Make no mistake, becoming more ingenious is necessary to keep up with the world’s increasing energy consumption. Even in this difficult economic time, world energy usage is growing–the Energy Information Agency said in its September briefing that the slower than-expected energy growth will still require a drawdown of reserves to meet demand by year’s end. And a drawdown of reserves means more oil needs to be drilled to replace it. In the 1940s and 1950s, when the giant oil fields of the Middle East were being discovered, getting oil out of the ground was akin to making a hole...