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Politics : Politics of Energy
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To: Eric who wrote (71258)8/10/2016 7:05:23 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 86350
 
For purely thermodynamic reasons net energy delivered to the globalised industrial world (GIW) per barrel by the oil industry (OI) is rapidly trending to zero.

That isn't true, but even it if was it wouldn't mean that oil was useless. First there is the obvious utility of petrochemicals, but beyond that it would still be useful for energy. If not as an energy source as a store of energy that's much denser then any battery. The "unavoidable waste heat" part just means you use a bit more energy in order to obtain, refine and distribute oil and oil products. That energy doesn't even have to come from oil (although it could). Your so big on "alternatives". Solar or wind or geothermal could be used for much of the extraction and some of the refining energy.

But the more important point is that its not rapidly trending to zero. It is still the case, and will be in 10 years (despite the claim to the contrary that you quote), that burning oil produces a lot more energy then the energy costs of drilling, pumping, distributing and refining it.
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