Commentary

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) was recently held in Egypt, attracting many global elites and more than 400 private jets. All attendees recognize that the climate change is occurring, like it has for four billion years—but it seems most lack basic energy literacy, which starts with the knowledge that renewable energy is only intermittent electricity generated from unreliable breezes and sunshine and cannot replace fossil fuels.

The indisputable unpleasant fact is that renewables, like wind turbines and solar panels, cannot be manufactured into any of the oil derivatives that are the basis of thousands of products which make up the foundation of societies and economies around the world.

Fossil fuel products were the reason the world population grew from one to eight billion in less than 200 years. As much as world leaders wish to rid the world of emissions from fossil fuels, they have yet to identify the replacement for these substances, which serve as the basis of more than 6,000 products and fuels for our various transportation infrastructures.

COP27 attendees should also know that crude oil is useless unless it can be manufactured into something usable—like the fuels for the heavy-weight and long-range ships and jets that have made our lives more…