A Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Looming Global Energy Crisis

by Hewitt Crane, Edwin Kinderman, Ripudaman Malhotra

One cubic mile of oil (CMO) corresponds very closely to the world's current total annual consumption of crude oil. The world's total annual energy consumption - from all energy sources- is currently 3.0 CMO. By the middle of this century the world will need between 6 and 9 CMO of energy per year to provide for its citizens. Adequate energy is needed remove the scourge of poverty and provide food, clothing, and shelter for the people around the world, and more will be needed for measures to mitigate the potential effects of climate change such as building dikes and desalinating water.

A Cubic Mile of Oil describes the various energy sources and how we use them, projects their future contributions, and delineates what it would take to develop them to annually produce a CMO from each of them. The requirement for additional energy in the future is so daunting that we will need to use all resources. We also examine how improved efficiency and conservation measures can reduce future demand substantially, and help distinguish approaches that make a significant impact as opposed to merely making us feel good.

Use of CMO eliminates a multitude of units like tons of coal, gallons of oil, and cubic feet of gas; obviates the need for mind-numbing multipliers such as billions, trillions, and quadrillions; and replaces them with an easy-to-understand volumetric unit. It evokes a visceral response and allows experts, policy makers and the general public alike to form a mental picture of the magnitude of the challenge we face. In the absence of an appreciation of the scale of the problem, we risk squandering efforts and resources in pursuing options that will not meet tomorrow's global energy needs. We must make critical choices, and a common understandable language is essential for a sustained meaningful dialog.

Genres: Nonfiction

328 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2010

Reviews

[Douglas Fournet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a long, dense, fascinating read. My biggest struggle was reconciling the fact that the book is now almost 15 years old, and therefore tons of the facts were outdated. Gives tons of arguments lambasting the "business as usual" reliance on oil and coal as primary energy sources. Tons of facts concerning the relatively rapid depletion of our oil reserves, as well as the lack of investment in alternative sources that could scale anywhere near our projected global annual energy use in 50 years. The coining of "CMO" and utilization of it as a consistent metric to measure all types of energy consumption is a stroke of genius-- though at times can be fairly confusing (i.e. measuring global photosynthesis in CMOs). I would kill for an updated 2024 or 2030 version of this book that accounts for developments in PV and battery tech, as well as recent advancements towards nuclear fusion. The sad truth at the core of this book is that so little of the changes called for have been implemented. My heart breaks for nuclear, like someone just rip the bandaid off and start building plants. cowards.

Highly Highly Highly recommend for anyone curious about what energy dependence actually looks like at the nitty-gritty level. Caters hopefully to ppl across the aisle as it uses economic and dependence arguments primarily in the first 2/3s. I've learned so much and for that I thank the authors.

[Scott Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2010 and with a data set from 2006, you'd think this book was outdated. I didn't find that to be the case at all. Sure, the book doesn't show the latest trends in photovoltaic and wind energy but they are covered. The book does a great job introducing the concept of a cubic mile of oil and then walking through all the popular energy sources. For each energy source, the authors cover how much is available, how long it will last, basic physic and pluses and minuses. The book is filled simple analysis (example, how much gasoline would we save if 10 million cars were electric) and lots of interesting facts.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a preliminary disclosure, I'm friends with one of the author's nieces, though I've never spoken with any of the authors.
The authors' idea of converting energy consumption into a universal unit was very helpful. Comparing watts from a solar panel to barrels per day of oil output to tons of coal is near impossible. The authors took all that information and put everything into how many cubic miles of oil humans use per year. This unit is used throughout the book to make comparisons between the various energy sources.
Besides being able to better understand energy statistics with the authors' universal unit, I also enjoyed this book because it didn't have a slant (other than being mildly pro-nuclear, which may have been a function of the potential energy output of this technology prior to the anti-nuclear paranoia post-Fukushima). The book explains that humans will not have easy access to oil later this century. It then details how much replacement energy we may need if we want to live our lives as we do in America and if people in developing countries want to live improved lives similar to Americans. The authors then explain the potential energy output that could be achieved using alternate energy sources (coal, solar, nuclear, wind, biomass, etc.) and the potential benefits and drawbacks of each. The reader is left to independently evaluate what sacrifices we should be willing to make and what technologies we should fund to be ready for this energy shortfall. Seeing the scale of the potential dilemma was troubling. Though, I was more bummed by the calculations illustrating that all those CFL bulbs in my house don't make much of a dent in the cubic miles of oil that America uses each year.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise book looking at the global options for energy supply over the next 40 years. In some ways similar to MacKay's Without Hot Air, it does the accountancy at the global generation level rather than the mix of national and personal of Without Hot Air. This makes it a better book on the issues, but slightly less good when relating to specific policy issues.

Having a single unit to talk about (The CMO mentioned in the title) really simplifies the book beyond Without Hot Air, and saves any conversions getting in the way of understanding what is going on.

Worth reading if you are interested at all in environmental issues.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good information in one place, but they don't really stick with their gimmick of using the same units throughout, and there isn't a single Sankey diagram.