Over the last 200 years, the world has populated from 1 to 8 billion because of the more than 6,000 products and different fuels for planes, ships, trucks, cars, military, and space programs that did not exist before the 1800s. Today, the world is a materialistic society.
We have more than 50,000 merchant ships, more than 20,000 commercial aircraft, and more than 50,000 military aircraft that use fuel manufactured from crude oil. The fuels to move the heavy-weight and long-range needs of jets moving people and products, the merchant ships for global trade flows, and the military and space programs are also dependent on what can be manufactured from crude oil.
Today, American policymakers setting “green” policies are oblivious to the reality that electricity came AFTER the discovery of crude oil, and everything that NEEDS Electricity is made with the products made from oil derivatives.
- ALL electrical generation methods from hydro, coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, and solar are ALL built with the products, components, and equipment that are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil,
- All EVs, solar panels, and wind turbines are also built with the products, components, and equipment that are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.
- Getting rid of crude oil would eliminate electricity and all the products that need electricity to operate!
We’ve had more than 200 years to “clone” oil to support the supply chain of products demanded by our materialistic society and have been unsuccessful.
The January 20, 2025, executive order of President Trump, “Unleashing American Energy (UAE),” calls for the elimination of the “electric vehicle (EV) mandate” to promote consumer choice and access to gasoline-powered automobiles. It’s true that we have no formal EV mandate, but 22 states have zero-emissions vehicle mandates or executive orders prohibiting sales of gasoline cars by a future date, typically 2035.
The few developed nations are oblivious that “Big oil” only exists because the wealthier countries are addicted to the products and fuels that are manufactured from fossil fuels that make THEIR lives more comfortable. Wealthy countries constantly pursue smaller and faster electronics, and bigger and faster planes, ships, and launches into outer space are the only reasons that crude oil is needed.
Seemingly unbeknownst to the “green” movements in the few wealthy countries that are able to provide trillions of dollars of financial subsidies and impose government mandates to transition to occasional electricity generation from breezes and sunshine, it is totally unaffordable by most on this planet.
The future prosperity of billions of people in developing countries is contingent on their economic advancement through the rightful access to harness the foundational elements of any flourishing economy, i.e., the strategic use of fossil fuels and electricity to enjoy the products and fuels that are the basis of all the infrastructures such as water filtration, sanitation, heating and ventilating, hospitals, medical equipment, transportation, appliances, electronics, telecommunications, and communications systems.
The “green” movement, just in the few wealthy countries that are pursuing them with mandates and humongous financial subsidies, is totally unaffordable by more than 6 billion on this planet! Thus, the world is in desperate need of teachers to be the moderators of Energy Literacy CONVERSATIONS that discuss subjects that will benefit ALL 8 billion on this planet.
Shockingly, wealthy countries like Germany, Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, the EU, and the USA still remain ignorant that 80% of the 8 billion on this planet are living on less than $10 a day. These billions of people cannot subsidize themselves out of a paper bag. How will more than 6 billion on this planet ever see electricity?
Policymakers have no comprehension that crude oil is virtually never used to generate electricity, but when manufactured into those petrochemicals that are the basis of more than 6,000 products, it is the basis for virtually all the products that support Hospitals, Medical equipment, Appliances, Electronics, Transportation, Telecommunications, Heating and Ventilating, and Communications systems.
In addition, crude oil is the basis of the various transportation fuels in our materialistic society that did not exist before the 1800s, now being used in infrastructures like Transportation, Airports, pleasure aircraft and boats, Space programs, and Militaries.
Before the 1800s and before the discovery of oil, the world had NO crude oil, obviously NO products or transportation fuels, NO electricity, and NO Teslas!! Before the 1800s, Life was hard and short.
Renewables, like wind and solar, only exist to generate occasional electricity. Since these so-called renewables CANNOT manufacture any of the more than 6,000 products AND the various transportation fuels made from fossil fuels for vehicles, planes, and ships that are demanded by the infrastructures of today, the same infrastructures that did not exist 200 years ago, thus it’s a great time to use President Trump’s executive orders on the subject of energy, to stimulate conversations to enhance everyone’s Energy Literacy.
First published at America Out Loud News.
Ronald Stein is an internationally published columnist and energy consultant, and a policy advisor for The Heartland Institute.
