Louisiana is providing stark evidence of humankind’s folly. Our quest for energy pushes into ever higher risk ventures. Common business practise requires minimum cost for maximum returns. Today’s net result has a gusher from 5000 to 25000 barrels of light crude escaping overlying rock, spreading into the Gulf of Mexico and heading shoreward to beach upon large river deltas.
What does this net result mean to the energy picture? In short, the 3 months at 25000 barrels a day is about 1.4e16 Joules or 18 minutes worth of global consumption of primary energy. We’ve lost this. But, we’re also going to lose huge swathes of the Gulf’s ecosystem for potentially many years. Not only will many people be without employment but they will also be unable to forage off the land or coastal waters. As well, the natural system will crash and perhaps never come back to its original state. The net result is that we’ve irreparably harmed some of the Earth’s ecosystem while hoping to maintain our energy dependent lifestyles a little longer.
What is the acceptable maximum level of risk for energy extraction? Wouldn’t it be better to rebuild our civilization to end its reliance upon fossil fuels rather than wait until we’ve consumed all reachable supplies?
photo: NASA