I finished reading “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels” by Alex Epstein and it’s a fascinating read/perspective to say the least.
I will share some of its interesting content in this article👇
1/ The author starts the book with a relatable plot twist.
Alex has been ridiculed by the environmentalist movement for his views on fossil fuels. Not only is he dismissed, but he’s been accused of working for the fossil fuels industry for the mere reason of holding such views.
2/ Holding human life as the standard of value.
It is so easy for the alarmists to predict all sorts of scenarios about the dangers of using fossil fuels for humanity and the earth. However, reality is the complete opposite, the more we use fossil fuels…
2.1/ …the more we flourished as a human specie.
- using more fossil fuels meant more proved reserves we were able to discover.
- using more fossil fuels meant better economy for developing nations
- using more fossil fuels meant higher life expectancy
etc.
2.2/ We were promised in the second half of the 20th century that the next century will be all about alternative energy.
Reality was that we have more than doubled the use of fossil fuels, and alternatives are still barely being used for anything significant.
3/ Fossil fuels are the only form of energy which are Cheap, Plentiful and Reliable for 7 billion people.
Thanks to our ability to use fossil fuels as a form of energy, we started feeding them to our machines and incited an industrial society.
3.1/ Thanks to fossil fuels and the industrial world, we have been moving billions of people away from poverty with the potential to do the same for all 7 billion people.
Epstein quotes Milton Friedman:
3.2/ “The rich in ancient Greece would have benefited hardly at all from modern plumbing — running servants replaced running water”
The author argues that no other form of energy can do that. Be cheap, plentiful and reliable.
3.3/ All other alternative forms of energy fall under a less extreme form of the Hazelnut Energy Problem.
You can theoretically power a car using Hazelnut oil, but how much Hazelnut do you need for this task?
4/ Coal provides 41% of the world’s electricity as of 2011. Even though the biggest war is being waged against Coal, its use has skyrocketed in the last 40 years.
4.1/ Natural gas is possibly the cleanest of all fossil fuels.
It has only one problem, it’s significantly hard to move around. For this reason, it’s the least used among all fossil fuels at the moment.
4.2/ Oil is the most portable form of fuel.
93% of transportation in the United State relies on oil. Epstein calls it the fuel of freedom. We are able to benefit from other people’s specialization, travel, and change location easily thanks to this fuel specifically.
5/ What about Climate?
Epstein breaks it down to Climate confusion, clarity, livability.
Most people are confused about what is the meaning of climate catastrophe. Our views are often shaped by politics or appealing to experts being used as authority instead of advisors.
5.1/ Climate clarity brings us to the first point. Human Standard of value.
All the predictions about rising CO2 levels and its danger on human life, by time, were proven to be wrong.
5.2/ Less people are dying due to natural catastrophes (storms or flood related). Less people are dying due to climate. We are witnessing global greening due to the fertilizer effect. There is no rising sea levels, while predictions were blown way out of proportion.
6/ Human activity with the help of fossil fuels is not ruining our environment. In contrary, we are improving it.
More fossil fuels, cleaner water
More fossil fuels, cleaner air
More fossil fuels, less disease
More fossil fuels, improved sanitation
7/ Tackling the problem of pollution:
Since 1970s till mid 2010s, air pollutants like SO2, NOX, NH3 and others were significantly slashed to less than half in 40 years. During those 40 years, we used more and not less fossil fuels.
7.1/ Thanks to industry and the increasing use of fossil fuels, we have been able to develop technologies that minimize, neutralize or even reverse pollution.
Coal has been made cleaner. Plants and cars are getting more energy from using less fuels.
8/ The author explores the idea of sustainability.
Should we think of the future and the possibility of depleting the earth’s finite resources?
Resources are scarce but they are not finite. The more we use resources, the more we yield additional resources.
8.1/ Thanks to this mechanism we were able to improve the human beyond the being a caveman into our current standards of living.
The ability to transform our resources so efficiently and on a huge scale is largely due to industry and the use of fossil fuels.
9/ Lastly the author explains why he is giving a voice for the fossil fuels industry.
The increasing use of fossil fuels at least for the foreseeable decades is inevitable. The only issue is that policymakers will keep getting in the way…
9.1/… rendering these resources more expensive to use. And these policies are based on either false or misunderstood scientific narratives.
10/ All the statements in this thread were proven with real life data and sources available in the book and presented for the reader to verify.
The end.
