May 15, 2011
Graph of the Day: World Oil Production, 0-2500 CE
By Ursula Goodenough
5 May 2011 Sometimes, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I was recently at a scientific conference on the development of sustainable biofuels, this being my lab’s research focus. Much data was presented and much was said of substance. But the one slide I made sure to get a copy of was this one from Steve Mayfield at UCSD, conveying the history and availability of petroleum at current usage rates (more information here). …
How timely. I was just responding to the contemporary mythology that more drilling will lead to energy independence. Fossil fuels are a finite resource, prepared by Earth over millenia, and non-renewable. Humans are such idiots.