Oil: Can We Survive Without It?

In terms of oil dependence, most of the general public believes that the world has enough oil to support us for the next hundred years; in truth we are rapidly depleting our petroleum sources due to the increasing population and demand. In fact, as was initially theorized by the Hubbert Peak Theory in 1950, Earth peaked in oil supplies in 1973 and the largest oil resources that have been discovered since then have been in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Here it must be

In recent years there has been great concern over the growing demand for energy, and the lack of non-renewable energy resources to meet the demand in the future. In addition, the question of “sustainability”—the ability to balance social, economic, and environmental needs in energy production to meet both current and long-term requirements—has come to the fore. It is clear that America must expand energy production quickly, and that we must develop renewable, sustainable energy sources to meet long-term demand and protect our future. There are many proposed solutions, such as wind and solar power. But the technology for these resources is not yet fully developed, making them, at best, low-output alternatives. Because renewable sources are

America should pursue alternative energy sources because “With only 5 percent of the worlds population, the United States consumes almost one-quarter (22.5%) of global energy”. (((Josef Bram, 15))) With such a small percentage of the world’s population and still one of the largest consumers of energy the U.S should be looking for new and better ways to generate energy. Currently The U.S’s energy is supplied using traditional sources. According to Canadian scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil “Todays energy 29% from coal, 33% from oil and gas, and 33% from soft-energy (alternative sources)” (((Smil, 47))) Most of the energy we use on a daily basis is not produced using clean methods. Some alternative energy sources that are already in place within the United Stats are wind, solar, and hydraulic.

Fossil fuels and other power generates are slowly changing the world. Alternative power sources are slowly becoming more popular in everyday life while the technology progresses. Using these power sources that don’t pollute the atmosphere could be the change in the world that completely changes the way the world uses energy. Engineers and technicians have been producing these alternative ways for years and years. A few, but not limited to consist of: Solar panels, Wind turbines, Wave tech and much more.

Oil, gas, and fossil fuels have been recent controversial issues. There are cleaner forms of energy that could be used, but it is unclear what sources should be used and how to

The Alternative energy industry in the United States has been at a steady rate of growth for the past decade, however there is still controversy over the use of renewable energies, their impact on the economy, and their impact on the environment. As controversial as the topic is, the argument boils down to a moral need to support environmental regulations, and an economical need to sustain domestic growth in the Energy industry of the United States. Mainly, the question is can alternative energy effective replace fossil fuels? There are of course arguments for both sides of this question.

Another alternative to oil being used is solar energy. Everyone knows that the sun is the most important source of energy to our

Now we mostly use fossil fuels and natural gas to produce energy. But these sources are running out. To save our planet we should use a new class of renewable energy sources, like wind turbines, solar panels, biofuels and hydrogen. Because our need for power is constantly increasing in the future we will have to produce more energy, which is associated, among other things, with greater emissions of CO2 and further pollution of the environment and global warming. Most likely oil is going to be the first one that’s not going to be sufficient enough to satisfy our needs in the future. To transition to alternative sources of energy would require a rapid expansion of those sources. Now alternative sources of energy playing a small percent of the world’s energy. To transition we would have to triple or quadruple that percentage.

In contrast to the United States becoming 100 percent self sufficient in oil we need to invest in the foundations of technologies that could completely wean us off of oil, and other natural gases. While a self-sufficiency in oil is great because it decreases our dependency on other nations as well as helping to stabilize an otherwise erratic economy, it can only last for so long. Oil, a natural gas, cannot be created

These sources of energy have a great upside, but right now are incredibly inefficient compared with fossil fuels because of the lack of funding and worldly push (2009). If there isn’t a bigger investment in these alternative energies, fossil fuels are going to maintain their stranglehold on all the economies of the world (Lomborg, 2009).

In conditions when both technologies and our needs require more and more energy, it is impossible to count only on natural resources and to think that their reserves are unlimited. This is not true. We have learned to receive electricity from irreplaceable resources – oil, gas, also from replenished - water, wind, sun. But the energy of the sun or wind is not enough for today’s rythm of our civilization. And hydroelectric and thermal power plants are not as clean and economical for the modern rhythm

Being such a necessary and overused resource makes it a hotly contested subject and global issue. The United States is one of the biggest importers and users of oil in the world, which makes our need of it a major influence on several global markets. Our heavy reliance on dirty fuels, as well as every other industrialized country in the world, will lead to massive effects on the climate of our Earth. This in addition, has led to violence and war, particularly in the Middle East, over the ownership and distribution of oil and other energy resources, which in the end only serves to profit big oil industries. This problem will not stop or slow down, as the demand for energy will only increase as the world’s population and global economy continues to expand. For mainly these reasons, which will be handled more in-depth throughout this paper, the need for clean alternative energy is paramount and must be addressed within the foreseeable future should we otherwise suffer the consequences.

In conclusion, using alternative energy technologies like solar power, we can have the luxurious to provide for everything from human needs to protecting the environment than why wait before it is too late. Fossil fuel not only harms the environment but also the current and future generations. Whereas, sources like solar power can save us from burning tons of coal, releasing harmful chemicals like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and prevent any kind of pollution. To sum up, large oil or energy source companies and communities must expand on the uses of renewable energy

As a evergrowing country, we need reliable energy resources. We need sources that wouldn’t require a large plant, cause environmental effects, be cheap enough to afford, would be something that is easily replenished, and something that would be safe to use. For example, burning coal (a nonrenewable source) is not good for the environment. We are suffering consequences such as more holes in the Ozone layer from using more than needed fossil fuels. Pollution is also a highly equal problem we are facing.

The needs for alternative energy are present today with China and India growing in population and increasing their oil consumption. In addition, the demand and competition for oil in a near future will eventually be too great for the supply; indeed, our lifestyles are currently based on inefficient energy devices. This includes automobiles and electric appliances that