A new unit of energy is being proposed by Hewitt Crane at SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. The new unit the CMO for cubic mile of oil is being proposed to normalize all energy to a unit that makes sense in terms of world energy consumption. The CMO is exactly like it sounds, oil, 1 mile x 1 mile x 1 mile of it. Currently the world consumes approx 1 CMO per year.
To further put this in perspective 1 CMO equals the total of the following for a period of 50 years (thats 1 years worth of oil is equal to the TOTAL of 50 years of the following): 104 coal fired plants + 4 three Gorges Dams + 52 Nuke power plants + 32,850 Wind turbines + 91,250,000 Solar panels. Chew on that for a while until it really sinks in, 50 years of ALL of the above only equals 1 CMO!!!!!!
Lets assume the entire world has 100 miles by 100 miles of oil one mile deep. Seems very conservative to say the least. Thats 10,000 years at present rates of consumption!!! Known reserves are about 500 years. Heck just Iraq may have this much oil. The surface area of the earth is what? Approx 500 million square miles.
What does this mean? Alternative energy? there is NONE for a very long time to come. Running out of oil? Not likely anytime soon.
As counterintuitive as it may sound the same sources state that Brazilian fuel control systems that lets cars run on gasoline, ethanol and natural gas will be near term winners. You might want to invest in Magneti Marelli, see
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