The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 573
But first, these words:
Bryce spends a fair amount of time then discussing PEAK OIL and CLIMATE
CHANGE. Other than a brief mention of ELECTRIC VEHICLES, which is almost
not even worth mentioning, he doesn’t write about them. But for the heck of it,
I’m gonna throw that into the mix because it has great significance in any discussion of the overall energy picture.
I have no interest in discussing the subjects of Peak Oil and Climate Change. I
feel they are irrelevant to energy independence. That may be disappointing to
some, but here’s why: First, if we had a viable solution(s) to fossil-fuel fuels it
doesn’t matter if or when the world runs out of oil or if production capability is
maxed-out. Second, I never believed that the world would run out of oil. I didn’t
believe it in the 1970s when it was very fashionable to do so, and I don’t believe
it now; certainly not after learning about huge fossil fuel deposits discovered off
the coast of Brazil, in the Gulf Mexico, in the Mediterranean off the coast of
Israel and Lebanon, and so on.
Interestingly, the fear of eventual global oil depletion goes back more than 100
years (Bryce references this fact, too). There were many responsible people
who have been alarmed at various times about the possibility, not just some
luddites, but the answer was always rather simple: just invent new methods to
detect and get at the deposits. They did, and so they did.
Climate Change, or man-made global warming, is completely immaterial to how
I view the entire energy issue. To begin with, I don’t believe in the “Al Gore”
science. I also didn’t believe in the man-made global cooling theories that were
rampant a generation ago. But more importantly, I already support a rapid end
to the use of gasoline and diesel. I already know that ethanol is a cleaner fuel.
I’m already doing everything I can to shut off the flow of the “gusher of lies” that
emanates, not from the ethanol industry, but from Big Oil’s propaganda machine.
If man-made global warming is real, fine, as I said I’m already doing what I can
to get everyone to reduce those harmful emissions. If catastrophic man-made
global warming is a fraud, it doesn’t change my opinion about ending our dependence on oil. Vehicles that run on gasoline and diesel definitely cause pollution, whether the result will be the end of mankind or not. Because I am a
great lover of clean skies and clean water, lowering the amount of pollution that
spews from our internal combustion engines is a worthy goal.
