Our planet has numerous resources, but they are NOT unlimited resources. What’s the future of humanity 100 to 500 years from now, after humans have extracted the oil, coal, lithium, and cobalt resources from the 4.5-billion-year-old Earth?
Worldwide crude oil consumption is currently estimated at roughly 96.5 million barrels per day. According to OPEC, global demand is expected to reach 109 million barrels per day. Estimations vary slightly from other sources as well, but it is predicted that we may run out of global oil from known reserves in about 50 years.
Nothing lasts forever, even the abundant coal on this planet. For coal, we may run out of global coal from known reserves in about 130 years.
As the world’s population depletes the earth’s natural resources over the next 50, 100, or more years, our grandchildren may be unable to enjoy the more than 6,000 products of our materialistic society being enjoyed by the current residents on this planet. These are products that people need and use every day without even realizing that they come from the refining process. Without oil, we are back in the stone age.
To continue the preservation of human life on earth, it’s time to get serious about conservation, efficiency improvements, and recycling the waste that humans are generating.
One of the primary areas of focus is the recovery of electricity from waste streams such as tires and plastics.
- Tires: The United States generates around 280 million waste tires each year, which is roughly one tire per person. Globally, an estimated 1 billion to 1.8 billion used tires are discarded annually.
- Plastic: The world produces around 400 million tons of plastic each year, which is more than double the amount produced at the beginning of the century. Growth: Since the 1970s, plastic production has grown faster than any other material. If current trends continue, global production is projected to reach 1,100 million tons by 2050.
As billions of tires and millions of tons of plastic waste are disposed of annually, these materials represent a vast, untapped source of electricity. Traditional disposal methods often lead to environmental pollution and health hazards. Waste-to-energy technology offers a sustainable alternative by converting these materials into clean electricity while reclaiming valuable products like recovered steel, coke, and carbon black.
Read the rest of this piece at America Out Loud.
Ronald Stein is an engineer, senior policy advisor on energy literacy for the Heartland Institute and CFACT, and co-author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book "Clean Energy Exploitations."
Photo: courtesy America Out Loud.
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