contributor David Fickling has an interesting perspective on the world of energy. He writes that the seven largest solar companies today are already supplying more total energy to power human civilization than the seven largest oil and gas companies. That is probably a surprise to mostWhat oil companies ultimately provide to the world is not crude oil or natural gas but the vital ingredient locked up in the chemical bonds of those hydrocarbons — energy.
Readers will identify a common theme between energy and vehicles. We know that the most efficient mass produced gasoline engine in the world is the one found in the Toyota Prius and it is barely able to convert 30 percent of the energy in a gallon of gasoline into forward motion. The MPGe standard developed by the EPA may be flawed, but it makes it crystal clear that the average electric car is two to three times as efficient as the average conventional car with an internal combustion engine.
Any comparison between oil and solar can be criticized for comparing apples with oranges, but if you buy apples and oranges, you often get a label telling you how many kilojoules they contain. We should be doing the same for the exajoules provided by oil and solar businesses. Fruit, fuel, and electricity all ultimately provide a measurable flow of energy.Fickling wraps up his analysis with a peek behind the curtain of global geopolitics.