Does Oil Extraction Affect the Earths Tilt and Climate?
My gut feeling is that oil extraction is contributing to the earth’s tilt. According to the International Energy Agency they indicate that a barrel consists of 42 US gallons (35 imperial gallons), or 159 litres. They estimate as of 2011, approximately 89 million barrels of oil and liquid fuels were consumed per day worldwide. That works out to nearly 32 billion barrels a year (refer http://www.iea.org/aboutus/faqs/oil/). Imagine extracting this liquid volume. I found a converter and here are some interesting statistics on weight looking at the 32 billion figure.
gigatonne of oil equivalent (Gtoe)
4.677.000.000
megatonne of oil equivalent (Mtoe)
4.677.000.000.000
tonne of oil equivalent (toe) 4,677*10 (power of)18 = 46770 (power 18)
kilobarrel of oil equivalent (kBOE)
3,2*10 (power of 16)
barrel of oil equivalent (BOE)
3,2*10 (power of 19)
Russian fuel equivalent unit
6,682*10 (power of 21)
The tonne of oil equivalent is 4,677 x 10 = 46,770 tonnes to the power of 18. This is an enormous weight. I just put it into excel, hopefully got it right, this is the number…
1,146,601,903,319,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tonnes equivalent per year. This is not the total oil extraction since oil started being extracted.
Seems rather large doesn’t it! So my guess is this is the weight displacement of just oil on the planet in one year. Imagine all the other extractions added to this not to mentioned deforestation, earth changes in many ways. I think this is not a bad theory for an axis shift. Certainly worth exploring.
Now the reality is we already see the energy industry problematic in business as usual continuing on extracting to meet demand without any real change to ensure the planet reverses CO2. The governments have tried to factor in a carbon tax. However, the revenues the companies make are enormous you only have to see how much employees are paid thousands per week to work on the mines etc. So the profit is far higher than any carbon tax. No incentive to change there. Moreover, if we add to this weight displacement due to oil/coal extraction then there is a case to immediately stop it on the grounds that it is the same as the hole in the ozone layer. If it is shifting the axis it will facilitate ice melting which affects the gulf stream and turns it off and then we have ourselves an iceage. So good ol Al Gore’s image comes up – the gold bar or the earth?
Yesterday the Western Australia Government announced its investment. This is the mentality that continues with mining in the belief of economics and what is termed the development of resources. We are still in the economic paradigm of extraction and profits without any realisation of how this is affecting the planet within a holistic mindset… refer http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/state-concession-a-sweetener-for-chinese-investors/story-e6frg9df-1226616256624
WEST Australian Premier Colin Barnett has offered magnetite miners a royalty concession in a move he says illustrates to China that his state wants its investment.
In a swipe at the Gillard government, which has been under renewed criticism for not doing enough to provide a welcoming investment environment to the economic powerhouse, Mr Barnett said the concession sent a clear signal that his government supported the development of resources and supported Chinese investment.
“It shows our approach to mining and overseas investment and we see the future of the WA mining industry is tied to the development of China and other economies in Asia,” he said.
How Oil Puts the Planet on Tilt
There is a fascinating new paper out describing how rapid oil & resource extraction may be changing how the earth spins. That, in turn, could influence weather.
Read on for the paper’s summary. The paper itself is being presented this week at the AGU Chapman Conference on Complexity and Extreme Events in Geosciences in India:
Consequences of Fossil Fuel Extraction on the Climate Change of the Earth
The understanding of the causes of climate change of the earth is a very complex process. It can not be explained on the basis of one or two factors because it is governed by the various processes going on for a long time in the solar system. We are creating more complexity in the climate change by ruthless exploitation of natural resources of the earth which is resulting in the climate change at a faster rate. The climate change such as global warming due to burning of fossil fuels, i.e. coal, minerals, gases etc. is very well reported in the literature, but very little work has been done on the contribution of the extraction of fossil fuel from the earth’s crust, in changing various physical properties of the earth, affecting the climate of the earth.
The extraction of fossil is a very old practice but for last 6-7 decades, it has increased very rapid. The imbalance between extraction and generation of fossil fuel is increasing day by day, which is changing the climate, of the earth in a different way. The change in the mass of the earth due to the extraction of fossil fuel from the earth’ crust, is changing the moment of inertia of the earth because the extraction is at the farthest distance from the axis of rotation. Thus a small change in the mass in the earth crust will affect the moment of inertia substantially. In order to conserve the angular moment ( L = IW), the angular frequency of the earth on its own axis as well as around the sun, must change. On the other hand the extraction of fossil fuels may not be uniform throughout the earth, as the extraction in northern hemisphere is reported to be much higher than in southern hemisphere which may cause weight imbalance around the axis of rotation of the earth as well as around the sun. This may result in the change of the angle of tilt of the earth. This change in the tilt may be a very important factor, contributing in changing the climate at various places of the earth. Thus, the extraction of fossil fuels may contribute to the change in various mechanical properties of the earth, making the process of climate change such as global warming more complex to understand.
We shall give an account of the change in the physical properties of the earth rotation such as moment inertia and angular velocity resulting from the extraction of fossil fuel and predict its impact on climate change of the earth.