4 ms·
The goal is to keep the oil in the ground, to not be burned or to be made into plastics.
by tencentshill 8mo ago
The goal is to keep the oil in the ground, to not be burned or to be made into plastics.
- dylan604 8mo agoIsn't the main source of helium from oil production? It's not like we have fusion reactors turning H into He.
- ac29 8mo agoThe main source of helium is natural gas production, not oil
- dylan604 8mo agoOkay, but while technically correct, it does nothing to change the situation. They are punching holes in the ground to extract the sweet sweet nectar. They have to store what has been extracted. When that storage is full, what does one do? Stop the input into the storage.
- fc417fc802 8mo agoThe amount of activity required for helium is insubstantial compared to the amount of natural gas being extracted globally. And the amount of natural gas extracted pales in comparison to total combined gas, oil, and coal. Helium extraction doesn't pose a notable environmental issue on its own.
- MOSI2 8mo agoIt's not just plastics. Practically every substance we use and rely on to maintain civilisation as we know it has a petrochemical or fossil fuel base. I understand the not burning fossil fuel thing, but why can't it be seen like another mineral resource?
- fc417fc802 8mo agoBecause that's still geological carbon entering the overall cycle on the surface. The air and ocean are giant buffers of it. When it's needed it needs to be pulled from there somehow (such as by felling trees or directly extracting CO2). Unfortunately that's not economical when it's legal to tap the giant lakes of it sitting underground.
- cmrdporcupine 8mo agoMany of the other things (plastics esp) are byproducts after refining for fuel. If the fuel isn't consumed, the byproducts would become cost ineffective. Don't "worry" though. Oil consumption is going up not down. Just don't have kids.
- MOSI2 8mo agoIf the cure is as bad as the disease, then why intervene?