A S P E C I A L A D V E R T I S I N G F E A T U R E
Clearly, today’s energy sources are
more numerous than in the past.
From solar to wind turbine to nuclear
power, nations across the globe are
searching for alternative energy
sources. All of these hold promise as
at least a partial solution to answering
the world’s energy needs. But many
of these resources also have hidden
costs. Wind turbines sometimes use
rare earth metals in their construc-
tion. Solar arrays cost money to
construct and maintain. In addition
to requiring finding storage for spent
fuel, nuclear plants are expensive to
build, run and maintain.
It all comes down to howmuch
energy we spend to obtain the
energy we use, a concept that Hall
and Klitgaard call Energy Return On
Investment, or EROI. And currently,
oil and gas represent the best EROI.
“
I heard someone say once that the
best alternative to oil and gas is oil
and gas,” says Dane Lee Broussard,
president of Flexpipe Systems, a
manufacturer of pipeline coatings,
composite pipe, joint protection and
other products for oil and gas field
applications. The company also manu-
factures a product called Flexpipe
Linepipe, a prefabricated pipeline
system that can be deployed safely,
quickly and cost-effectively. One mile
of pipe can easily be unspooled and
deployed within an hour.
While many economists believe
that we are on the other side of the
Hubbert curve in terms of our oil and
gas production, there are many within
the industry itself who are seeing
a great renaissance in oil and gas
production. Broussard, for example,
recently returned from a trip to the
Eagle Ford Shale formation in South
Texas. “I wanted to see why we have
been so successful in that area in the
past two years,” says Broussard, whose
business in the area has grown from
$300,000 in 2011 to over $22 million last
year. “I believe everything our sales and
operations people tell me, but I’m also
a very visual guy. I needed to see for
myself why we were so successful.”
So Broussard climbed into a truck
and traveled more than 1,700 miles
across South Texas last month, seeing
customers and contractors, spending
up to 10 hours a day just to see what
was happening on the ground. “I am
not one of these ‘doom and gloomers’
who are saying that we are on the
other side of the Hubbert curve
in terms of our oil and natural gas
production,” says Broussard, whose
company is a division of ShawCor Ltd.,
a billion-dollar-plus company out of
Canada. “I’mmore interested in hear-
ing what our customers have to say
rather than what I hear on television.
And I can tell you, fromwhat I hear,
there is an abundance of oil and gas.”
That’s a fact not challenged by Hall.
“
The problem is that right nowwe are
using about three times more energy
than we are finding,” he says. “The new
technologies that are helping us find
alternative energy resources are won-
derful. The problem is that technology
is being trumped by depletion.”
The Energy Information Administra-
tion of the Department of Energy
predicted last year that domestic oil
and natural gas production would rise
in the coming years. Over the next 10
years, continued development of tight
Professor Charles A. Hall of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry has created a measure called Energy Return On Investment (EROI).
