Fossil fuels won’t last forever and we need to start moving away from them today.
Ever since I read Fareed Zakaria’s interview with John Hess, CEO of Hess Corp. (HES), in Newsweek, I’ve been thinking about how now is the time to invest in alternative energy. And I don’t just mean in the sense where you take your money and pick a solar or wind power company. I’ve been thinking about this in terms of our society as a whole. We need to make alternative energy a priority now so that when fossil fuels are running low (and becoming even more expensive) it won’t be such a problem for us. Here is what Hess said about future oil production capacity:
To date, a total of 1 trillion barrels of oil have been produced, and it’s conventionally understood that we have 2 trillion barrels left in the ground. That leads a lot of people to assume things are going to be fine. Unfortunately, the frontiers are getting more difficult to access, and some oil-producing nations are giving priority to their political agendas. The IEA [International Energy Agency] predicts global demand to average 98.5 million barrels a day in 2015; it’s hard to see how we can meet that level of production.
Hess also made mention of increased demand from developing nations like India and China.
As our consumption provides more jobs for people in countries like India and China, their exploding middle classes will want to drive cars — which means that they will need more oil to keep up with demand, not to mention increasing demand for the fossil fuels that power factories and other engines of economic growth. We’ve got a limited supply of fossil fuels but demand for them is virtually unlimited unless we do something to change how people get their energy.
The answer is to move away from fossil fuels. In terms of cars, Hess believes that hope lies in hydrogen fuel cells. Exxon Mobil (XOM) is investing in hybrid batteries. Others look to biofuels, believing that they could be an interim step in weaning us off foreign oil — even though many feel that some biofuels are themselves harmful to the environment.
Others insist that only by expanding our own oil reserves can we find energy independence. That may work for awhile, but, as Hess pointed out, there’s only so much available. And consider this: It will take years and billions of dollars to get new areas in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico ready to go. What if instead of throwing that money away on the energy source of the last century, we put it into developing the alternative energy of this century?
We live in America. We’re supposed to have endless innovation and a drive to improve — to get more out of technology. Why are we, as a society, still so focused on drilling oil and digging coal out of the ground? It’s polluting work that affects our health. And it’s dangerous work that results in deadly explosions (oil refineries) and cave-ins (coal mining). Alternative energy production could provide safer, healthier jobs.
Fossil fuels won’t last forever. We have this window of time to start improving on the technology we have now — and creating new technology — to power the 21st century and beyond. As a society, we have to make it a priority.
Disclosure: I do not own XOM or HES
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