Jay Hanson wrote,
>In other words, if it takes more energy to
>find and recover a barrel of oil than the amount of energy
>recovered, then it makes no sense to recover that oil
>energy -- no matter how high the money price of energy.
>Neither engineers nor economists can repeal the laws of
>thermodynamics:
However we can be assured that it will be government policy -- in the name
of the free market -- to provide massive subsidies so that the oil will be
recovered at higher energy cost than it provides. Although engineers and
economists won't be able to repeal the laws of thermodynamics, they will be
paid handsomely to write reports and media commentary that assure us that
the laws of thermodynamics have been repealed by a rise in the Dow Jones
Industrial Average.
Somehow, Jay, I doubt we're really talking about the future. Are we? We're
talking about the present. Surely the fully-loaded energy cost of extracting
a barrel of oil TODAY already exceeds the energy that can be produced by
that barrel of oil. By "fully-loaded" I mean including those externalities
like the cost of repairing the ecological and social devastation wrought by
continuing a petrol dinosaur-economy. And when I say devastation, I don't
just mean smoldering ruins, drug addicts, smog and oil slicks. The petrol
devastation also includes such seemingly benign things as urban circulation
patterns or international trade relationships that are now hard-wired to
depend on an abundance of cheap energy.
Regards,
Tom Walker
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