The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 509
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The reality is that fossil fuels (abiotic fuels) come from a time prior to the existence of dinosaurs and are derived from compressed non-biological minerals
and water - not giant lizards.
But the subject of this article is not correcting the use of the term "fossil fuels,"
it is to address the premise and conclusions contained in Alex and Kathleen's
books. Therefore, any use of the term "fossil fuels" hereafter is done for simplicity.
The central point that both authors make is that America and the world would
not be enjoying the high quality of life that we do if it was not for fossil fuels. To
aid in their effort to make this point they connect the use of coal with liquid
petroleum oil fuels and natural gas. This is basically a sleight-of-hand trick.
One reason I say that joining coal with the other abiotic fuels (fossil fuels) is
"sleight-of-hand" is the opening paragraphs of Kathleen's book in which she
includes a brief tale of wilderness deprivation in the year 1800 from "The Rational Optimist," a book written by Matt Ridley. She then weaves Ridley's tale
into the following statement:
"Use of the energy in fossil fuels unleashed economic productivity on a scale
previously unimaginable. When innovative minds developed a steam engine
which could convert the stored heat energy in coal into mechanical energy, the
