American Oil Dependence Essay
Since the oil embargo of 1977, there has been an increased awareness of our nation's energy security. As global population and energy consumption rise, the need for a stable energy supply has become a hot topic and a politically volatile issue. As our negative trade balance grows larger by the day, the United States finds itself in a rather precarious position. We are becoming more and more dependent on Middle East oil.
Indeed, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) predicts that domestic petroleum consumption will increase to 60 Btu by the year 2025. This statistic, in and of itself, is a matter of concern with respect to the greenhouse gas emissions that result from petroleum combustion. However, …show more content…
Why then, is there virtually no interest in promoting alternative fuel technology? It is inevitable that at some point, sooner or later, we will not be able to make use of petroleum as a major fuel. The American public, as a whole, doesn't seem to be too concerned with this. Even the government fails to recognize the precarious nature of our energy future. Our own Department of Energy envisions a steady rise in oil, coal, and natural gas consumption for the next 25 years. The same graph shows only a nominal increase in the use of renewable energy technology and a flat-lining of hydroelectric energy generation.
There are several reasons why alternative energy is slow to catch on in our nation. One of the most compelling reasons is the unreasonably low cost of fossil. The government reaches this goal by widespread subsidies of certain industries. The oil industry alone is a recipient of around $8 billion in annual subsidies (Env. Adv. Stat., 2003). This makes the use of crude oil derivatives like gasoline and heating oil much more appealing than other, more expensive fuels. More interesting, is the effect that government subsidizing has on the
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North American Crude Oil Production
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A Brief Note On The American Oil Company
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The Impact of the Oil Crisis on the American Economy Essay
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Us Oil Dependence
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Alternative Energy Resources and Human Dependence on Oil Essay
1016 Words | 5 PagesAlternative Energy Resources and Human Dependence on Oil Introduction The modern world is fuelled by oil (Youngquest, 1998). This reality has brought tremendous changes and developments that is continuously transforming the modern period, changing its lifestyles and economies in the last 200 years. However, these changes do not only paved for modernization and development, but it has also paved for the environmental crisis that the world is now facing (Bodley, 2008). Environmental crisis refers…
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A Choice to End Human Dependence on Oil
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Analyzing Our Dependence on Fuel Oil
755 Words | 4 Pagestalked and read about the oil topic in class, I first thought that oil was just the black stuff coming out of the ground. I then thought “how can I write an entire essay on just oil?” However, as we started talking, I realized that oil is really all of nature’s resources and these resources are slowly being destroyed. Nature is a resource that has been here for as long as people have. We use trees for paper, the rivers and lakes for drinking water and power, and oil for factories and everyday…
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1134 Words | 5 Pagesinequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.” This rings true for Americans, who have a tendency to rely on others in search of solutions to our own problems. As a whole, we insist on sharing the burden, such as borrowing foreign money from countries like China to lessen our growing deficit. American businesses are similarly dependent on foreign relations, fueled by cheap labor for a greater profit on goods. On a societal level, Americans are dependent on our government for welfare and…
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