Slavery and the Value of a Barrel of Oil
Posted by Sonja Ebron
Edwin Drake drilled the first major U.S. oil well in 1859 outside Titusville, Pennsylvania. U.S. oil production that year was 2000 barrels but rose to over 4 million barrels per year within a decade, driven by the growth in internal combustion engines. That decade also saw the U.S. Civil War and the emancipation of slaves. Coincidence? Hardly.
Energy is the ability to do work. Oil represents a form of energy so dense and liquid that there is no adequate replacement. According to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), longterm member of the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, one barrel of oil does the work of 12 grown men doing physical labor for a year. [Four men by my calculations, but that's a distinction without a difference.] What is the market value of that work? $100,000 if they’re prisoners, $250,000 if they’re free. That’s the value of a barrel of oil.
And we’re squealing at $150 per barrel? In less than 150 years, humans have grown a global economy based on a very limited supply of extremely cheap energy. We’ve used up half the available supply, and we’ll use up the rest in far fewer than 150 years. I’m a pessimist today, so I don’t think those of us in the most developed countries have time to unwind and ramp down without a very difficult adjustment. Our fluorescent lighting and electric cars and rooftop gardens will help, but they are not enough.
There are neither substitutes nor good ideas for substitutes that will get us anywhere near the economic benefits of oil, not even a return to slavery. At least I hope that’s off the table…
