The United States Is An Energy Crisis

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

Some economists believe total energy independence would reduce the demand for the US dollar, as the oil trade is done is US dollars. Since oil prices are set for the total supply of oil, the global market will decide the price of oil regardless of whether the US imports oil or not. Therefore, to keep the dollar strong we should continue to import oil. However, the U.S Department of Energy claims that although US petroleum production has increased and net imports have decreased oil imports have cost our economy around $116 billion in 2014 and oil price shocks and price manipulation are to blame. The solution the US Dept. of Energy has set out is to developed more advanced and fuel efficient vehicles, and create new energy sources to replace petroleum.

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

Currently, the United States is the largest importer of crude oil in the world, while it is only the 3rd largest producer. In 2013, while we imported 7.7 million barrels of oil a day, we only produced 7.5 million (Dakota Access). It is critical that we produce more and import less so we can be more self-sufficient in energy production and focus on our country’s economy, to benefit the American people.

At the beginning of the year the President of the United States announced that the United States was in the middle of a nation wide energy crisis. The President gave many solutions including using more solar and wind energy, nuclear power, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The President told the American people that they would have to watch their energy use and conserve as much as possible. Gas prices reached $2 per gallon in the Midwest for the second straight summer, and California continued to be hit by unprecedented power woes that forced rolling blackouts. The price of crude oil rose sharply, from around $10 a barrel to a peak of $37. The

Total destruction of the United States’ economy, this statement may sound outright ridiculous, but could be the outcome of the future. Oil has become the main resource consumed by the world, primarily used for generating electricity, household use and transportation. Due to oil being a non-renewable resource, inefficiency and over dependency will eventually drain the world of the fuel. Electric motors may lead the way in developing alternate energy for transportation combined with newer developments. With today’s fluctuating oil prices America’s current mode of transportation will meet its end; clean electric power would serve as a way to preserve America’s future.

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

“National Security Consequences of United States Oil Dependence” is an article created by an Independent Task Force which emphasizes how in the future the United States can experience severe consequences from using an abundant amount of oil. "For the United States, with 4.6 percent of the world's population using 25 percent of the world's oil, the transition would be especially disruptive" (Task Force 212). The transition they describe is to an economy that relies less on petroleum. This dependence on oil could possibly result in the United States to suffer with economic, and social downfall as the entire country depends on the oil we obtain. One alternative to this oil dependency is to explore all American territory for oil, which involves

The multi-billion dollar gas industry is seeking to expand its production across the nation, in light of new technology making extracting natural gas much easier. A Healthy alternative to the fossil fuels we so frivolously use is now more critical than ever. In 2011, the United States used 18.83 million barrels of raw oil daily, and in 2010 19.18 million barrels of petroleum products and biofuels. In 2010 and 2011, that was nearly 22% of the world’s oil supply. (U.S Department of Energy)

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

Let's look at our nation's energy consumption for a moment. Currently we consume nearly 100,000,000,000,000,000 BTUs per year. Wow! In technical terms, a BTU (the abbreviation for British Thermal Unit) is the amount of heat needed to raise one pound of 39? F water to 40? F. Burning one gallon of gasoline produces roughly 123,000 BTUs. So if we only used oil to provide the energy that we consume in just one year, we would need 812,000,000,000 gallons. This amount of oil translates to over 900,000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Actually, the citizens of the U.S. only get 39% of their energy from oil-equivalent to 350,000 such pools. The rest of our energy comes from the following sources (in 1998): coal (23%), natural gas (23%), nuclear (8%), hydroelectric (4%), and biomass (3%). (Hinrichs & Kleinbach) (Notice that we currently get practically none, percentagewise, from wind, solar, or hydrogen.) Since oil (or petroleum to be more precise) is the most widely used energy source currently in the U.S. and in the world, a closer examination of this material will

Firstly, the future world globalization provides a challenge in U.S. foreign policy in striking a balance between its domestic need and foreign policy. This conflict is visible in its aspiration to be energy independent while at the same time working with other countries to mitigate the effect of climate change. The U.S. has been dependent on the middle for its source of oil; about 17 percent of U.S. oil imports come from

America relies heavily on foreign sources for the energy to run the country. The issue has received much media attention due to the political and economic implications it will have in the near future. This problem could at least be partially solved by using technology that already exists, rather than relying heavily on ones that have yet to come to fruition. America’s energy woes – specifically its reliance on fossil fuels – can be solved by reviving nuclear energy with the use of politics to tackle perceived dangers, technological advancements to make them more feasible, and public outreach to promote acceptance.