by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
I just attended a reception with Colorado oil and gas employees, and the conversation was eye-opening. I expected to hear about how difficult life in America would be without fossil fuels. There was some of that, but not in the way I expected. Many of the conversations were not about how badly we need gasoline for our cars or electricity for our homes and businesses.
There was, instead, a new twist that most of us spend little time thinking about. Namely, all the products in our daily lives that come from oil, though many people don’t realize it. This is important, because the push to decarbonize our society assumes that most uses of fossil fuels can be replaced by renewables. Though it costs more and is less reliable, the technology to create electricity from wind and sun does exist. That technology has been steadily improving for years, and while there are still major challenges, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of human ingenuity. But as engineers and researchers seek ever better ways to generate more reliable and efficient electricity from renewables, they can never make the wind or the sun manufacture — anything.
It is a fundamental distinction between oil and renewables. About 11% of America’s electricity now comes from wind and solar. About 61% comes from natural gas and coal, another 20% from nuclear and 7% from hydro. Virtually none comes from oil, so the debate about weaning America from oil has nothing to do with electricity. Rather, it has everything to do with all the devices that use electricity, and an estimated 6,000 consumer products that originate from petroleum.
The controversy over electric car mandates has become very divisive. But even among people who understand that without oil there is no gasoline for their cars, there is a shocking ignorance about all the other uses of minerals in the modern world. For example, a nationwide online survey revealed that 72% of Americans are unaware that plastic is made from oil. Americans rely on plastics in all aspects of their lives, yet most don’t know where it comes from.
