The excessive use of oil in the United States has been a very controversial debate with American experts and scientists. In his article “How America Can Free Itself of Oil-Profitability,” Amory Lovins addresses the many different issues associated with excessive oil consumption and the risks versus the benefits. Amory Lovins is a physicist, environmental scientist, writer, and Chairman/Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has written numerous research articles arguing for the use of renewable energy and alternatives for oil. Lovins also regularly gives presentations to other environmentalists discussing the pros and cons of oil consumption. It is clear that his target audience is the demographic of academics, scientists, …show more content…
In paragraph 6 Lovins states that “Inefficient light trucks and cars, which consume 40% of our oil, are at the center of our oil habit. And ultralight and ultrastrong materials for vehicles are the No. 1 enabling technology for changing that.” He reaffirms this point with many more facts and statistics throughout this article. Lovins’ other main point is the benefit of using biofuels as a substitute for oil. He encourages his point of view in paragraph one on page three by saying that “Oil industry giants like Shell and BP are already preparing to move beyond oil by transforming themselves into energy companies.”
Lovins’ argument is valid and provides good evidence to support his point of view. He mainly uses logos in his arguments. This article is full of statistics which may make the argument valid, but does not necessarily make it a good, well rounded argument. Although Lovins did a very good job using logos, he missed some very easy opportunities to use ethos and pathos in his argument as well. Providing information on how much America’s overconsumption of oil is negatively affecting the environment would be a very effective method of using ethos and pathos in his argument without deviating from his “logos-style” of writing. To effectively use ethos and pathos, Lovins could have provided statistics on how many
The U.S obtains more than 84% of its energy from fossil fuels including oil, coal and natural gas. This is because people rely on it to heat their homes, power industries, run vehicles, manufacturing, and provision of electricity. It is apparent that the country’s transportation industry highly depends on conventional petroleum oil, which is responsible for global warming, thus threatening economic opulence and national security. Apart from that, increasing consumption of fossil fuels have elevated health problems in the state, destroyed wild places, and polluted the environment. After conducting Environmental Impact Assessment, projections showed that the world energy consumption would increase by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040. However, fossil fuels will cater for more than 80% of the total energy used in 2040. Sadly, it will be a trajectory to alter the world’s climate, as well as, weaken the global security environment. Importantly, the rate at which the US relies on fossil fuels needs to reduce since it has adverse effects on the planet’s supplies. The society needs to realize that fossil fuels are nonrenewable, thus taking millions of years to form (Huebner, 2003). Notably, the country can reduce dependency on fossil fuels by practicing energy conservation and efficiency,
Senator Everett Dirksen once noted “The oilcan is mightier than the sword”. In today’s world, it is easy to see why oil can be considered the most important resource to hold. Without oil, many of the common day occurrences we take for granted would be impossible. Oil is used for almost everything; from the fuel used to drive our vehicles, to the plastics used in every facet of life, and providing the heat needed to live through the winter. In fact, the United States depends so much on oil that as a nation it uses over 20 million barrels a day. Importing oil increases the total costs because of the need to transport it from around the world. It is estimated
Anything containing oil has been an increasing problem to the environment and to people. The toxicants that the oil produce harms people with their health. In the film Fuel, the director Josh Tickell talks about how crops can produce fuel, which produces cleaner air and is safer for the public. There are also other ways that Biofuel could be produced, such as adding human waste onto algae. The way that society utilizes oil is hurting the world, which in fact is affecting the human population and environment, but people only realize it until it is too late. With biofuel people would not be in danger and it could be produced without struggling to find oil.
The U.S. should invest in alternatives to oil, and drill on the United States grounds because it will assist the economy, preserve energy and fix the world’s environmental problems. The supply and demand for oil is always on the rise, and problems are contemplated with the use for oil. Those problems are starting to catch up to the modern world, and something needs to change before the world enters a black out. Experts can predict that there is estimated to be somewhere around 61 years of oil left for us to use at our current rate. The demand for oil is always rising. People in today’s modern society rely so heavily on oil, that they would not know what to expect if it
The “U.S. became the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas” in 2013 (Energy Infrastructure). “Capital spending in the infrastructure that moves and transforms oil and gas into everyday products … has increased by 60 percent between 2010 and 2013” (Energy Infrastructure). The rise to become the top producer has led to the decrease in “U.S. oil import dependence” and the “rise of U.S. product exports” (U.S. Oil Import Dependence). The increased exportation of oil and gas by the U.S. has allowed both of these products to become large moneymakers for the United States. Although we will probably never “completely eliminate our need” for oil, we can reduce our petroleum consumption and the damage we inflict on the environment (Reduce Oil Dependence Costs). By decreasing the “dependence on oil” in new vehicles, there has been a
In 2015, the world will face a vast amount of dilemmas; these dilemmas range from how someone is going to get their food to how they are going to cook. But the biggest dilemma of them all, is how they are going to continue to get energy to do everyday tasks. The most efficient resources are those of the nonrenewable variety. These nonrenewable resources include fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Someday these resources will run out and will not be replenished for thousands of years. As of now, an overwhelming majority of the energy used in the world today is non-renewable. We, as civilized people, are so dependent on fossil fuels that we go through extraneous efforts to retrieve these properties. The world needs energy to function and sites that once contained vital resources are on the verge of depletion. It is inevitable that the world looks elsewhere for another resource to absorb the depleting reservoirs. One reservoir capable of withstanding the demand for oil are the tar sands located near Alberta, Canada. These tar sands are the third largest reservoir of crude oil in the world and are conveniently located just north of the United States border (About the Project). There is a wide spread debate on whether or not the crude oil produced from these tar sands should be transported via pipeline. With critical analysis of all point of views, it is without a doubt that the United States should cease their delay on
The importance of oil in our society is so great that it affects developed and developing countries. It is a huge contributor to economic growth and environmental destruction. Although the Alberta Oil Sands has destroyed acres of local and global (indirectly) ecosystems, it has achieved and ensured that Canada stays as an economic power. The economical, cultural, and political benefits the oil sands give to Canada makes it an irreplaceable asset to our nation and our global community
The topic of this paper is America’s foreign oil dependency. The purpose of this paper is to suggest how might America completely destroy or at least greatly mitigate its dependency on crude oil to fuel Americans’ cars, especially foreign crude oil. Library literature, newspaper articles, encyclopedias, and the Internet were all sources used to compile this paper. The conclusion reached in this research topic is that America’s great foreign oil dependency is a crisis and other energy sources to fuel our cars need to be adopted and implemented before the people
Repercussions of burning oil have arisen more progressively. The debatable topic of global warming holds burning fossil fuels responsible for higher temperatures in colder climates. An article by World Book explains why oil is so harmful towards the environment. As more cars are produced more pollutants are released into the atmosphere, those pollutants cause smog in larger manufacturing oriented cities as well as, acid rain. Factories, burning oil, dispose of the remaining chemicals into bodies of water rendering them unsafe to drink for both humans and animals alike (Hunt par. 1). Another article produced through World Book describes the
The world’s energy consumption continues to increase and oil satisfies about a third of this requirement. Alberta oil sands is the 3rd largest known reserve behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, first and second respectively. With growing global demands and that of our neighbour, America, who imports 37% of their consumption from Canadian oil, the oil sands is the logical next-step in economic development. Developing the Alberta oil deposits has its inherent risks including both environmental and the wellbeing of land creatures including humans, but it’s not the first time humankind traded the environment and wellbeing for development. Nuclear power have shown to be devastating yet we still need it because current technology in clean energy is
There are many arguments for and against the United States major reliance in foreign oil. Over the years with the vast improvements and technological advances in the petroleum industry, the United States has been able to become increasingly self-sufficient, drastically decreasing its reliance on the import on foreign oil. In Michael Klare’s Book, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of Americas Growing Dependency on Imported Oils (2004) he states that,
America must wean itself off of dependence on foreign oil, and one valid solution to this problem is offshore oil drilling and production. America’s economy is heavily based on petroleum, as though it is the nation’s blood; a necessity for survival. About 25% of oil produced in the U.S. comes from offshore rigs. Most of the U.S. coastline has been off limits for oil drilling since the early 1980s. Due to environmental concerns after an oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, an offshore drilling moratorium was imposed. Since then, the U.S. has amplified its energy consumption to where it uses nearly 25% of the world's oil. Meanwhile, the U.S. produces about 10% of the world's oil. That has made the U.S. heavily reliant on imported
Josh Tickell producer and writer of a compelling discussion of how our world is depending on the production and use of oil. Tickells documentry "Fuel" shows a great insight to how guilty we are for the over use of this commodity. He explains through political power oil has been a catalyst for making the wealthy, wealthier. In trhe documenrty he depicts the devistation that the oil indusrty has created globally.
LaDuke also talks about the Enbridge company which made a route through the best wild rice lakes and territories and the people opposed for years to stop that from happening which proves how such big companies have been destroying climate. And it’s not just matter of Americans but it affects people all around the globe. LaDuke says and it is true that no rain in Syria is the result of such fossil fuel companies. LaDuke talks about how they crushed Venezuela which has the largest oil reserves in the world. And rather than doing business with Venezuela, they were bound and determined to take oil from places that did not want to give it up, and create this filthy infrastructure. Oil is very heavy in carbon and can add hundreds of millions of
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (2015) reports that the United States consumed approximately 19.4 million barrels of petroleum products daily, which calculated to an overall total of 7.08 billion barrels by the end of 2015 (para. 2). The United States population consumes a huge quantity of oil alone, in addition to all of the other fossil fuels that it also greatly depends on. Fossil fuels are a natural resource that is in limited supply, and they provide an efficient and consistent supply of power to communities all over the planet. Many people are pleased with the short-term advantages these