Add two straw men (all fossil fuels are going to disappear instantly, and there are zero options for replacement products), stir messaging with the sex drive of millennials, watch more political votes go towards doing nothing.
Millennials have a growing variety of organic, vegan, biosynthetic, etc., alternatives to petroleum products. Besides that, there are plenty of products that can be made with much less virgin petroleum.
What I want to know is what effect a major reduction in gasoline and diesel fuels will have on the economics of the rest of the products made from the oil barrel.
Well, we know how to do the big blue transport pac man, though the US has of course lagged behind in making it happen. It especially needs to get moving on rail, especially… (you knew I was going to say this, didn’t you, you clever devils) high speed rail. The red industrial slice is also mostly vehicles, which have been or are being created right now, and low-grade process heat, which is easy for clean safe renewable energy. The smaller amounts of high temp stuff are also doable* or if there’s some local problem I can’t imagine, at the very least can be preheated with RE, topped off with a little biofuel. Commercial & residential energy is mostly heating, which will be renewablized as it gets electrified. The chart doesn’t show feedstocks—plastics, solvents, etc. A lot of that can be reduced or replaced but there’s some work to do.
* Odeillo solar furnace in the French Pyrenees, obviously not the sunniest place in the world, but still, it’s been reaching more than 6,000°F in a few seconds, since 1969.
wikipedia[DOT]org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace
I still have pained memories of the 1990s attempt to add high-speed rail connecting the four major cities of Texas (Dallas, Houston, San Ant and Austin), shot down by airline lobbyists. The residential and commercial development since then has made rail line rights-of-way at least an order of magnitude more costly.
I do like the bit about making faces at the people stuck in traffic. It reminds me of my rail commute to/from Boston (“Purple Line”), where I could daydream or puzzle or get work done.
I lived in downtown Boston in 1981 and would drive every morning out to Wayland and then Lexington. I could not understand anyone willing to drive (actually not drive but standstill mostly) into Boston. I would be flying out of the city and all the cars would be bumper to bumper going in. Probably worse now, 40 years later.
My rail commute was 1982-1984. I had to get my own car when my next job was in the ‘burbs (Waltham to Framingham). Didn’t escape Massachusetts until 1992.
Bus lanes must be part of the answer. If the bus gets you there quicker then people will use it. You will notice in the Ad “It has it’s own lane” More people on busses will make the streets more pleasant nothing more unpleasant than car choked streets.
On the other side, I saw this ad today. It’s a new tactic by FF:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOURX29-eFQ
Add two straw men (all fossil fuels are going to disappear instantly, and there are zero options for replacement products), stir messaging with the sex drive of millennials, watch more political votes go towards doing nothing.
The ad is from a pipeline company:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Transfer_Partners
Millennials have a growing variety of organic, vegan, biosynthetic, etc., alternatives to petroleum products. Besides that, there are plenty of products that can be made with much less virgin petroleum.
What I want to know is what effect a major reduction in gasoline and diesel fuels will have on the economics of the rest of the products made from the oil barrel.
https://images.procon.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/us-petroleum-consumption-by-sector-2019.jpg
Well, we know how to do the big blue transport pac man, though the US has of course lagged behind in making it happen. It especially needs to get moving on rail, especially… (you knew I was going to say this, didn’t you, you clever devils) high speed rail. The red industrial slice is also mostly vehicles, which have been or are being created right now, and low-grade process heat, which is easy for clean safe renewable energy. The smaller amounts of high temp stuff are also doable* or if there’s some local problem I can’t imagine, at the very least can be preheated with RE, topped off with a little biofuel. Commercial & residential energy is mostly heating, which will be renewablized as it gets electrified. The chart doesn’t show feedstocks—plastics, solvents, etc. A lot of that can be reduced or replaced but there’s some work to do.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-11/rhc_industrial_process_heating.svg
epa[DOT]gov/rhc/renewable-industrial-process-heat
(They leave out electricity, oddly)
* Odeillo solar furnace in the French Pyrenees, obviously not the sunniest place in the world, but still, it’s been reaching more than 6,000°F in a few seconds, since 1969.
wikipedia[DOT]org/wiki/Odeillo_solar_furnace
https://assets.atlasobscura.com/media/W1siZiIsInVwbG9hZHMvcGxhY2VfaW1hZ2VzL3NvbGFyZnVybmFjZS5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJ0aHVtYiIsIngzOTA-Il0sWyJwIiwiY29udmVydCIsIi1xdWFsaXR5IDgxIC1hdXRvLW9yaWVudCJdXQ/solarfurnace.jpg
I still have pained memories of the 1990s attempt to add high-speed rail connecting the four major cities of Texas (Dallas, Houston, San Ant and Austin), shot down by airline lobbyists. The residential and commercial development since then has made rail line rights-of-way at least an order of magnitude more costly.
I do like the bit about making faces at the people stuck in traffic. It reminds me of my rail commute to/from Boston (“Purple Line”), where I could daydream or puzzle or get work done.
I lived in downtown Boston in 1981 and would drive every morning out to Wayland and then Lexington. I could not understand anyone willing to drive (actually not drive but standstill mostly) into Boston. I would be flying out of the city and all the cars would be bumper to bumper going in. Probably worse now, 40 years later.
My rail commute was 1982-1984. I had to get my own car when my next job was in the ‘burbs (Waltham to Framingham). Didn’t escape Massachusetts until 1992.
Bus lanes must be part of the answer. If the bus gets you there quicker then people will use it. You will notice in the Ad “It has it’s own lane” More people on busses will make the streets more pleasant nothing more unpleasant than car choked streets.
From 2020 article:
The six largest Danish cities commit to buying only ZE buses from 2021 on:
https://www.sustainable-bus.com/news/the-six-largest-danish-cities-commit-to-buying-only-ze-buses-from-2021-on/
“One of the dumbest ideas human beings ever came up with was sealing school children inside a diesel powered bus for the trip to and from school. ”
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/12/19/sea-to-convert-10000-us-school-buses-to-electricity/
And yes the hydrogen is clean from splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen at the nearby Tyseley refuelling station.
===================================================
“Hydrogen buses can run for 300km on a single tank and can be fully refuelled within 10 minutes.”
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/walsall/2021/12/16/walsall-now-has-the-only-hydrogen-buses-outside-london/