So much global economic progress depends on the exploitation of oil. And it's oil that truly powers economic activity because it produces so much raw lift for activities, since it is so movable and can be used in so many ways. A barrel of oil routinely offers 10 or more times the raw power for our activities than it takes to get it, conferring an enormous profit not only on the companies that supply oil but on the entire economy. Some alternative sources are just the figurative drop in the bucket. Wind generators require technological investments that outweigh the power they can generate, even if every windy hillside is sown with them.
Solar cells pay off only in remote locations.
Other substitutes are possible and may provide almost as much economic profit. But construction of nuclear reactors or projects to wrench oil from shale deposits have mostly been cancelled during the last 20 years of oil surplus and low prices. And coal, which is abundant and profitable, has environmental costs. The recent uproar when strip miners blasted the top of a scenic West Virginia mountain showed just how much of our environmental consciousness will have to be reassessed during the next energy crisis. This is where market forces come in and why the BP-Amoco merger fits the rough logic of the days ahead.