The cubic mile of oil (CMO) is a unit of energy. It was created by Hew Crane of SRI International to aid in public understanding of global-scale energy consumption and resources.
Significant sources of energy include oil, coal, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, and biomass (primarily the burning of wood). Other energy sources include geothermal, wind, photovoltaic, and solar thermal. The various energy units commonly used to measure these sources (e.g., joules, BTUs, kilowatt hours, therms) are only somewhat familiar to the general public, and their relationships can be confusing. These common energy units are sized for everyday activities (a joule is the energy required to lift a small apple one metre vertically). For regional, national, and global scales, larger energy units, such as the exajoule, the billion barrels of oil equivalent (BBOE) and the quad are used. Derived by multiplying the small common units by large powers of ten these larger units pose additional conceptual difficulties for many citizens.
Crane intended the cubic mile of oil to provide a visualizable scale for comparing the contributions of these diverse energy components as a percentage of total worldwide, energy use.
The global economy consumes approximately 30 billion barrels of oil (1.26 trillion U.S. gallons or 4.75 trillion ltrs ) each year. Numbers of this magnitude are difficult to conceive by most educated people. The volume occupied by one trillion U.S. gallons is about one cubic mile. Crane felt that a cubic mile would be an easier concept for the general public than a trillion gallons.
Read more about Cubic Mile Of Oil: Definition and Energy Equivalents, Annual Energy Consumption By Source, Global Energy Reserves, Replacement of Oil By Alternative Sources
Famous quotes containing the words cubic, mile and/or oil:
“Mining today is an affair of mathematics, of finance, of the latest in engineering skill. Cautious men behind polished desks in San Francisco figure out in advance the amount of metal to a cubic yard, the number of yards washed a day, the cost of each operation. They have no need of grubstakes.”
—Merle Colby, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into moving—vans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“Mr. Chadband is a large yellow man, with a fat smile, and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)