in future we may, once again, use this extraordinary substance less as a fuel than as a chemical ingredient. The complex products distilled in refineries could help us make the battery ingredients we need to help us deal with the intermittency of renewable power. They can help us manufacture the resilient plastics we need for the biggest, toughest wind turbines. But there is no point in pretending either that this will be easy or that it will come without some uncomfortable compromises.
