[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:59:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","energy",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"global",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","71f574f49a787821d68cfa8febe666d8","Entry","2021-11-11T07:08:20.352Z","2025-02-10T10:57:48.115Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",198,94,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":57,"wrongPercentage":96,"name":97,"questionText":98,"statistics":99,"veryWrongStatistics":104,"correctSentence":109,"youWereWrong":110,"youWereRight":111,"dataSourceShortText":112,"dataSourceLinkLongText":113,"extendedAnswerText":114,"headingVeryWrong":115,"youWereVeryWrong":116,"headingWrong":117},"59",[38,60,79],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":55},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":52,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"13ea3cf655d6cca0623a8d49152f4cfa","2021-11-11T06:54:13.909Z","2025-02-10T10:57:48.157Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},88,80,{"sys":53},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},"answer",{"globalId":56,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":59},"59-a1",false,true,"Reduced to less than half",{"metadata":61,"sys":64,"fields":76},{"tags":62,"concepts":63},[],[],{"space":65,"id":67,"type":21,"createdAt":68,"updatedAt":69,"environment":70,"publishedVersion":72,"revision":73,"contentType":74,"locale":34},{"sys":66},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"6e99e2a5307037f6b0b215a77f636bea","2021-11-11T06:54:15.651Z","2025-02-10T10:57:48.193Z",{"sys":71},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},92,82,{"sys":75},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":77,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":78},"59-a2","Remained about the same",{"metadata":80,"sys":83,"fields":93},{"tags":81,"concepts":82},[],[],{"space":84,"id":86,"type":21,"createdAt":87,"updatedAt":88,"environment":89,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":91,"locale":34},{"sys":85},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"9059938ff158efac3a6cca04e705efe4","2021-11-11T06:54:17.317Z","2025-02-10T10:57:48.226Z",{"sys":90},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":92},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":94,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":95},"59-a3","More than doubled",87,"During the past 40 years the amount of oil and nat","During the past 40 years the total amount of oil and natural gas in known underground reserves:",[100,101,102,103],"deu 0.91","swe 0.89","uk 0.90","usa 0.78",[105,106,107,108],"usa 0.43","deu 0.58","swe 0.63","uk 0.62","The known reserves of oil and natural gas more than doubled during the past 40 years.","Many believe that we will run out of fossil fuels, but that isn’t the problem. We have to stop using them way before they run out.","They hadn’t realized that the amount of reserves have increased through new discoveries even as we continue to use more oil and gas.","Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy","The data we used comes from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy and it shows that known oil reserves in 2020 were 153% bigger than in 1980 and that natural gas reserves were 165% bigger in the same period. \n\nThe term \"known reserves\" we use in this question is called \"proved reserves\" in the BP data. Proved (or known) reserves are  \"those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and geological conditions.\" There are more resources that are known about but, with the current technology, don't meet the criteria of \"proved reserves\" that can actually be used.\n\nThe data isn’t perfect as companies and governments may not always want to release all the details of their known reserves. However, three independent experts we consulted about this question said they recognized BP’s data as the best available and that the doubling of known reserves during the past 40 years is correct.\n\n[1]  [Increase in oil and natural gas reserves since 1980. Data from BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Gapminder spreadsheet ](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F1K_NBgPwCf7iupitTQeIGG8fTsoJTLr0xW0pHXKmXCxw\u002Fedit#gid=0)  \n[2]  [BP Statistical Review of World Energy](https:\u002F\u002Fwww.bp.com\u002Fen\u002Fglobal\u002Fcorporate\u002Fenergy-economics\u002Fstatistical-review-of-world-energy\u002Fdownloads.html)  \n[3]  [Our World In Data - “How long before we run out of fossil fuels?”](https:\u002F\u002Fourworldindata.org\u002Fhow-long-before-we-run-out-of-fossil-fuels)\n[4]  We consulted three independent experts for this question, including Paul Behrens of Leiden University.","\nYou may have thought we will need to switch to renewable energy sources when fossil fuel reserves run low. History has shown us, though, that as technology has improved, more oil and gas reserves have been found and pumped out of the ground.\n\nTo prevent the absolute worst effects of climate change, oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground. They will never run out, just become more expensive to extract, and if we continue to burn them as we have been, scientists predict catastrophic climate change. \n\nAs oil and gas becomes harder to get to and renewable sources become more commonly used, it will make more financial sense to leave fossil fuels in the ground to switch to cleaner, renewable sources instead. We just need to do it more quickly!\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nThinking we will simply switch to renewable energy sources when fossil fuels run low is hugely naive. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, fossil fuel reserves need to be left in the ground. \n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nThey think that as we use more oil and gas, the reserves will run lower. They hadn’t realized that as technology improves, it becomes more possible to find and extract fossil fuels.\n\n### Can I trust the data?\nYes. The data we used comes from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy and it shows that known oil reserves in 2020 were 153% bigger than in 1980 and that natural gas reserves were 265% bigger in the same period. \n\nThe term \"known reserves\" we use in this question is called \"proved reserves\" in the BP data. Proved (or known) reserves are \"those quantities that geological and engineering information indicates with reasonable certainty can be recovered in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and geological conditions.\" There are more resources that are known about but, with the current technology, don't meet the criteria of \"proved reserves\" that can actually be used.\n\nThe data isn’t perfect as companies and governments may not always want to release all the details of their known reserves. However, three independent experts we consulted about this question said they recognized BP’s data as the best available and that the doubling of known reserves during the past 40 years is correct.\n","The Stone Agers didn’t run out of stones","It’s intuitive to think the known reserves declined as we used more fossil fuels, but they actually increased as we discovered more reserves.","We discovered more than we used"]