Energy Talk

Georgia Tech's Dr. Sam Shelton was featured at the chamber's "Lunch & Learn" today. Speaking on energy and alternatives to current use, he noted that a lot of the data shows that we (the U.S.) have already peaked in oil production, and that it will, overall, decline from here.

Some statistics he shared:
25% of the world’s oil is used by the US (we only produce 2%)
8% is used by China, followed by 7% by Japan.
Saudi Arabia produces the most, with 20%; followed by 10% Iran and 9% Iraq.

Dr. Shelton said what looks to be our (particularly in the southeast) best bet for reducing our usage of oil will be to start using “southern pine cellulosic ethanol.” We have the crop. There are 18-million tons of timber grown that are not harvested. If we used what we have now, we could offset, by 15-20%, Georgia’s petro use. And that is without replanting. So, with the replanting of timber used, we could continue to offset petro. (And we’re not the only state that can do that.) Using pine cellulosic ethanol would be beneficial locally. Timber grown here, would go to ethanol plants built here and ethanol would be used by autos here. Using pine cellulosic ethanol also creates electricity that can be used.