Oil is the lifeblood of modern society. It has been more than a century since the late oil-boom when people traveled far and wide, drilling for oil. Now, with modern technology, it has become easy to extract millions of barrels of oil from the depths of the earth.
In many countries, big corporations have started exploring and extracting oil from the seas. It is called black gold for a reason. The economies of several countries depend on oil industries.
Some of the pros and cons of crude oil are:
Advantages of Crude Oil:
1. Oil Energy is the Basis of all the Other Sources:
A nation’s development is gauged by the amount of oil they have, either through production at home or imports. While there are many renewable sources, oil is an everlasting source.
2. Oil Energy is Readily Available:
Though most of the machines that are emerging are electric, the primary component of many of those are oil-based. Due to the cars that are run by petrol and diesel, oil and its different products are used by the masses. It means that crude oil has a trickle-down effect, benefitting many industries.
3. It Produces More Energy When Burnt:
If you compare oil to other fuel sources, oil has a better burn rate. It is highly efficient, and the reason that oil is used by most industries. Moreover, people prefer diesel and petrol engine over CNG and electric. .
4. A Reliable Source of Energy
One thing that makes crude oil fuel more popular is its availability. You can find it anywhere you go.
Oil is processed to produce different fuels which can be refined to make a similar product. It is also more consistent in form than natural gas and electricity.
5. The Oil Boosts Economy
The oil boom has helped many countries with no apparent source of income turn into an economic hub. Countries such as UAE and Saudi Arabia, comprising of vast areas of deserts, have now become well-developed countries thanks to their oil resources. Wherever there has been a discovery of oil, prosperity has followed.
The Cons of Crude Oil
1. Limited Reserve
We have been using oil without any stop for more than a hundred years. There has been a vast number of digging and drilling going on daily for new sources. There are a lot of sources from which we can get oil, and still have plenty of untapped reserves.
The reality is that although we have used oil extensively, a time will come when the wells will run out of oil. It’s time that we looked for alternate sources.
2. Cause for Pollution
Oil is considered one of the leading reasons for global warming. The CO2 emission are high. It is not only air pollution that crude oil affects, but land and sea pollution.
Each year thousands of barrels of crude oil in spilled in different parts of the world. It results in loss of life, and the whole ecosystem is disturbed.
Due to its use in mostly combustion engine. Machines release carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. If a leak leads to inhalation, it could cause illnesses like allergies, lungs cancer, and skins diseases.
One solution is to regulate its flow through cast steel low-pressure check valves to prevent any leakage.
3. Fluctuation in Prices
The downside to having oil is that the whole economy is dependant on it, so if the rate of oil per barrel rise, so does everything else. It can cause problems for nations, especially those with a developing economy. It becomes challenging to control the prices of other commodities, and soon, the economy can spiral out of hand.
Conclusion
The pros and cons of oil energy depend upon how we use it. If we use it sparsely only for essentials, then it serves us well. Nonetheless, the way we have been exploiting these resources has caused more problems for us than we can handle.
It is high time we explore other venues as well. This way, we will be able to counter the global warming issue as well as be safe from any potential energy crisis as it is entirely possible that one day we will run out of oil.