Barry Rubin: Oil Remains King; When it Comes to Energy Production It’s A Case of Drill or Be Drilled

Oil Remains King; When it Comes to Energy Production It’s A Case of Drill or Be Drilled

By Barry Rubin

Reverend Harper: “Have you ever tried to persuade him that he wasn’t Teddy Roosevelt?”
Abby Brewster: “Oh, no.”
Martha Brewster: “Oh, he’s so happy being Teddy Roosevelt.”
Abby Brewster: “Do you remember, Martha, once, a long time ago, we thought if he’d be George Washington, it might be a change for him, and we suggested it.”
Martha Brewster “And do you know what happened? He just stayed under his bed for days and wouldn’t be anybody.”
–”Arsenic and Old Lace”


Here’s what you need to know about the current U.S. debate on energy. Stick with me through some numbers and we’ll arrive at a very important conclusion.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the official government agency for such statistics, world energy consumption will rise by 53 percent between 2008 and 2035, mostly (85 percent) due to non-Western use. Petroleum—and this is according to Obama’s “employees,” will only decline from 34 percent in 2008 to 29 percent of the total world energy use over that period.

In other words, over the next almost quarter-century, only 14 percent of current petroleum usage will be replaced by all other fuels, including algae, nuclear, solar, vegetable, and wind. And because overall consumption is rising, oil consumption will actually rise from 85.7 million barrels a day in 2008 to 111.2 in 2035.

What does this tell us?

Continue reading Oil Remains King; When it Comes to Energy Production It’s A Case of Drill or Be Drilled

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press in January 2012. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reports, and now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media

Technorati Tag: Alternative Energy Sources.