“We will always need a lot of oil because almost everything we use is based on a petroleum byproduct.”
I have seen figures that say only about 45% of our oil usage is for energy. The rest is for all of the products that are made from petroleum. Petroleum is a raw material for the chemical industry. Also for the pharmaceutical industry. etc etc etc.
Right on.
Even down to the ladies’ beauty products.
“The manufacture of all plastics consumed approximately three percent of the total petroleum used in the US in 1997, and PS (polystyrene) production comprised approximately .002 percent of that amount. Comparatively, 71 percent of total petroleum used in the US is used for gasoline, jet, and diesel fuel, and 26 percent for the production of asphalt, oils
and lubricants.”
http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/doc_pfpg.asp?CID=1417&DID=5332