The generally used rule of thumb for energy required to make gasolene is 13KWH
per gallon from all sources of energy required. That's a long way from 400
watt hours, which sounds kind of silly right up front. I don't recall the
source of the 7% number. I was pulling it from memory, and I think it includes
all energy used in refineries, not just electricity. There's a billion sources
on the web, but there's a lot of information gathered at this site, a strongly
slanted view, but the sources cited are reasonable and the guys conclusions
are both rational and interesting: http://www.evnut.com/gasoline_oil.htm
On Apr 4, 2013, at 9:37 AM, Randall <tr3driver@ca.rr.com> wrote:
> ---- Bill Babcock <ponobill@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Seven percent of the
>> energy in the US is used to operate refineries.
>
> I think there is something wrong with that number. Refineries are powered
primarily by electricity, and they just don't use that much electricity.
>
> For example, http://goo.gl/Ag0dy reports that the US petroleum industry used
approx 48E12 wH in 2005. But our national consumption for 2005 was around
3800E12. So oil refineries (which produce much more than just gasoline &
diesel) only used about 1% of the electricity.
>
> And gasoline production (only) for 2005 was about 130E9 gallons
> http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=wgfrpus2&f=w
> meaning it took less than 400 wH per gallon of gasoline.
>
> The only way I think you could get close to 7% is by counting petroleum that
they take in and don't turn into energy sources; like asphalt and plastics.
>
> It's really hard to beat pumping energy out of the ground ... until there
isn't any left to pump out. None of the "alternative" sources make much sense
until we finally do run out of fossil fuels. Of course, that particular sky
has been reported to be falling for several decades now, but it hasn't
happened yet.
>
> Randall
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