Energy today is generally lumped into a couple of categories. You have the renewable type, wind, solar, unicorn farts, whatever. The other side is the ugly, dirty fossil fuel category. Have you ever wondered why they are called fossil fuels? Probably not, most people haven’t because it is just one of those truths that get thrown out without question. It is really the equivalent of using the “Everyone knows that” argument. Well, do we?

The word “fossil” itself is pretty interesting. If you look at what it used to mean back in the 1600s or so, it was anything that was “dug up” or uncovered from the earth. That would include things like gold, salt, iron, etc. Today, we are conditioned to believe that it used to be something that was living. So maybe the early users of the term “fossil fuel” were just saying that they had to get it from the ground, not necessarily from dead stuff.

Another interesting tidbit is that the biogenic process that is assumed to create the advanced hydrocarbons in petroleum, is just a theory. I know, it seems weird to hear it for the first time. I was in Calculus based Physics class in college when my professor mentioned that it wasn’t settled science at all. I thought she was nuts. It definitely wasn’t what had been pushed down my throat since I was a pup. So I started looking into it.

If Hydrocarbons Are Made of Formerly Living Organisms Then Please Explain

Here are a couple of things that got me wondering about the whole issue. Scientists have discovered methane on Titan which is a moon of Jupiter. Methane is definitely lumped within with the fossil fuel category. Plants give it off when they decompose, and cows fart it up when digesting. If methane is a fossil fuel, then we have to assume that Titan used to be a thriving rock at some point. But it more than likely wasn’t. We can deduce this from the fact that Titan is not the only celestial body that has advanced hydrocarbons. Millions of asteroids could actually be mined in the future for fuel.

Another head scratcher is that petroleum deposits that should have been emptied long ago, seem to keep recharging. Some scientists argue that it happens because they are being refilled from deposits that are even deeper, in the mantle of the earth.

Although it sounds too good to be true, increasing evidence from the Gulf of Mexico suggests that some old oil fields are being refilled by petroleum surging up from deep below, scientists report. That may mean that current estimates of oil and gas abundance are far too low.

Recent measurements in a major oil field show “that the fluids were changing over time; that very light oil and gas were being injected from below, even as the producing [oil pumping] was going on,” said chemical oceanographer Mahlon “Chuck” Kennicutt. “They are refilling as we speak. But whether this is a worldwide phenomenon, we don’t know.”

What Happens When We Test a Theory?

With all of that knowledge, a group of scientists wanted to find out why petroleum was found at a depth of around 40 miles that was discovered by the Russians. That is considered too deep to be the creation of previously living organisms. What they found is that at great depths and pressure, petroleum is formed without organic matter.

At 70 miles down they found that methane molecules can fuse with hydrocarbons and produce petroleum.

“Our simulation study shows that methane molecules fuse to form larger hydrocarbon molecules when exposed to the very high temperatures and pressures of the Earth’s upper mantle,” Galli said. “We don’t say that higher hydrocarbons actually occur under the realistic ‘dirty’ Earth mantle conditions, but we say that the pressures and temperatures alone are right for it to happen.”

Why It Matters

So why mention all of this? It points out a couple of things. It says that some of the truths that we all go around assuming are facts, may not be true at all. They are worth questioning. It also puts a dent in what the “scientific community” has been telling us about fossil fuels. They have been preaching that they will run out soon, and we have to go to renewables. If we don’t even understand how they are made, how can we estimate their limits?

It also shows what can happen when a government is invested in a certain idea that they use for their benefit. This is even more reason to look into the artist formerly known as “global warming,” and now known as “climate change.” How many of the facts supporting those arguments are based on the phrase “well everybody knows that.”