The Role of Oil in the Global Economy

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We use 100 billion barrel of oil equivalents of coal oil natural gas per year, which roughly is around 450 billion human worker equivalents. The average American has 40 devices plugged in 24 seven in their houses drawing down energy. We are surrounded by machines and we don't even think about that because they're all powered by pretty cheap energy. I suspect that heterodox economists in the future will look back and say that this addition of more energy every year actually explains much of solo's residual.

In Part 2 of this Frankly Series, Nate breaks down why energy - and specifically oil - is currently the central foundation of our entire modern economic system. There are ecological and energetic laws that apply to all life, including humans and our economies. By accessing a huge surplus of dense carbon energy in the form of fossil sunlight, we’ve effectively turbo-boosted our economies, populations, and material wealth - but what happens if this fossil abundance were to go away? What are the systemic implications of an economy tethered to growth, tethered to carbon? Is it even possible for us to choose to stop using oil? How do these complex constraints on our global systems affect the options - and most likely outcomes - in a future with declining oil availability and rising climate insecurity?

For Show Notes and More: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/frankly-original/39-just-stop-oil-part-2-oil-is-the-economy

To Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-585aVUNz68