CONCLUSION
Life on our planet depends on a permanent balance of energy exchange, where oil plays an important role. Without oil, aircraft could not fly, cars could not move and boats could not sail. Nor would we have access to everyday, useful derivative products (polymers, nylon, plastics, paints, rubbers, etc.).
We should not forget that we live in a society whose principle energy consumption is not electrical but fossil energy. The level of comfort that new technology gives us, based on oil, has led us to a level of life expectancy far higher than those of previous centuries.
On the other hand, current types of alternative energy cannot replace oil as they have important inconveniences such as their low density, intermittency, and very low storage capacity. (“Electricity storage methods are currently not efficient at all”)
Consequently, CO2 emissions should not be regarded as a problem but as a solution for our energy and environmental problems, by recycling these emissions and reducing the CO2 molecules, which liberates the oxygen and enriches the carbon, thereby enabling us to produce a new oil with a balance of zero emissions.
The hardest challenge in most cases is the transition from laboratory scale to a full industrial size production line with an energy balance that is always positive. (The net energy ratio = energy produced – energy necessary to produce this energy.). “We cannot use more energy than what we produce”.
We have to ensure the progressive replacement of fossil ENERGIES, without affecting the population’s FOOD sources, and if possible improve the latter by replacing them with healthier sources, also avoiding instability as regards two of the main components in our ENVIRONMENT: CO2 and Oxygen.
CO2 acts as a heat regulator for the planet. Too much CO2 would mean an increase in global temperature. Lack of CO2 would imply an increased risk of returning to the ice age.
On the one hand, it is necessary to avoid thermal imbalance in our biosphere. Yet on the other, it is necessary to avoid the acidification of the oceans.
The most dramatic problem for mankind future is to combine energy needs with environmental respect.
