Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» When we wean ourselves away from oil for fuel will it be possible to wean ourselves away from using it in other products?
It is possible, but not likely. Petroleum is used in nearly everything we use - plastics to feedstock; cell phones to cosmetics; detergents to fertilizers. Oil is a finite resource. Therefore, we must get away from using it as an energy source (propulsion, heating, electricity, etc.) if we want to continue using it in these other areas.
Is there more or less incentive today for weaning us off it for fuel purposes Shuhak? It seems to me we have been trying to work toward doing that for decades. Why are we so slow in changing course when we see ourselves heading straight for the massive iceberg? I don't get it. Are we that dumber than other countries or are all of them in the same boat we are? Thank you for your reply! :)
Oil is money. Those who control it are filthy rich. Don't think for one minute that these people are just going to sit back and watch their money disappear. They're going to fight against or at least slow down any "technology" that would wean the world off of oli. The few countries who are not run by or enslave by oil are developing and relying on alternative energy options. This country has unlimited alternative energy resources and the technology (and know-how) to make them work. However, those who control the oil along with those whose minds are stuck in the mid 20th century (ie. trump) impede the progress of our using these resources fully.
I see two problems, one commercial, the other technical.
The commercial point is that if sales of fuels from petroleum drop massively the other by-products may become either very expensive or even too uneconomical to produce, despite their importance as Shuhak has described.
The technical point is that those same materials either replaced ones made from farmed animal and vegetable sources because they are far better for many purposes; or were entirely novel so allowed completely new applications to emerge. Whilst some materials can be synthesised from crop vegetable matter, not all can; but anyway you then also replace one set of large-scale environmental problems with another.
For a simple and immediate example, consider whatever you are reading this on: it could not exist, at least not in any other practical form, without plastics of various sorts; all made from petroleum derivatives. Even if we could synthesise suitable replacement plastics from modern dead organisms (plants) - would they be work as well as the current varieties? And if we could, how much land would have to be cultivated, and where; and how much electricity would be needed to cultivate and to process them?
There are no easy answers despite the campaigners' claims; and no discount let alone free, lunch.
Shuhak 