News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k. Parent comment

Re:In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k by jandrese on Monday April 01, 2019 @03:42PM (#19547353)
Maybe, but we can't use it without killing the planet. We've already burned too much oil.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k by philwelch on Monday April 01, 2019 @04:19PM (#19547756)
Petroleum has many uses that don't involve burning it as fuel.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k by whatshisface on Monday April 01, 2019 @04:33PM (#19547914)
According to this Wikipedia page[0], 81% of every barrel of oil is used for fuel. Although dropping to 1/5th size is not the same as going away, it won't be a very enjoyable ride. The picture might get even worse for petroleum as a chemical precursor once the economies of scale supported by fuel use go away.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_product

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k by bluGill on Monday April 01, 2019 @04:41PM (#19548003)
Yes and no. Yes there are a lot of uses, but they amount to a small amount of our current oil use. If I read https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=41&t=6 right 75% of crude oil is burned directly as fuel.

edit: note that my numbers are different than the wiki below. I suspect that is because of a difference in what counts for what...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:In an Oil Boom Town, Even a Barber Can Make $180k by numtel on Monday April 01, 2019 @04:32PM (#19547912)
It's the extraction process that's the problem with shale, moreso than the burning of the gas.
[ Parent | on HN ]