Fossil Fuels in the Classroom

Why the new children’s book Fossil Fuels in the Classroom by Floyd Trujillo provides an appropriate balance to the energy curriculum being taught in our classrooms.

Teaching young people about the importance of energy should be a top priority for our educational system. However, for the past 20 years, we have not been teaching our children a balanced curriculum about energy. For this reason, we are intrigued by Floyd Trujillo’s new book entitled Fossil Fuels in the Classroom. We are not advocating in favor or against fossil fuels. We are also not advocating that we stop teaching our kids about renewable energy, nuclear, batteries, geothermal, etc. However, if we are going to instruct the next generation of children about the importance of energy, we should insist on a more balanced energy curriculum which includes at least a modicum of information about fossil fuels (crude oil, natural gas and coal).

There is no substitute for energy! Our next generation needs to understand that the entire edifice of modern society is built upon energy. Energy is not just an important industry; it is the industry which enables all other industries. Therefore, having responsible and thoughtful energy policies are imperative in order to cultivate a robust and prosperous economy. Everyone wants clean energy. We can produce vast amounts of inexpensive energy, but at what environmental cost? Likewise, we can produce vast amounts of “clean” energy, but at what economic cost? There are no perfect sources of energy, just imperfect tradeoffs.

As a society, we are constantly evaluating these tradeoffs to determine the best energy policies which will support the greatest level of human flourishing, with an appropriate deference to the environment. Too much focus on low-cost energy alone would result in unacceptable environmental consequences. Too much focus on environmental considerations alone would result in exorbitant energy costs, exacerbating poverty and human suffering.

“There’s no such thing as a low-energy, high-income country,”

Todd Moss, Energy for Growth Hub

The tensions created by these energy trade-offs is the defining issue of our time and the manner in which we respond as a society to these tensions will be judged by future generations. Modern energy systems are extremely complex and touch every corner of society. Yet policy decisions about energy are often made by people who have little understanding of the broad and complex energy industry.

The promulgation of optimal energy policies can be best navigated through a better understanding of complex energy systems through improved energy education. If society and policy makers can collectively achieve a higher energy IQ, we would have the intellectual tools with which to enact optimal energy policies. “Better energy education begets better energy literacy, which begets better energy policies, which beget prosperity and human flourishing.”

Better Energy Education = Better Energy Literacy

Better Energy Literacy = Better Energy Policies

Better Energy Policies = Prosperity, Human Flourishing & Cleaner Environment

There remains a great deal of mis-understanding and misinformation about fossil fuels. Undoubtedly, fossil fuels have their drawbacks and environmental impacts. Nevertheless, fossil fuels also have the potential to provide tremendous benefits to humanity. It is a mistake to evaluate the use of fossil fuels merely on their environmental deficiencies without consideration of their substantial benefits. It would be like making a decision not to use an X-ray for a medical diagnosis because of the radiation exposure, without considering the diagnostic medical benefits to be derived from the X-ray. Energy Ruminations believes that comprehensive societal understanding about fossil fuels would enable us to better evaluate energy tradeoffs and make better policy decisions.

Just Stop Oil protest in the United Kingdom

Some seek to immediately eliminate the total use of fossil fuels. This seems a rather a naïve and misguided notion, at least in the immediate future. Too often, fossil fuels are uniquely associated with transportation, believing that eliminating combustion engines would extinguish our need for crude oil. However, in the U. S., less than 50% of every barrel of crude oil utilized each day is manufactured into gasoline. In other words, if we were to banish all gasoline powered cars, trucks, tractors, snowmobiles, lawnmowers, chainsaws, go-carts, leaf blowers, etc., we would still need the more than 50% of every barrel of crude oil, plus natural gas to manufacture asphalt, jet fuel, single-use medical devises, laptop computers, cell phones, electric vehicles, wind turbine blades, and 6000+ other important items.

I personally have friends working in the solar industry and wind industries, who at one time aspirationally believed that we could completely eliminate the need for fossil fuels in favor of solar and wind energy. However, after educating themselves about fossil fuels, all such friends have discovered that eliminating fossil fuels is neither practical nor desirable. This illustrates that opposition to fossil fuels is, in part, based on lack of a comprehensive understanding about the fossil fuel value proposition. In other words, we have observed that when people are educated about fossil fuels, they often mitigate their distain and often develop a grudging respect for fossil fuels.

The energy-sober reality remains that fossil fuel usage is certain to continue for many decades to come [not an endorsement for fossil fuels, just a statement of fact]. Despite the incredible growth of renewables over the past 20 plus years, the use of fossil fuels remains virtually unchanged as a percentage of primary energy consumption. Illustrating this point, in 2010 fossil fuels comprised approximately 83% of U. S. primary energy consumption. In 2023, fossil fuels continued to comprise approximately 82.5% of U. S. primary energy consumption. The percentages are similar on a global scale.

As a percentage, renewable energy continues to grow at a faster rate than fossil fuels; however, the growth of fossil fuels continues to grow in absolute terms. Said another way, even though renewable forms of energy continue to grow at a high rate, they have not grown fast enough to displace even a modest percentage of fossil fuels in the U. S. or globally. Some people will undoubtedly be unhappy that we are stating the following uncomfortable truth that in 2024, more crude oil, more natural gas and more coal were consumed globally than any prior year in history……let that sink in for a minute! This article is not intended to promote fossil fuels nor discredit fossil fuels. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the objective reality that fossil fuels, for better or worse, are here for the foreseeable future and it makes sense for us to understand their role in modern society.

“In 2024, more crude oil, more natural gas and more coal were consumed globally than any prior year in history.”

Therefore, whether one supports or opposes the use of fossil fuels, it is incumbent on society to understand how fossil fuels function in our enormous and complex energy systems. For the past 20 years, many of our schools have preached the anti-fossil fuels gospel.

For the reasons articulated above, we are intrigued by Trujillo’s book. If our kids are going to be learning about wind, solar, hydrogen and nuclear, it is not unreasonable to expect that they should also be learning about fossil fuels. Therefore, Energy Ruminations recommends that you check-out Fossil Fuels in the Classroom. If you like it, order a copy for your kids or grandkids. Even better, donate copies to your local elementary school for classrooms and school libraries.

Trujillo proudly served as a Marine Corp Sergeant in the 6^th CounterIntelligence Team. After being honorably discharged from the Marines, Trujillo began a 40+ year career in oil and gas. Trujillo instinctively believes that we need a book about fossil fuels for our kids. I absolutely love Floyd’s book and salute Trujillo for his labor of love. It is important that we help bring some balance to the energy conversation in our classrooms. Therefore, we encourage you to support Trujillo’s efforts to put Fossil Fuels in the Classroom.

Author Floyd Trujillo

Fossil Fuels in the Classroom will be published in the autumn of 2025 and books are now available for pre-order at Home - Dexter's Adventures

Fossil Fuels in the Classroom DextersAdventures.com

In March of 2022, we began publishing Energy Ruminations on Substack as a vehicle for energy education. In the spirit of full disclosure, readers should know that I have spent virtually my entire career working in the oil and gas industry (with a sliver of time working on renewable energy and more recently, becoming a fervent advocate for nuclear energy).

Despite my career in oil and gas, Energy Ruminations was never intended as a platform to promote fossil fuels. Energy Ruminations has always been intended as a method to communicate a balanced commentary about a broad array of energy issues. In fact, Energy Ruminations has covered diverse energy related topics, including wind energy, nuclear energy, Native American energy issues, women’s issues in energy, etc. We don’t anticipate that all readers will agree with everything that we publish in Energy Ruminations. Nevertheless, we hope is that everyone is intellectually stimulated by the writing in such a way that encourages engagement in more honest conversations about energy, eventually resulting in the best possible energy policy decisions.

Doug