Oil is one of the most valuable resources we have ever discovered. This energy is so dense that, at $55 barrel, it's nearly free energy, providing the equivalence of 11.5 years of work or 25,000 hours of human labour. The liquids that come out of oil as it is processed and refined create the building blocks for all of our petrochemicals, chemicals, materials, plastics, and fuel. The most valuable part of oil distillates are the ultra dense portable energies of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. A gallon of gasoline (roughly 4.5 liters) weighs approximately 6 lbs, occupies a mere 230 cubic inches but contains the equivalent of 36 kWhs of electrical energy. Few transportation fuels surpass the energy densities of gasoline and diesel.
However, there are two major concerns with current oil era: it is non-renewable and we will use up what’s left within the next 30 to 40 years. Currently, there are no known substitutes with the energy density of these portable transportation fuels in the quantity humankind has become dependent on. Thus, it is going to be a very different world thirty years from now, and the world is going to go through something that has never been experienced before. Engineers need to take us to this new world of lower energy consumption, high cost energy, and, quite possibly, a lower standard of living.