December 10, 1996Energy reserves
Because petroleum is still king, Kansas can't be energy-independent, says Lynn Watney, executive director of the University of Kansas Energy Research Center.
In 1993, the most recent year for which there are complete state statistics, Kansas consumed a little more than 1,000 trillion BTU's of energy and produced about the same, Watney said.
A BTU is the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of a pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.
Watney said that about 36 percent of the state's fossil fuel consumption involved natural gas; about 36 percent, crude oil; about 27 percent, coal.
In contrast, about 72 percent of the fuel produced by Kansas was natural gas, an abundant resource in the southwest part of the state. About 27 percent of the total was crude oil. Coal amounted to much less than 1 percent.
The state's large reserves of natural gas go along with its relatively high use of that resource compared with the consumption of the nation as a whole. In 1995, Watney said, fossil fuels made up 80 percent of the nation's energy consumption, with 21 percent coming from coal, 23 percent from natural gas and 36 percent from petroleum.
Among all states, Kansas ranked 26th in energy consumption in 1993, Watney said. Missouri ranked 18th; Oklahoma, 23rd; Colorado, 27th; and Nebraska, 38th. Alaska was first in the nation, Hawaii, last.
But Kansans use more energy than the average American, Watney said. The state was 10th in per-capita consumption in 1993.
Renewable energy resources - power taken from the wind or sun, for example - haven't caught on nationally and are even less a factor in Kansas, Watney said.
They make up only 7.2 percent of the nation's energy supply. Renewable resources ranked from most to least popular are hydroelectric power; geothermal, or heat from the Earth; biofuels, which are often burned waste, including harvest leftovers; solar energy; and wind energy.
Watney said he believed the state has hidden potential in the development of biofuels, solar power and wind power.
He quoted Raymond H. Dean, KU professor of electrical engineering and computer science, as saying the solar energy available to Kansas equals that of California and much of the Southwest.
"Feedlot and farm waste and other biomass may someday be used as a transportation fuel to replace some of our diesel fuel," Watney said. With only 4.2 percent of the world's population, the United States still manages to consume 24 percent of the energy. "We take it for granted," Watney said.
Our driving habits show it. While U.S. population increased 140 percent between 1960 and 1995, motor vehicle registration increased 274 percent. Our dependence on other nations for energy is rising, Watney said. Today, 24 percent of our energy needs are met through imports. Crude oil and related products make up 84 percent of the imports.
Despite the rising number of cars and the increased dependence on foreign products, consumers haven't felt it in their pocketbooks. Crude oil prices fell from 1982 to 1995, Watney said.
One negative effect of those decreases, as well as lower prices for natural gas and coal, Watney said, is that exploration of alternative energy sources has been delayed.
Another effect of price drops and fearlessness about the future is that we're ill-prepared psychologically for the impact of world population increases and increased auto production. Those will mean more competition for petroleum and higher prices, Watney said.
For the rest of the world to follow our nation's example in energy consumption, Watney said, would require several Earths.
"I think renewables will eventually kick in because of economics," Watney said. "We probably won't be able to sustain our current consumption patterns, and that will mean a change in our standard of living."
Story by Roger Martin, (785) 864-7239