Where has all the science gone?

Oh, that's right, most people have never understood the hard facts behind the energy we use. I was really tempted to call in Doug Wright's show yesterday when he and Francine Giani were talking about the high gas prices here in Utah.

Doug made the comment that with all of the oil shale in Utah, we shouldn't have to pay so much for gasoline. He also said that sometimes he feels like a six-year old when he tries to understand why gas prices are so high.

Well Doug, if you want to understand why we don't produce oil from shale and tar sands, I have one acronym for you: ERoEI (energy returned on energy invested). It's not very profitable when it takes a company two barrels' worth of energy to produce three barrels of oil. Maybe a six year old can't understand that, but a sixth grader probably could.

And as for the price of oil (or gasoline) in general, it also doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand. The world has been endowed with a finite amount of oil. Its production follows a rough bell curve, and it appears that we could be near the very top, or in the "bumpy plateau" region at the top of the curve. If demand for oil-based products keeps going up, and the worldwide supply goes into terminal decline, then the price skyrockets. It's basic economics - supply curve shifts to the left, demand curve shifts to the right, and the equilibrium price goes up.

Wouldn't it be interesting to know how many of Utah's leaders - whether they be local, state, etc. - are aware about worldwide peak oil production?

If they're not, they should be.