Elon Musk says petroleum needed to sustain civilization
Inventor who is driving electric vehicle innovation, Mr Elon Musk, has declared that oil and gas remain relevant to sustain human civilization.
Elon Musk is the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, the leading global brand in electric vehicle EV and related facilities production, declared at the Offshore Northern Seas 2022 (ONS) meeting in Stavanger, Norway on Monday that the world would still need oil and gas to stop civilization from crumbling.
He also pointed at the need to arrest the perceived decline in global population, warning that drop in the number of people would also pose risk to the human race.
The two warnings ring against global movements for climate correction and population control. It is widely believed that rising human need for food and energy is bring increasing pressure on nature and causing acceleration in climate change.
The Oracle Today reports that global movements against climate change have premised that there would be less energy demand and less of a strain on natural resources in general if human population dropped.
Interestingly, Mr Musk is reputed for unconventional innovation. And until Monday he was perceived as leading figure in energy transition from fossil fuels and his technology driven companies are largely seen as innovative and climate friendly.
He spoke at an oil and gas conference where he also mused on climate change, renewable energy, and population decline; deviating from global sentiments against fossil fuel and pointing on the need to continue replacing global human resources.
“Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilization will crumble,” Musk told delegates as reported by Reuters.
“One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy. That will take some decades to complete.”
He also said “at this time, we actually need more oil and gas, not less,” and would not “demonize” fossil fuels in comments reported by Bloomberg.
Energy insecurity has risen following Russia’s decision restricts flows of natural gas to Europe after its invasion of Ukraine, and other factors such as drought in Europe.
Musk said that “some additional exploration was warranted at this time” in response to a question on whether Norway should drill for more oil and gas.
He added that offshore wind power generation in the North Sea, combined with battery packs, could become a key source of energy, per Reuters. “It could provide a strong, sustainable energy source in winter.”
The CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden, told the same conference that Europe may need to continue rationing energy for several years because the crisis was likely to continue for more than one winter, the Financial Times reported.
It is not the first time in recent months that Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of electric car maker Tesla, has called for more production of fossil fuels.
In March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s imposition of sanctions, Musk tweeted: “Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.” He admitted such an outcome would be bad for Tesla.
This week, Musk doubled down on his support for nuclear energy during the transition to net zero, and said those supporting the shutdown of nuclear power plants were “anti-human.”
He also said this week that population decline was a bigger threat to humanity than global warming, and reiterated those comments in Norway.
“One of my less obvious things to be concerned about is the birth rate, and I think it’s important that people have enough babies to support civilization so that we don’t dwindle away,” Musk said.
