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So there it was, words straight from the horse鈥檚 mouth.
Saudi Arabia鈥檚 oil minister Ali Al-Naimi shook up the Business and Climate Summit delegates who were attending the conference in Paris a couple of months ago.
What rattled the chains, however, was a pretty common sense comment.
Al-Naimi simply spouted a truth, when he said 鈥渙ne of these days, we are not going to need fossil fuels.鈥�
Coming from a representative of the world鈥檚 largest oil producing country, it seemed shocking.
But before the audience collectively fainted, the SA oil minister assured them this wasn鈥檛 going to be happening soon, but probably within a few decades, perhaps by 2040 or 2050, he surmised.
So that means, unlike what some politicians are spouting these days as they chase the green vote, we don鈥檛 need to leave the bulk of the fossil fuels in the ground.
The right idea, we figure, is to follow a common sense trail toward a greener environment, with determined, unfaltering steps. This is not a race to the finish line.
Just as the world eased into an era where coal no longer ruled the means of transportation (steam ships, locomotives, harvest equipment), there is now a slight easing into a new world of transportation fuel, and that will probably be natural gas first, and then maybe electricity or ethanol-styled fuels or combinations thereof. We say that because existing infrastructure for most of our transportation needs is geared for oil-related products and natural gas will fit more easily into that mold than will electrical recharging stations. New fracking systems are making gas a more natural, cleaner fuel choice to serve as a bridge to eventually wean us off oil.
That鈥檚 why we鈥檙e seeing more fuel-efficient vehicles on our highways, including hybrids that are making a dent at just under 10,000 sales per month in North America.
But Al-Naimi noted in his speech, if we went green now and he turned off the 10 million barrels a day tap in his country, there would be nothing but chaos. There would be mini cases of chaos too, if North America or Africa were to cut oil supplies for any given time.
In other words, we all want to talk a good green game, but, for now, we have to play with the toys we already have in the toy box.
Solar, biomass and wind turbines are not ready for prime time as sources of power or fuel either logistically, economically or politically. They have to serve as the back up plan for now as their advocates, inventors and investors work toward getting the starting role in 20 to 30 years.
We need to keep in mind there are still more than a billion people in this world who can鈥檛 even get electricity, so fossil fuels are their only source of power.
The transportation industries are now eager to experiment with alternative fuel sources where once they weren鈥檛. North America is using fewer BTUs of power than it was 12 years ago and oil consumption is dropping, not rising.
There will be volatile price fluctuations within the oil sector for some time yet, but we can rest assured, it鈥檚 been sorted out by those who run the fossil fuel game. There will be no sudden pulling of electrical plugs or plugs put in oil wells any time soon.听听听
But, there is no reason why we can鈥檛 steadily march toward a greener solution.
And why not, when oil-drilling stalwarts such as the Saudi oil minister tells us we should.听
