process?

[mhr]

6. No, The Graph Is In Units Of Energy Called Quads

We use 38.2 Quads making electricity of which 26.3 Quads is lost as waste.

So the waste is 69% of the input energy.

A Quad is a unit of energy equal to a Quadrillion BTUs.

1 quadrillion Btus = 1,000,000,000,000,000 Btus = 1x10(15) Btus

125,000 Btus = 1 gallon of gasoline

6 million Btus = 1 barrel of crude oil