The Modern World Can't Exist Without These Four Ingredients. They All Require Fossil Fuels

“ Modern society would not have been possible without the mass production of many synthetic materials...
“The four pillars of modern civilization, which I call the Four Materials, are in excess of demand: concrete, steel, plastic, and ammonia are in demand more than any other material. Today, the world produces about 4.5 billion people a year. Tons of cement, 1.8 billion tons of steel, nearly 400 One million tons of plastic, 180 million tons of ammonia, but ammonia deserves the first place as our most important component: its composition is the basis of all nitrogen fertilizers, and without its use it is impossible to feed almost half of 8 billion people at current rates.
"In the world's most populous country, the dependence is even higher: three out of five Chinese depend on the synthesis of this compound. This dependence easily justifies naming the synthesis of ammonia as the most important technological advance in history: another invention made by it. Or, if you provide it. Wealth, we will not be able to Ensuring the survival of billions of people who are not yet born...
“These four materials, which vary greatly in properties and quality, have three things in common: they cannot be replaced by any other material (certainly not in the near future or globally); we will need more in the future; and their mass production is highly dependent on the combustion of residual fuels. ..
“The remaining fuels remain indispensable for the production of all these materials.
The manufacture of ammonia uses natural gas as a source of hydrogen and a source of energy needed to maintain high temperatures and pressures. About 85% of all plastics are based on simple molecules derived from natural gas and crude oil, and hydrocarbons provide energy as well. Primary steel production by synthesis begins with the smelting of iron ore in blast furnaces with the addition of coal coke and the addition of natural gas, and the resulting cast iron is converted into steel in large-scale oxygen furnaces. The furnace is heated by low-quality residual fuels such as long inclined metal cylinders, coal dust, petroleum coke and fuel oil.
“As a result, global production of these four important substances accounts for about 17% of the world’s total annual energy and about 25% of total carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. The pillars of modern civilization are complex…
“Modern economies, whether it is ammonia-based fertilizers to feed a growing global population, will always depend on a mass flow of materials; plastic, steel, and concrete for new equipment, machinery, facilities and infrastructure; whether new support is needed to produce solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, and batteries. Until all the energy used to extract and process these materials comes from renewable sources, modern civilization will rely primarily on the remaining fuels used to produce these important materials.This will not change any AI design, software, nor the inevitable “moral” claim.

~ Vaclav Smil from his article in Time “The modern world cannot exist without these four components. He said in his new book, How the World Really Works .” Joe Nova commented: “It's not [usually] an article we've been waiting for in Time magazine. It is a 100% confirmation of the imminent need for fossil fuels."

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