Background Information

Today people face a crisis with the declining supply of oil. However, this predicament is not only limited to the United States, but to the rest of the world as well. When people think of “oil”, the obvious correlation they make with that word are the vehicles people drive. However, oil is also used in transportation so that food can be put on our plate, or we don't have to walk hundreds of miles to a manufacturing plant to get a refrigerator. Even pesticides that farmers use for their crops have oil in them as well.

The problem is not actually running out of oil, but rather having enough oil to sustain our oil-dependent economy. The productions of all resources follow a bell-curve pattern: rising exponentially to a peak, then declining at the same rate. Usually, a higher production rate results in high supply, meaning lower prices. Once the overall worldwide production starts to decline due to lack of availability of the resource, the principles of supply and demand take into effect. In other words, the world may not run out of oil, but it will become unaffordably expensive.

Fortunately for all of us, people have already looked into possible alternative energy sources which may sustain the planet. It may not use combustion to create energy like oil does, but it uses other methods to obtain energy. Alternative fuels may not be the cheapest as far has harnessing them for energy goes, but it may be the cheaper solution in the near future. The energy sources that we are currently aware of are biological fuel, nuclear, solar, wind, and geothermal energy.

Biological fuels are energy sources that are naturally occurring. A popular biological fuel is ethanol. Although the origins of the ethanol (usually corn) may not be high in energy even after distillation, ethanol shines because it is efficient. It is efficient because usage of the ethanol yields more energy than it has alone.

Nuclear energy comes from the energy created by the splitting of an atom. Most nuclear energy is generated at a power plant. The yield of the energy is high, but splitting atoms creates nuclear waste which people found no safe way to get rid of as of the present.

Solar power creates energy from the Sun and other light sources. Panels take in light from an outside source and convert it into energy. A popular example of the use of solar energy is calculators running on the small solar panels. Creating energy is really simple, but faces the dilemma of consistency. A series of rainy days are not quite beneficial when it comes to creating energy from the sun.

Wind energy derives its power from the wind (as stated by the name). The wind turns windmills and the motor movement caused by these blades creates the energy we need. However, windmills face a similar problem with the solar panels. There would be no power, if there were no wind.

Geothermal energy comes from the natural heat that is emanated deep inside the earth. Since heat is correlated from a faster movement of atoms, there is energy present. Most geothermal energy sources come in the form of geysers. Other than that, there seems to be no other way to extract energy from the earth's mantle and core. This also means that geothermal energy is limited to places with geysers that aren't frigid.

Many different areas of the planet have a certain oil supply and select alternative solutions when the oil comes out. It will be up to the student to discover these countries and provide a method to maintaining their way of life.