Climate Column: Geysers are better than oil

NATASHA JULIANA

ARGUS-COURIER COLUMNIST

May 20, 2024

Fossil fuels have been instrumental in creating the world we know. So, why must we wean ourselves off them as the basis of our energy? For brevity, we’re going to concentrate on oil and leave gas and coal out of the conversation.

Let’s start with energy itself. If you trace 99.8% of our energy sources back to their beginning, you arrive at the sun, a magical ball of fire that provides us with a free source of energy, day after day.

In the beginning, we relied on our own bodies to get things done. And where did this energy come from? Food. And where did food come from? Sunlight. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants take sunlight and turn it into energy to grow. Animals then eat those plants to grow. Humans (also animals, lest we forget) eat those plants and animals to grow and do “work” like building shelter, gathering more food, and walking from place to place.

Eventually, humans learned to domesticate animals to help us with our work. A horse, for example, can do the work of about 10 people. That was a game changer when it came to getting things done.

The Industrial Revolution started off with the invention of even bigger game changers like the steam engine. And then, in 1850, we struck gold – oil, that is. Just one barrel of oil is the equivalent of 12.5 years of 40-hour weeks of hard human labor. Today, the average American consumes more than 25 barrels per year, which is equal to about 312 years of labor.

In short, oil catapulted us into the modern world. But there’s a catch.

Like other energy sources, oil too comes from sunlight. All fossil fuels are the buried remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago, even before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. So as we use them up today, we start to run out of this ancient supply.

It’s important to understand a concept called energy return on investment (EROI). To make it worthwhile, the amount of energy you gather needs to be more than the amount it takes to find, extract, refine, and transport that energy source. For example, there is no point in hiking 10 miles up a mountain to pick a few blueberries – you’ve used more energy than you’ll gain from your snack.

In the 1930s, it took on average one barrel of oil to find, extract, and refine about 100 barrels of oil. That’s a ratio of 100:1 – a pretty good return on investment. But as we depleted the easy wells, we had to go farther afield. Offshore oil rigs can go up to 10,000 feet deep into the ocean and drill 28,000 feet below the seafloor. And now we are turning to shale oil, which requires fracking, an intensive and polluting process with quickly depleting yields, giving it an even lower return on investment.

Today, the global average EROI for oil has slipped down to around 10:1, meaning one barrel of oil can produce about 10 barrels. This trend will continue downward as we run up against the fact that oil is a finite resource.

What pollution does using this oil create? Here is the big kicker. Air pollution from burning fossil fuels causes asthma, cancer, heart disease, and premature death. Globally, one in five deaths is linked to this source. Add to that the very real effects to our atmosphere, and you can start to understand why this magical source of energy is both a blessing and a curse.

Earth is lucky enough to be located in what is called the Goldilocks zone – the perfect distance away from the sun that makes it not too hot, not too cold, just right. We were also blessed with a perfectly balanced atmosphere that traps just enough heat to keep us warm, but not so much to make us boil over.

And therein lies our biggest problem. Through the burning of fossil fuels, we have altered that perfect atmosphere so much that it is throwing out of balance all of the systems that made human life possible on this planet. Humans have never lived in an atmosphere like the one we’ve created today, not by a long shot. There is a time lag between the atmospheric changes and the felt experience, but we are already beginning to see the effects across the globe and right here in Sonoma County.

So where does Sonoma County get its energy? When it comes to electricity, we are lucky enough to have Sonoma Clean Power (SCP), a community choice energy agency on a mission to bring us clean, locally produced, renewable energy.

Currently, SCP gets about 20 percent of its electricity from within Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The vast majority of this is from the Geysers, a project located just northeast of Santa Rosa that is one of the largest geothermal power plants in the world. This provides a reliable, renewable, 24/7 energy source, unlike fluctuating solar and wind. (Geothermal and tidal energy are rare earth-based energy sources that are not dependent on the sun. Technically, even wind is sun-created as it is the temperature difference that drives the air movement.)

Through a conversation with Ryan Tracey, SCP’s Director of Planning and Analytics, I learned they are also developing two solar projects in Mendocino County and trying to add significant geothermal capacity so that they are less reliant on the development of clean resources elsewhere. For now, the rest of SCP’s renewable or carbon-free power is sourced from wind and solar in the Central Valley and hydro from the Sierras and Pacific Northwest, as well as some biomass in Northern California. Only the last 9 percent comes from the wholesale energy market, and is not considered carbon-free.

If you want to be super cool, you can easily opt in to Sonoma Clean Power’s “Evergreen” program and support an even greener energy mix of 87 percent local geothermal with the remaining 13 percent from solar. Started in 2014, Evergreen is California’s first 24/7 renewable service, supplying all electricity from local renewable sources every single hour of the year.

Although it is tempting to keep on using our magical oil until the last drop runs out, we must take advantage of our cleaner, renewable, local sources of energy and start the switch today. Electrifying our cars and homes and joining the Evergreen program can help.

If you want to learn more about these actions and many others, Cool Petaluma and the city of Petaluma are hosting our third annual Local Resource Expo at the Petaluma Fairgrounds from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21. See details at coolpetaluma.org/expo2024.

Natasha Juliana is campaign director for Cool Petaluma. She can be reached at natashaj@coolpetaluma.org. To get involved, visit coolpetaluma.org.