No Fuel Like an Old Fuel

Since the 1970s, the media have habitually referred to the various fuels we use - oil, natural gas, coal, uranium, etc. etc. - as "energy." And since the '70s, in a futile, passive-aggressive sort of way, I've found this terminology regrettable and irritating.

It's true in a technical sense that these fuels constitute "potential" energy - as contrasted with "kinetic" energy, i.e., energy that's actually making something happen - but then so does almost everything. But the reason I object to referring to fuel willy-nilly as energy is precisely because it blurs this distinction and glosses over the sometimes ugly and dangerous process of converting "potential" to "actual."

This dualistic understanding of energy is already present in ancient Greek thought, as enunciated by Aristotle, in the distinction between δυναμις and ένέργεια, potentiality and actuality. But I think the Chinese duality of "fiery yang energy" and "cool, watery yin energy" provides a better frame of reference for our cultural inclination to burn stuff as a way of making things happen.

Or rather, a way of making "magic" or "miracles." Because that's where a lot of fuel is being spent, to overcome some of the natural limitations on human freedom.

For instance, as physical beings, we humans are not free to violate the law of gravity. I'm certainly free to walk off the edge of a steep cliff if I want, but certain unavoidable penalties will follow. But thanks to modern technological wizardry, I can exploit loopholes in the law of gravity and go flying around the world or even to other worlds. But this quasi-magical feat can be achieved only by converting significant amounts of fuel into energy to counteract gravity.

So, too, with all our other modern marvels, from light bulbs to CAT scans to telephones to toasters. Every one of our "miracles of science" requires us to send a little more fuel up in smoke.

How much? Well, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the United States is currently consuming oil and other petroleum products at a rate of about 600 million barrels a month. That's about 25 billion gallons, which works out to about 80 gallons a month for every man, woman and child in the nation.

And that's actually down from the all-time high, which was set in August 2005, when Americans consumed about 671 million barrels. It would be nice to believe that the 12 percent drop since then was a result of a sharp increase in our awareness of the high environmental and sociopolitical costs of fuel, but alas, it's more likely a result of the economy's less-than-stellar performance the past few years.

Just for the record, the EIA figures going back to January 1981 show Americans have consumed a total of 8.1 trillion barrels of petroleum products over that period (through March of this year), or about 341 trillion gallons.

It required millions of years, of course, for all that petroleum and all the coal and other fuels we use to accumulate inside the Earth - an operation, beyond all doubt, of "receptive" yin energy. But our outgoing yang-dominated society has a hard time seeing value in keeping something in a state of potentiality, stored up for possible future use. We want to convert these substances into energy, and cash, as fast as possible. So it is that we had the "Drill here, drill now!" movement, though it has gone a bit quiet the past few weeks as we all watch crude oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico.

Integral to the traditional understanding of the dualisms of potential/actual and yin/yang are notions of proportionality and balance: When things get out of balance, when we lose our sense of proportion, bad stuff happens. Or from another point of view, an environmental catastrophe could be God's way of telling us we're leaning way too far to one side.