People are constantly talking about our dependence on oil. It’s true. America as a whole is dependent on the oil and gas industry and it’s not just for gasoline. I truly believe that people forget how many things they touch every day that have some type of petroleum in them. I mean heck, the keyboard I am currently using and the cell phone I just checked are riddled with products that benefit from the oil and gas industry.
A lot of the uses for oil people know about. Things like plastic bags, lubricants, greases, rubber gloves, are the easy things to recognize. Of course you have to add anything with plastic in it to that list too. I think that people forget that there are a ridiculous amount of things you have already touched today that are available to you because of the oil and gas industry. And no matter how ‘green’ you are, you can’t get away from them.
My once un-cluttered home is a perfect example of the constant presence of the oil and gas industry in everyday life. Since the birth of my daughter, my family room is now completely over ran with obscene amounts of baby junk. Pack & Play, jumper, first generation Bumbo, highchair, walker, some obnoxious dinosaur looking thing which plays music that will make your ears bleed while tossing colored balls in the air, copious amounts of rattles & things that make a crinkle sound and of course anything she can chew on to make her teeth feel better.
I would bet that all of my Little Bug’s baby stuff has been touched by the oil and gas industry in one way or another.
Since the O&G is everywhere, there are many people that think the industry as a whole is full of evil, money grubbing old men in suits.
Here in the United States the average American consumes about 2.5 gallons of crude oil a day. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a lot to you. How about this instead, around 1 barrel every 17 days or around 22 barrels per year. If you did not know, each barrel of crude oil hold 42-gallons.
Now remember that is just an average and it does include transportation. If you’re like me and you drive an hour to and from work every day, that number can rise. Especially if you live in a city like Houston where we were raised to be dependent on cars because everything is so spread out. Not to mention, public transportation was a joke. (I know, Houston is working on that, finally.) People that are bike riders and those out there that don’t even own a vehicle can help balance my demographic out. But what happens when you throw in business men and women who travel weekly on planes? That’s right, the average goes right back up. You can even go as deep as to how much gas is used to power homes and the businesses we work for. So remember this average usage is not only gas to power things but it is also the things we touch or ingest on a daily basis. Yes, I said ingest. Look into how bubble gum and toothpaste are made. YUMMY!
Below is a partial list of everyday items made from petroleum that I got from Ranken Energy This list only includes 144 items from a list of 6,000.
If you’re interested, I found a much longer list of products made from petroleum at http://www-tc.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/wwo/petroleum.pdf
It was just too long to put in this blog.
So what have we learned today friends? The oil and gas industry is EVERYWHERE. You’re probably with it more than you are with your significant other. I feel that since we are so dependent on these natural resources that this industry produces, we need to make it last. One of our best and easiest to transition to options is natural gas. Of course supplementing the power grid with things like wind and solar power will help extend the life of all these natural resources. While we are drilling, transporting, refining and producing oil and gas, we also need to keep the processes clean. Passively dehydrating natural gas at the well site is great to start.
References:
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/10-Unexpected-Uses-of-Oil.html
http://www-tc.pbs.org/independentlens/classroom/wwo/petroleum.pdf
http://www.oilandgasinfo.ca/oil-gas-you/products/
http://geology.com/articles/natural-gas-uses/
https://www.ranken-energy.com/index.php/why-oil-gas/
http://www.ranken-energy.com/Products%20from%20Petroleum.htm
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/10-Unexpected-Uses-of-Oil.html
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/How-Much-Crude-Oil-Do-You-Consume-On-A-Daily-Basis.html
