As the “green movement” advances, the demand for crude oil and its derived products continues to rise, highlighting the ongoing reliance on fossil fuels that renewables cannot fulfill.

By Ronald Stein | America Out Loud

Summary

Too many environmentalists, energy policymakers, parents, educators, students, and media professionals lack a fundamental understanding of the products derived from crude oil, argues columnist and policy advisor Ronald Stein. Energy literacy, he says, is alarmingly low, and this lack of literacy poses severe implications for energy policy.

He continues:

Energy illiterate policymakers are aggressively pursuing the elimination of fossil fuels, despite these fuels being essential for modern lifestyles and economies. Over the past two centuries, writes Stein, the availability of products and transportation fuels derived from crude oil has contributed significantly to the world’s population growth from 1 billion to 8 billion.

Oil-derived products are vital for supporting essential infrastructure and everything that requires electricity is made from petrochemicals derived from crude oil, coal, or natural gas, asserts Stein. From light bulbs to smartphones and medical equipment, all rely on components that cannot exist without fossil fuels, he says. Even renewable energy systems like wind and solar depend on materials and equipment produced from oil derivatives, including the infrastructure for generating electricity.

Stein lists several key misunderstandings:

1. Historical Context: Before the discovery of crude oil in the 1800s, there were no products, electricity, or vehicles.
2. Dependency on Oil: “Big Oil” exists because of humanity’s reliance on more than 6,000 products derived from oil, essential for health, technology, and infrastructure.
3. Renewables’ Limitations: Renewable sources like wind and solar cannot produce the wide array of products and fuels necessary for modern society.
4. Limited Impact of Renewables: Countries relying heavily on renewables only generate intermittent electricity and cannot supply the vast needs of today’s infrastructure.

The reality energy policymakers overlook, notes Stein, is that crude oil is foundational to our society, supporting the demand for products and fuels vital to a global population of 8 billion. Eliminating crude oil without viable alternatives risks reverting society to pre-industrial conditions, threatening the well-being of billions, he says.

Historically, crude oil was seen as almost useless until it was refined into useful oil derivatives, including plastics and medications, fundamental to modern living. Stein emphasizes the need for policymakers to recognize that over-regulating fossil fuel suppliers without replacements jeopardizes supply chains that support our materialistic world.

Stein points out that when governments impose mandates and subsidies, it often leads to negative outcomes for citizens. Subsidies, funded by taxpayers, he warns, frequently benefit foreign entities that exploit labour and degrade environments to extract “green” resources for renewable technologies.

Read the full commentary at the publisher’s website here.

Ronald Stein P.E.

Ambassador for Energy & Infrastructure, Co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations”, policy advisor on energy literacy for The Heartland Institute, and The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, and National TV Commentator- Energy & Infrastructure with Rick Amato.