Forty years ago, when I first received my driver’s license, I filled up my dad's car with unleaded gasoline. Watching that clean liquid flow into the tank, I was struck by our reliance on fossil fuels. With billions of cars on the road, I couldn’t help but wonder: how long could this last?
As a 16-year-old, worrying about the end of crude oil was not exactly on my agenda. Yes—long before the “Just Stop Oil” movement was even born (you know, where people sit on highways while traffic piles up), I was tearing through libraries, worried we'd run out of oil. If not today, then tomorrow.
The statistics are staggering.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2020 the world consumed approximately 92 million barrels of oil per day. With over 1.4 billion cars globally, this level of consumption raises serious questions about sustainability. Former oil executive Matt Simmons once warned, “The world is running out of oil.”
As I think of those billions of cars idling—exhaust pipes spewing hot air into a warming sky—it’s hard to ignore how this contributes to rising global temperatures.
But I love my car.
I love that four-cylinder engine that purrs like freedom. Even if Elon Musk announced tomorrow that Teslas were free for everyone, I wouldn’t abandon my trusty Subaru. I envision a future where drivers still cherish the experience of shifting their own gears, carving through mountain roads, feeling the hum of combustion like a heartbeat.
Still, I don’t want to end up in some Mad Max wasteland, where gasoline costs $50 a gallon and chaos reigns over dwindling fuel. So… what about the clean and reasonably priced unleaded gasoline I depend on?
Here’s the reality check:
Estimates suggest there are about 1.7 trillion barrels of proven oil reserves left. At current consumption rates, those reserves could be depleted in a few decades. That makes the development of synthetic oil, biofuels, and hydrogen alternatives more than just climate issues—they're the future of freedom on four wheels.
And let’s not forget aviation.
Airplanes and jets burn through oceans of Grade-A jet fuel—a less refined, lower flashpoint cousin of gasoline. Every flight we take, every shipment that crosses the globe, is part of this colossal burn. So when you imagine “clean fuel” flowing into billions of tanks and wings each day, you start to get the scale of what’s at stake.
Here’s my guilty confession:
I silently back fracking. I back some "unclean" practices… because I need my unleaded. I’m not against this world—I want to enjoy it by driving it. And I’ll go to great lengths to keep myself behind the wheel long into the future.
We’ll need innovation.
Biofuels made from organic matter show promise. Hydrogen tech is coming. Synthetic fuels might save vintage engines. As environmentalist Paul Hawken once said: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” If we want to keep driving, we’d better invent the fuel that lets us do it.
My relationship with gasoline—yeah, it’s complicated.
But it’s also the gateway to bigger questions:
- How much oil is left?
- Can technology catch up?
- Will we transition to new fuels before the old ones run out?
- Will freedom to drive survive the automation of everything?
I want to drive forever.
But I want to do it in a way that ensures the road remains open for generations to come. No one wants a world where people are fully dependent on AI chauffeurs, where every trip is optimized but joyless.
Elon can clean up the whole damn government if he wants—
but he can keep his hands off my 5-speed.