Wind And Solar Cannot Replace Oil

By Ronald Stein, John Shanahan via CFACT |October 09, 2024

The elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is that crude oil is the foundation of our materialistic society as it is the basis of all products and fuels demanded by the 8 billion on this planet, of which only one billion existed less than 200 years ago.

All hospitals, airports, communication systems, militaries, planes, trains, and vehicles are based on the products that did not exist before the 1800’s, that are now made from fossil fuels.

Humanity’s addiction to the products and fuels made from oil has grown to a whopping consumption of 100 million barrels a day. For those unfamiliar with a “barrel”, it contains 42 gallons, which equates to 4,000,000,000 GALLONS of oil needed every day to meet the demands of today’s lifestyle and economies.

As a refresher for those high profile “green” torch bearers that are dominated by the opinions of politicians, movie stars, and popular athletes, that are preaching net-zero emissions, wind and solar do different things than crude oil.

• Wind turbines and solar panels only generate occasional electricity but manufacture NOTHING for society.
• Today, ‘Big Oil’ only exists because of humanity’s addiction to the products and fuels made from oil.
• Without crude oil, there would be nothing that needs electricity. Everything, like iPhones, computers, data centers, and X-Ray machines, that need electricity to function is made with petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil.
• Renewables CANNOT make any of the products to make wind turbines and solar panels.

Anyone with logical thinking will conclude that the scam of the century is ridding the world of crude oil, before a replacement is identified to support the supply chain for humanity’s growing demand for the products and fuels made from oil, would be global suicide!

Today’s policymakers are incapable of sharing a plan to support a supply chain for the products and fuels demanded by today’s materialistic society and the economy that is dependent on huge infrastructures that did not exist before oil, as world leaders try to reduce their dependency on crude oil.

The world now sustains 8 billion people—ten times the population prior to the Industrial Revolution and thankfully is also experiencing record crop production. This rapid increase in agricultural output is partially attributable to an increase in atmospheric CO₂ since 1940, This rise in CO₂ levels alone is linked to major yield increases for corn, soybeans, and wheat.

Wind power needs enormous amounts of oil to make and turn the non-degradable turbine blades that are filling landfills when they wear out. To provide the infrastructure for the planned forests of turbines requires massive amounts of raw materials including limestone, steel, aluminum, lithium, cobalt, and nickel. To make way for the wind and solar farm fields, millions of trees are being cut down. Remember when we used to call environmentalists tree huggers? Where are they now?

Real science is also revealing that the massive span of solar panels over millions of acres of land are changing the natural atmosphere. The materials the panels are made of cause warming. In the winter they will cause cooling, thus exacerbating weather extremes. When air is warmed, as happens over the solar panels, it rises. Even small differences in ordinary land surfaces can create powerful forces of weather. In short, solar farms will become thunderstorm and tornado incubators and magnets. There is nothing green about green electricity. Farmers must beware of allowing their property to be used for these installations.

MOST importantly today, there is a lost reality that the primary usage of crude oil  is NOT for the generation of electricity, but to manufacture derivatives and fuels which are the ingredients of everything needed by economies and lifestyles to exist and prosper. To reiterate, ‘Big Oil’ only exists because of humanity’s addiction to the products and fuels made from oil. Energy realism requires that the legislators, policymakers, and media that are demonstrating pervasive ignorance about crude oil usage, begin to understand the staggering scale of the decarbonization movement.

Many poorer developing nations do not share the Western elite’s obsession with reducing emissions. Since life for most people on earth is still a battle against poverty, hunger and disease, many countries, particularly India and much of Africa, will continue to focus on becoming richer through fossil fuels and the many products that have made richer countries have a more comfortable living lifestyle.

World leaders continue experiencing a “dangerous delusion” of a global transition to “just electricity” that they believe will eliminate the use of the crude oil that made society achieve so much in less than 200 years. Without those products made from petrochemicals manufactured from crude oil, the policymakers must be imagining no jets, ships, defense, or space programs!

Looking back at the history of the petroleum industry, it illustrates that the black cruddy looking crude oil was virtually useless, unless it could be manufactured (refineries) into oil derivatives that are now the basis of chemical products, such as plastics, solvents, and medications, that are essential for supporting modern lifestyles. The thousands of products that are based on oil are being used for the health and well-being of humanity and the generation of electricity did not exist a few short centuries ago.

Today, we have more than 50,000 merchant ships, more than 20,000 commercial aircraft  and more than  50,000 military aircraft  that use the fuels manufactured from crude oil.  The fuels to move the heavy-weight and long-range needs of jets moving people and products, and the merchant ships for global trade flows, and the military and space programs, are also dependent on what can be manufactured from crude oil.

For aircraft and ships, just like that for the diverse options for the generation of unreliable electricity by renewables, they all utilize parts and components made from the oil derivatives manufactured from raw crude oil.

Policymakers need to participate in conversations to discuss the difference between just ELECTRICITY” from renewables, and the “PRODUCTS” that are the basis of society’s materialistic world.

Ronald Stein is an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitations.”John Shanahan is an engineer and energy consultant.

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