Fun facts on fuel

A set of commercials I occasionally hear on the airwaves comes from the GEICO gecko discussing “fun facts” about the company. My friend Jane Van Ryan at API sent me their own version of “fun facts” embodied in an Energy IQ quiz. (They even stole my favorite format: 10 questions!)

Now I think I’m a reasonably smart guy, but I only got 6 right! Admittedly I overestimated on some so the brain trust at API must have figured me being the cynic I am and employed a little reverse psychology on me.

But Jane commented in her e-mail to me:

Considering the gravity of some of the energy proposals being debated on Capitol Hill right now, the results (of the survey) are particularly striking.

While the survey revealed that Americans now recognize the United States will need more energy in the coming years, respondents vastly underestimated the amount of oil and natural gas that will be needed to meet that demand. Conversely, respondents overestimated the role that renewable energy sources will play in meeting future demand, the amount of oil the U.S. imports from the Middle East, and oil and natural gas industry earnings.

When you look at how the drive-by media portrays the energy industry, it’s not a surprise that Americans look at it the way they do – in general the news networks portray oil companies and their executives as a robber barons on a scale somewhere between Lucifer and J.R. Ewing from the old Dallas TV series.

On the other hand, alternative energy has been touted as the savior of America when reality dictates otherwise. Remember, even if wind, solar, and geothermal power increased tenfold over the next decade – a dubious proposition at best – the share of BTUs provided by those “preferred” alternative sources would only be about 10 percent. (It’s roughly 1 percent now according to the latest EIA figures – look at page 47 here).

Perhaps one thing helping the idea of “drill here, drill now, pay less” is the mistaken idea Jane points out about where we really get our oil. Although it’s still far too much of a share crossing our borders, the reality is that much of our oil comes from the North American continent and adjacent waters. Between our own sources, Canada, and Mexico, we get a good chunk of black gold. But we could get a lot more if the government would get out of the way instead of trying to create an artificial market on carbon as Waxman-Markey would.

(Just as an aside, do you think succeeding generations will look at Waxman-Markey the same way we look at the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariff from 1930?)

In the coming days it would pay to become an energy expert and the information from API is a useful start.

To conclude one of the GEICO spots, the gecko notes, “…these aren’t fun facts; these are financially sound facts. We’ve been duped!” Sometimes a little trickery is necessary to teach us what we all need to know.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.