Myth: Energy from any Source is readily used

Energy can be defined as the "capacity for doing work." (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Seventh Edition). Alternative energy sources are sometimes thought of as easily interchangeable. Energy is energy: there are no great problems in switching from one energy source to another. This is a myth.
Reality:
An important fact, commonly ignored in discussing alternative energy sources, is that energy sources come in very different forms. Adapting these various forms to various end uses presents many problems. Electricity and gasoline can each do work, but these energy sources present very different problems when it comes to using them in particular applications. This is generally ignored by people who suggest on bumper stickers, for example, that "Solar Is The answer," or "Go Solar." Sounds simple. It isn't.
The conversion of the intermittently available very low-grade solar energy into an energy form which could be used to power the automobile as we use the automobile today is a complex process, and has not yet been satisfactorily solved. In many cases it is not possible to conveniently or easily substitute one energy source for another. Each has its own characteristics which may be useful in some circumstances and a decided problem in another situation. Coal can be used to produce electricity quite easily in a conventional coal-fired electric power plant. But using coal directly to power an airplane, or using the electricity produced by coal to power an airplane does not now, at least, seem possible, and may never be.
Energy from a variety of sources is not universally interchangeable in its applications. The transition from one energy source to another will in many cases be difficult, and may cause major adjustments in lifestyles.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: We can conserve our way out of the energy supply problem

The movement to conserve our way out of the energy crises and supply problems has been vigorously promoted from time to time when energy shortages have occurred. In between such times, energy conservation seems to fade a bit as a general concern. But the widespread concept remains that conservation can solve the energy problem.
Reality:
Energy and mineral conservation and recycling are useful goals, but conservation is only a temporary solution to the overall problem of continued growth of energy demand from an ever-increasing population. To accommodate more and more people, each person might use less and less resources, but at some point there is a minimum amount of the resource which has to be used. Reducing the amount beyond that point is not feasible. If one uses a vehicle for business, by a careful planning of the necessary travel route, one can reduce the need for fuel, but one cannot continue indefinitely to reduce the amount of fuel needed. Eventually there is simply not enough fuel to do the job. At some point the real problem must be addressed—the demand for the resource—and this demand comes from numbers of people, and lifestyle. There is no way to ultimately conserve out of the energy supply problem against an ever-increasing population. Demand can be reduced but if at the same time, an increase in population absorbs those savings there is no gain. Demands cannot be reduced to zero. Conservation and recycling can only buy time in which to stabilize population to a size which can exist on a renewable resource economy, which also has to be devised.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Canada's oilsands with 1.7 trillion barrels of oil will be a major world oil supply

It appears to be true that in the Athabasca oilsands and nearby related heavy oil and bitumen deposits of northern Alberta there is more oil than in all of the Persian Gulf deposits put together.
Reality:
The impressive figure of 1.7 trillion barrels of oil is deceiving. It is likely that only a relatively small amount of that total can be economically recovered. The oil is true crude oil but it cannot be recovered by conventional well drilling. Almost all of it is now recovered by strip mining. The overburden is removed and the oilsand is dug up and hauled to a processing plant. There the oil is removed by a water floatation process. The waste sand has to be disposed of.
Much of the oilsand is too deep to be reached by strip mining. Other methods are being tried to recover this deeper oil, but the economics are marginal. With the strip mining and refining process now in use, it takes the energy equivalent of two barrels of oil to produce one barrel. To expand the strip mining operation to the extent which could, for example, produce the 18 million barrels of oft used each day in the United States would involve the world's biggest mining operation, on a scale which is simply not possible in the foreseeable future, if ever. Canada will probably gradually increase the oil production from these deposits, but until the conventional oil of the world is largely depleted these Canadian deposits are likely to represent only a very small fraction of world production. The production will always be insignificant relative to potential demand. Oilsands are now and will be important to Canada as a long-term source of energy and income. But they will not be a source of oil as are the world's oil wells today.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: There are billions of barrels of oil which can be readily recovered from oil shale in the U.S.

As the United States has the world's largest and richest deposits of oil shale, the optimistic statements which sometimes arise from that fact are among the more commonly heard in regard to the U.S. energy future. An enthusiastic article about oil shale in the prestigious Fortune magazine is titled: "Shale Oil is Braced for Big Role." It concludes, "Shale oil is not the whole answer to the energy problem but it's one of the few pieces that is already within the nation's grasp."(l9) The article was written in 1979. As of 1997 no oil from oil shale is being produced in the U.S.... or anywhere else.
Reality:
The supposedly great prospects for the production of oil from oil shale in the United States has been one of the most widely promoted and heard energy myths for many years. Statements even made by government agencies can be quite misleading. These arise perhaps because it is good government policy to take as optimistic view as possible toward any national problem. The statements also are due to a less than careful examination of the facts, and perhaps a bit of promotion for the agency involved. The statement is made by a U.S. government organization that "...using demonstrated methods of extraction, recovery of about 80 billion barrels of oil from accessible high-grade deposits of the Green River Formation is possible at costs competitive with petroleum of comparable quality."(l2) This is a clear misstatement of the facts. At the time it was written (1981) there had been no demonstrated methods of oil recovery at costs competitive with oil of comparable quality, nor have there been any such methods demonstrated to this date. A variety of processes have been tried. All have failed. Unocal, Exxon, Occidental Petroleum, and other companies and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have made substantial efforts but with no commercial results.
A state government agency issued a pamphlet on oil shale stating, "The deposits are estimated to contain 562 billion barrels of recoverable oil. This is more than 64 percent of the world's total proven crude oil reserves."(29) The implication here is that the oil which could be "recoverable" could be produced at a net energy profit as if it were barrels of oil from a conventional well. The average citizen seeing this statement in a government publication is led to believe that the United States really has no oil supply problem when oil shales hold "recoverable oil" equal to "more than 64 percent of the world's total proven crude oil reserves." Presumably the United States could tap into this great oil reserve at any time. This is not true at all. All attempts to get this "oil" out of shale have failed economically. Furthermore, the "oil" (and, it is not oil as is crude oil, but this is not stated) may be recoverable but the net energy recovered may not equal the energy used to recover it. If oil is "recovered" but at a net energy loss, the operation is a failure. Also, the environmental impacts of developing shale oil, especially related to the available water supply (the headwaters of the already over used Colorado river), and the disposal of wastes, do not seem manageable, at least a the present time, and perhaps not all.
The clear implication of both of these government statements is that oil shale is a huge readily available source. Because of the enormous amount of "oil" which has been claimed that could be recovered, this gives a large sense of energy security which does not exist. For this reason it is a particularly dangerous myth.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Alternative energy sources are environmentally benign

Advocates of alternative energy sources, commonly believe that these energy supplies have very little impact on the environment. Sunlight as a source of energy would seem to be an ideal energy source with virtually no negative environmental consequences. Or, converting a relatively more polluting source of energy such as coal into a less polluting liquid fuel appears to be a good exchange.
Reality:
Converting coal to some liquid fuel form which could be used in transportation is possible but to do so to the extent of replacing oil would involve the greatest mining endeavor the world has ever seen. It would require strip mining vast quantities of western land each year. If alternative energy considerations do not include coal, but rather are thought of in terms of solar energy, biomass, nuclear power, wind, hydropower, tidal, ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) or shale oil, they also have environmental impacts.
These have been discussed in more detail in Chapter 22, Mineral Development and the Environment, but some of the environmental problems are briefly summarized here. Solar energy collectors in numbers sufficient to be significant in our energy supplies would use very large amounts of land. Mining the materials used to make these collectors would have an impact. Because the collectors would not have an infinite life, there would be the continual problem of replacement, involving more mining operations.
The environmental impact of using biomass as a major source of energy would be huge, especially in terms of the degradation of the highly important mineral resource, soil. Nuclear energy from fission has the potential (and the reality, in the case of Cherynoble) of having a huge impact on the environment. Fusion nuclear power is relatively more safe but not entirely so. Wind power devices are unsightly, noisy, kill birds, and, like solar collectors, deteriorate and have to be replaced with more materials mined from the Earth. Tidal power, hydroelectric power, and OTEC have undesirable effects on aquatic environments. If oil shale is part of the energy alternative for the United States, the impact of developing that energy source on already scarce southwestern water resources would be large, and probably not sustainable.
In brief, as the saying goes, "there is no free lunch" in the use of any alternative energy source with respect to the environment. All make an impact. Eventually some or all of these sources will be used. The decisions to be made involve which sources have the least environmental effects and yet can meet the projected energy demands. With an ever-increasing world population requiring more and more energy, any energy source or combination of sources which will adequately meet this demand will inevitably have a large environmental impact, by the sheer size of the operations.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Biomass—plants—can be a major source of liquid fuels

This myth comes up frequently, and it has been rather thoroughly explored through various projects and proven to be a myth. A variety of plants including greasewood in the arid Southwest U.S., sugar cane, sugar beets, trees in general, seaweed, and seeds have been cited as important possible sources of liquid fuel for the future. In 1979, an article in a widely read U.S. magazine states: "Myriad forms of natural organic matter can provide heat or be converted into gas, oil, or alcohol. Wood holds the most immediate promise."(9)
Reality:
In regard to wood as an alternative liquid fuel, a final report on a U.S. government-sponsored project on the conversion of wood to a liquid fuel stated as a conclusion: "Investigations to date have led the authors to be optimistic about the possibilities of oil from biomass. While difficulties in bringing the current facilities on-stream have somewhat limited information to date, it is felt that a vigorous activity in the future can eventually provide a new source of energy for the country in the form of oil from biomass."(6) A translation of this statement might be that "the project didn't turn out very well, but maybe in the future a lot of research could improve results." That may or may not be true. The project involved wood-to-oil conversion, and one conclusion was that "Information gained here should provide the means to be commercially competitive by approximately 1990."(6) The project was abandoned in 1981. No wood anywhere in the world is now being converted to liquid fuel.
There are several reasons why converting growing plants to oil will not be a significant substitute for oil obtained from wells. These have been touched upon in other chapters. Briefly they are:
The energy conversion efficiencies are low, in some cases as with ethanol from corn, it is negative.
The energy cost of harvesting and transporting the materials is high relative to the energy produced. In the case of wood, cutting the trees and loading and hauling them to a processing plant would be energy intensive even before processing into a liquid.
The volumes of plant material available are not sufficient to yield large amounts of oil, given the low energy conversion efficiencies.
The degradation of the land growing these materials by continuing harvesting without returning the fiber to the land is severe.
If wood is considered, there is already a scarcity of wood in most of the world. In the form of wood waste (little is wasted now) there is insufficient raw material from this source to provide significant amounts of feedstock to convert to liquid fuel.
The best land is now under cultivation for much needed human food supplies. If plants were used for raw material for liquid fuel conversion they would either have to displace food crops from present agriculturally developed land, or put marginal lands (thin soil, steep hillsides) into production which would greatly increase land degradation by erosion, and also have serious downstream effects, including silting up of reservoirs.
In final view, the Energy Research Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Energy stated in 1981 (U.S. population then was 258 million compared with 267 now), that the 258 million Americans used 40 percent more fossil energy than the total amount of solar energy captured each year by all U.S. plant mass. Current annually available biomass volume is no significant replacement for the large storehouse of organic energy accumulated over millions of years in the form of coal and petroleum.
In summary, biomass, at least considering the size of world population today which has to be supported by crops, cannot be diverted from food supplies in significant quantities to be important as a liquid fuel, and at best energy conversion efficiencies from biomass to oil are low. The environmental impact of using biomass for conversion to liquid fuel on a large scale would be severe and unacceptable. Biomass is not a potential source of significant quantities of liquid fuel.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Alternative energy sources can simply be plugged into our present economic system and lifestyle, and things will go on as usual

This also is a common assumption with regard to a transition to alternative energy sources, even to the major renewable energy source, solar. People do not appreciate the close relationship between the current energy sources, principally oil, and the control which energy forms have over the activities of their daily lives, and where and in what sorts of structures they live and work, and use for transportation.
Reality:
Conversion to a solar energy economy would involve vast construction projects installing huge collecting systems. Houses and factories would have to be redesigned to much more energy efficient standards. In transport, an electric economy means electric cars, and the facilities to generate huge amounts of power beyond what is presently being used. And the electric car, as far as can be visualized with reasonably foreseeable technology, would not offer the degree of mobility which gasoline powered vehicles do. This would markedly alter both the work and recreational habits of people. It would markedly affect recreational related economies.
Other energy sources, beyond oil, similarly would involve a restructuring of daily routines. Our activities are very much controlled by the energy forms which we use. Our standard of living is largely a function of how much and in what form we can command energy supplies. Changing from the energy form which is oil to other energy sources can and will have to be done, but lifestyles will be altered, as may also be the standard of living.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Oil companies make big profits compared with other enterprises

The profits of oil companies are frequent targets of criticism by both the politicians and the media. Many people believe that mineral resource companies are excessively profitable relative to other enterprises.
Reality:
As pointed out in Chapter 26, Mineral Economics, the amount of capital which has to be invested in the production of oil is very large and it takes a long time, in some cases, many years, before any return can be realized on the investment, if indeed there is a return at all. Many smaller oil companies go bankrupt from a series of dry holes. One such example was a firm which drilled in the geologically rather unpredictable deltaic sedimentary complex in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of Colorado. The first well was a small producer. Subsequently four wells were drilled around the first well. All four were dry holes. The small amount of oil coming from the first well was insufficient to repay the bank loan which had been used to finance the drilling of the other four wells. The company went out of business.
Oil exploration and production is a high risk venture. Companies that do survive, earn a relatively modest return on investment. On records kept since 1968, the average return on stockholder investment in 30 representative U.S. oil companies has been 12.5 percent. In 1994, it was only 9.2 percent.(7) For 30 representative manufacturing companies, the return has been 13.1 percent.(1) The average return for oil companies is less than the average return for manufacturing industry in general.
Relating this to the gallon of gasoline which we buy, an editorial review of this matter stated:
"No one needs to be reminded that gasoline prices have risen since the OPEC camel began flexing its muscles. But oil industry analyses show that oil companies aren't exaggerating when they say they make a profit of only about two cents on every gallon of gasoline sold. In fact, only Exxon reports making that much. Standard of California, Phillips Petroleum and Texaco report making no more than 1.5 cents a gallon. The big winners in the gasoline sweepstakes are the federal and state governments, which collect six times as much in taxes per gallon as the companies earn in profits and some of the most spectacular increases in gas pump prices are attributable to state tax boosts."(2)
Although this editorial was written in 1975, the economics of the oil industry remain about the same today. In spite of intervening inflation, two cents a gallon is regarded by the oil companies as a very good profit on a gallon of gasoline. Adjusted for inflation since 1975, the profit is barely one cent a gallon.
At the upper end of the list of profitable segments of the economy are the so-called "sin-stocks", the tobacco and liquor companies. It is ironic that companies which produce products that are harmful to the health and welfare of the country are much more profitable than is the oil industry which produces a basic necessity and makes life for much of the world much more pleasant than it would be without this important energy source.
If anyone still believes that the oil business is very highly profitable, it should be noted that in the developed nations it is a free economy and anyone is welcome to form an oil company and get into the business, or simply buy stock in oil companies. Almost all major companies are publicly held, with their securities listed on both national and international stock exchanges.
Mining Companies
What has been said about oil companies in terms of huge capital costs, the risks of failed exploration efforts, and the long time from a discovery to when income is realized also applies to mining companies. Their economic returns are no better on the average than for oil companies, and in many cases are less. Mining company securities also may be bought on the stock exchanges of the world if one wishes to participate in this industry. Many other businesses show a better consistent and higher return.
Alternative Energy Sources
Alternative energy resources are those which could presumably replace the largest single conventional energy source which oil. Because of occasional oil crises and the increasing dependence of the United States and almost all other industrialized nations, as well as most Third World countries on foreign oil supplies, the urgency for developing and using alternative resources is growing.
Well-meaning but uninformed people make a great variety of statements as to what alternative sources might do for the country. Unfortunately poorly founded statements are frequently picked up by the media who repeat them without any research as to what the facts might be. This in turn misleads the public.
There are three considerations when evaluating the worth and validity of alternative energy sources. One is the ability of alternative sources to really replace oil in the quantities we are now using oil. A second concern is how using alternative energy sources might affect and change current lifestyles. What would it really involve to change to a "solar energy economy" as is the popular concept among alternative energy enthusiasts. The third consideration is the environmental impact of converting to alternative energy sources. These three factors with their myths and realities are briefly treated here.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: Alternative energy sources can readily replace oil

This is the assumption made by many people who advocate alternative energy sources as an early easy solution to our dependence on imported oil, and the perceived negative environmental effects of burning oil.
Reality:
The facts relative to this myth are mixed. Alternative energy sources can replace oil in its energy uses, but in some uses much less conveniently than in others. Fuel oil used under steam boilers can be replaced by nuclear fuel, or coal. But replacing gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel for use in vehicles, airplanes in particular, by an alternative energy source will be much more difficult.. At the present time, 97 percent of the world's approximately 600 million vehicles are powered by some form of oil. Going to another fuel source to meet this huge energy demand now met by the convenient, easily transported, very high grade energy source which is oil will not be easy.
The British scientist, Sir Crispin Tickell, states a very important fact, "...we have done remarkably little to reduce our dependence on a fuel which is a limited resource, and for which there is no comprehensive substitute in prospect."(28) It is very important to note that there is no apparent replacement for oil in the volumes and ways in which we now use it. The transition to a comparable energy source or sources will be difficult, and probably much less convenient than using oil. Even if it could be done it would markedly change the lifestyle of industrialized society as we know it today. This leads to the next and related myth.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995

Myth: oil companies own oil

Reality:
In a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Peru, and Mexico, oil was originally discovered and developed by foreign companies with the expertise which the country itself did not have. Subsequently, with the rising tide of nationalism following the colonial period, oil company properties—oil fields, pipelines, shipping facilities—were taken over by the respective governments, at times with little or no compensation.
Most of the oil in foreign countries is owned by the governments, not the oil companies. Oil companies simply hold leases (abroad commonly called concessions) to develop the oil deposits. The companies are allowed to search for and produce what commercial oil may be found. Sometimes the oil companies can sell it themselves and sometimes they have to market it through state-owned companies. In a sense they own the oil they produce, but they never really own the oil in the ground. They only lease the right to produce it. This is an important point, because it means that U.S. companies or any other companies operating in a foreign country do not own an assured safe resource base.
In the United States, the mineral rights which include oil and gas usually belong to the owner of the land. The owner can sell these rights to a resource development company, so, in effect there can be more than one owner of a piece of land. The surface can be owned by one individual and the subsurface can be owned by someone else. Oil companies can buy the mineral rights to oil and therefore own the oil. However, even in the United States, more often than not, the oil companies have to lease the mineral rights. Offshore oil belongs either to the adjacent state, or beyond the state limits, to the federal government. Oil companies, for the most pen' do not own much oil. Many own no oil. On the oil they do produce, they pay a royalty to the private owner, or royalties and taxes to the government. These costs range from 12.5 percent to as much as 90 percent of the value of the oil.
In other countries, the government generally owns all the mineral resources which may be leased out to developers. But governments change their minds about lease terms or cancel them with or without any compensation. Quite a few have done so—another severe hazard of the mineral resource business.
The existence of OPEC is obvious proof that oil companies do not own or control most of the world's oil.

Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permissionfrom GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995