Deborah Gordon of RMI highlights the structural disconnect between power sector decarbonization and crude oil substitution.
Insight
Gordon: Phasing out gasoline does not eliminate the remaining oil barrel
“And so I don't think people really understand that when you poke out different products that we use that come out of the barrel, like say gasoline, it still doesn't affect the entire barrel.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gordon: Major National Climate Pledges Barely Mention Oil and Gas
“And I looked at all of these major countries, what they call NDCs, their nationally determined contributions, how they will, how they pledge to reduce their emissions, and oil and gas were barely mentioned.”
Insight
Gordon: Meaningful oil cuts require a sum of incremental 2% solutions
“You know, between now and the day where we're wholly off this stuff,
We're going to need to start very carefully crafting the sum of these two percent solutions that add up to something meaningful, you know, like a 30% cut or a 50% cut in emissions.
But that, …”
Assertion Partly supported
Gordon: COVID-19 lockdowns caused only single-digit drop in global oil demand
“Clearly the economy was still using a lot of oil despite COVID, because if you look at the curves, yes, when COVID hit, you could see that there was, you know, a downturn of whatever, four million barrels a day or something like that. But I mean, this is out o…”
Assertion Supported
Deborah Gordon: Oil refining is the world's largest consumer of hydrogen
“The largest demand for hydrogen in the world today is oil refining.”
Assertion Contradicted
Gordon: Gasoline and diesel make up 40% to 50% of crude oil barrel
“There are the large volume products like gasoline and diesel, and jet fuel's in the middle, but gasoline and diesel. They constitute about 40%, 50% of the barrel. They don't trade at hugely high prices, but they trade in very massive volumes.”