The Oil Drum

For a bit of weekend energy listening, here's a conversation that I had with Tad Patzek (who should need no introduction around here), talking about ethanol's energy balance. This was recorded 2 years ago now, but it still remains quite timely today. You can listen to the mp3 either by downloading the link or clicking play in the built in audio player.

or download mp3: Conversation with Tad Patzek (52min, 21MB)

A long transcript of this conversation is available below the fold.

This discussion is especially relevant in Canada now because of Bill C-33 which amends the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and is supposed to be debated in the House of Commons around May 28th, 2008:

Amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 proposed in this bill allow the federal government to implement regulations requiring 5% average renewable content in gasoline by 2010. Subsequent regulations will also require 2% average renewable content in diesel and heating oil by 2012 on successful demonstration of renewable diesel fuel use under the range of Canadian environmental conditions.

This is Part 2 of my post relating to curriculum for a science peak oil course. It incorporates changes based on many of the comments made below. Part 1 can be found here. A PDF version which contains both Part 1 and Part 2 can be found at this link.

One theme of Part 2 is energy, and why energy is important to our standard of living. I try to compare the energy in oil to the energy in food. To make the comparison more understandable, I convert energy to kilocalories, since most people are familiar with calories in food. I also point out the errors of economists, both in the text and in the discussion questions at the end.

Another theme is the special characteristics of oil, and why oil is valued as a liquid fuel. I think we are sometimes kind of fuzzy in our thinking about substitutes for liquid fuel. We don't think about our built infrastructure, and just assume electricity can be substituted for oil when it really is at best a very long-term alternative. I discuss various alternatives including battery-operated cars, hydrogen, and conservation. The two sections relating to corn ethanol could probably be a post of their own.

I also talk about the impact of oil on prices. I make the point that big increases in petroleum prices are likely, with only a small shortage of oil. I also point our that food prices are likely to increase, partly because of the use of petroleum for food production, and partly because corn for ethanol competes with food for land use.

Please Note: Based on feedback from readers, a revised version of this post has been prepared in two separate posts. See Part 1 and Part 2.

A university near where I live plans to add a short unit on "Petroleum and Peak Oil" to their Science 1101 course for freshman who are not science majors. They asked me to put together material for the unit - reading material, PowerPoint presentations, links to additional material, discussion questions, and suggested test questions. At this point, I am in the process of finalizing what will go into the reading material. I sent my contact a first draft, and he asked that I add sections on a number of other topics as well. This is my second draft, which includes the additional sections requested. I have not yet turned it in.

The focus is to a significant extent their choice. They wanted background information on a variety of petroleum-related topics, and not too much focus on precisely when peak oil would occur, or what dire results might happen. They recognize that corn ethanol is a very bad idea. The audience is expected to be 19 to 23 year olds, so the material needs to be suitable for this age group.

The university wants me to develop material others can use as well, so is willing to let me share what I develop with others. Thus, I don't see any problem with sharing this draft here. At this point, I can still make changes.

I would appreciate any input or comments TOD folks might have.