Dont Come Without a Solution

Before I begin with this post, a disclaimer is needed.  I work for a major oil and gas company, which means that my livelihood comes from the extraction and processing of hydrocarbons.  Furthermore, my graduate degree was in Combustion, meaning that I have spent a fair bit of time studying (and now benefiting from) the oxidation of hydrocarbons - a process that naturally produces CO2 and hopefully not too many other nasties.  I do not think any of this matters, but I am surely going to be accused of bias, so it's important I mention it.  

In the last few years or so, there has been a lot of talk of climate change and the effect that humans are having on the temperature.  It has certainly become a little bit of a fad to be in support of this cause, which is unfortunate because Hollywood celebrities are usually not the best scientists.  Now I am not anti-global warming or a climate change denier.  The truth is I do not know.  Quite honestly I do not think anybody knows for sure.  Are temperatures rising - well yes, we can measure it directly and we see they have risen.  Are humans impacting the Planet and its climate - of course, you cannot have 7 billion people going about their business without impacting the environment.  Are humans emitting more CO2 and/or other greenhouse gases - yes, we know that for sure too.  Does a greenhouse gas cause temperatures to rise - ah, tricky question: yes, but in what quantities?  Has Earth's temperature risen before, even before there were homo sapiens - yes, we see that from a number of sources that Earth's temperature has been cyclical.  What we know for sure is, humans are emitting a substance that has the potential to raise temperatures (which are rising) but the Earth has also gone through periods of cold and hot before.  Are we in a cycle, or are we shifting the path of the roller-coaster by our weight?  I do not think anyone knows for sure.

Okay, so the ardent "environmentalists" argue that we cannot afford to do nothing.  Worse, they blame industries like Oil & Gas for destroying Earth.  I have news for such people: We NEED Energy.  This is a fact of life, and especially a fact of modern life.  We need energy for virtually everything we do - from getting hot water in the morning, to lights, to the A/C or heat, to transportation, to plastics, to the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, and to basically everything we do.  In fact today we use energy even for things that are nowhere near being necessities for life or living comfortably.  What need does someone have for an iPad or a high power stereo or a giant TV.  None, but these things make life more enjoyable, and they require energy.  Contrary to popular belief, this energy does not come from the socket.  Chances are, something had to be burnt to produce that energy.  

So if you are going to make a big deal about climate change and how we are evil for burning oil, gas, or coal, propose a solution for meeting society's need for energy.  The solution cannot be for all of us to live in caves.  This general quality of life cannot be reduced and for that matter cannot be denied to people who do not currently have it.  They have every right to aspire to it.  So I say it again, bring forth an alternative to fossil fuels.  Often the very same environmentalists have already written off nuclear, so what remains?  Yes, I know, renewables.  In another post I will write more about renewables, but here is the reality. Renewables are great and offer a lot of promise.  But they are no where near sufficient for our needs and will never be.  There are too many fundamental problems to overcome and while I will continue to support having my tax dollars fund the research, the reality is renewables can never be the complete answer.  So think of something else, because currently every American consumes about 311 million BTU's of energy a year, or around the equivalent of 16,000 of the type of burner you see at the top.  If you truly care, come with a solution that provides this kind of energy, or dont bother.