Most of the progress in human culture has required the exploitation of energy resources. About 100 years ago, the major source of energy shifted from recent solar to fossil hydrocarbons, including liquid and gaseous petroleum. Technology has generally led to a greater use of hydrocarbon fuels for most human activities, making civilization vulnerable to decreases in supply. At this time our knowledge is not sufficient for us to choose between the different estimates of, for example, resources of conventional oil.
It’s so important to have knowledge about chemistry, but mostly organic chemistry, just like we did here! The hydrocarbons are so important for the human being. But why? At present, oil supplies about 40% (natural gas 25%) of the world’s non-solar energy, and most future assessments indi- cate that the demand for oil will increase substantially. What do we know about the future of oil? Predictions of impend- ing oil shortages are as old as the industry itself, and the liter- ature is full of arguments between ‘optimists’ and ‘pes- simists’ about how much oil there is and what other resources might be available.
The world is not about to run out of hydrocarbons, and perhaps it is not going to run out of oil from unconventional sources any time soon. What will be difficult to obtain is cheap petroleum, because what is left is an enormous amount of low-grade hydrocarbons, which are likely to be much more expensive financially, energetically, politically and especially environmentally.
FINAL REFLECTION