Here There be Monsters

But whale oil was also used as candle wax, and it was sometimes employed to treat raw wool before the fiber was combed and woven into thread. Sperm oil, being very fine and free of mineral impurities, is excellent as a lubricant and antioxidant (rust preventative) for jewelry, watches and clock mechanisms. It was also used for tanning fine leather and in detergents and dyes for the textile industry. Sperm oil was also used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. This substance was in fact the first animal oil to achieve commercial viability.

Sperm oil actually became more important to industry in the 20th century. It was most valued as an excellent lubricant which maintains its viscosity characteristics through a greater temperature range, and under greater pressure, than any mineral oil. It was therefore ideal for automotive transmission fluids, and as an aircraft engine oil, for it resists freezing well. The nearest substitute for sperm oil is jojoba oil, produced from the seeds of a shrub originating in the Sonora Desert in Mexico; but even today this oil still cannot be produced competitively.

The Hubbert Curve

‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’ Buckminster Fuller 1962

As whales became less abundant the cost of this commodity climbed until their oil was priced out of reach of the average consumer, and alternatives had to be found. Does this scenario sound familiar?

At a meeting of the American Petroleum Institute in 1956 a man named King Hubbert referenced whale oil when he made his now famous prediction that global petroleum production would peak in the early 1970s. He became an industry celebrity when his forecast came true. Crude oil prices spiked up in March 1973 when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ceased shipments to the United States, causing what’s now commonly known as the 1973 energy crisis. Consumers have been searching for alternatives ever since. Renewable energy sources such as solar power, wind turbines and alcohol distilleries wait on the sidelines to replace crude oil and coal.

One hundred and fifty years ago humanity shifted its energy appetite away from whale oil as that commodity’s supply and demand curve peaked. In the age of peak oil, our energy inclinations must change again. Mankind must wean itself off mineral fuel and onto vegetable fuel as we mature into a more efficient, environmentally conscious species.