RE: salvation from tar pits?

I am trying to catch up with the articles and books I have before me. I
ran into a fascinating quote from a 2003 article by Jeffrey S. Dukes.
Which illustrates why rate of oil production is the important thing. It
also raises concerns for a 'solar' economy.

"The fossil fuels burned in 1997 were created from organic matter
containing 44 x 10^18 g C, which is >400 times the net primary
productivity (NPP) of the planet's current biota. As stores of ancient
solar energy decline, humans are likely to use an increasing share of
modern solar resources. I conservatively estimate that replacing the
energy humans derive from fossil fuels with energy from modern biomass
would require 22% of terrestrial NPP, increasing the human appropriation
of this resource by ~50%." Jeffrey S. Dukes, "burning Buried Sunshine:
Human Consumption of Ancient Solar Energy," Climatic Change
61(2003):31-44, p. 31

We are using each year 400 x the net planetary productivity according to
this. WOW! This alone says why oil from Turkey guts won't work.
Received on Mon Jun 28 08:24:50 2004