Global Energy Demand Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. The first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859. Since those two historic discoveries, technology and industry have rapidly grown to a point of absolute necessity today and is a key in the development of the human society to help control and adapt to the environment. The requirement of energy and oil throughout the world has also grown exponentially in parallel to meet this necessity. As developed countries, like the United States, Japan, China, and Canada, progress and grow in population, more demands for energy and fuel are created. Likewise, as less advanced countries bring themselves into the global economy, they will also have increased energy and oil demands. So then the question begs, where are the resources for these demands coming from, what problems do they pose, will they be sufficient, and what options will there be for future demands? These are the questions we need to be asking our selfs today because after all what we do today always has an impact on tomorrow. Currently there three major Energy's used globally starting with oil. Energy and oil have a direct relationship. Energy is the electricity, heat, and fuel needed to power all the aspects of human lives. Oil itself is the main resource for energy currently, contributing 40% to the global energy supply. Specifically, oil as a source of fuel is used to power the majority of transportation throughout the world. However, it also has significant use in heating and making electricity. There are many other sources of energy as well. The second largest provider of energy is Natural Gas , which accounts for about 23% of the world’s energy consumption. coal then comes in a close third and cove... ... middle of paper ... ...s." 63-75. Foreign Affairs, 2010. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 10 Mar. 2010. Stieglitz, Richard, and Rick Docksai. "Why the World May Turn to Nuclear Power: Demand for Fossil Fuels May Decline, but Demand for Electric Power Will Soar. Nuclear Power, Resisted by Many, May Provide a Long-term Solution, and It Has Come a Long Way since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl." The Futurist 1 Nov. 2009: 1+. Print. Tillerson, Rex. "Meeting Global Energy Supply and Demand Challenges." Exxon Mobil Corporation. 1 July 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2010 . Wood, John H., David F. Morehouse, and Gary R. Long. "Long Term World Oil Supply." Energy Information Administration. 18 Aug. 2004. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. .
Scherer, Ron. "US to Tap Strategic Petroleum Reserve to Drive Gas Prices down." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 23 June 2011. Web. 09 Apr. 2012.
U.S. Government. "2012 World Oil Consumption." Countries. U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .
America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%). The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world making it an expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious,...
Pratt, Joseph A. “Exxon and the Control of Oil.” Journal of American History. 99.1 (2012): 145-154. Academic search elite. Web. 26. Jan. 2014.
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
People need oil for daily life and work. Since World War II, oil has caused many serious problems in the United States and throughout the world. Remarkably, economic and social problems were heightened by the emerging energy crisis. By 1974, the United States gained a third of its oil by importing from the Middle East. James Oakes, et al.
The United States has had several scares throughout its history in terms of oil, most turn out to be over exaggerations of a small event. However, these scares highlight a massive issue with the U.S. and that issue is the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. Why does it matter that our oil should come from over seas? In a healthy economy this probably wouldn’t be as relevant, but the U.S.’s economy is not exactly healthy at the moment. There are 4 things that I would like to address: what the problem is, how it affects us, what some solutions are, and what solutions I feel are best.
Shafer, Leah R. "Address on the Energy Crisis (15 July 1979)." Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 9. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 492-94. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Central Idea: Nuclear energy only contributes a small amount to the world’s electricity yet it has hazards and dangers that far out-way its benefits. There are many other alternative power producing sources that can produce energy more efficiently and more safely than nuclear power plants can.
Carbon, Max W. Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim?: Our Most Misunderstood Source of Electricity. Second ed. Madison, WI: Pebble Beach, 1997.
In 1970 oil reserves became more scarce, leading to a decrease in production, while consumption continued to grow rapidly (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). In order to fill the gap between rising demand and falling supply of oil, the United States became more and more dependent on imported oil, primarily from Arab countries in the Middle East. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011). As the U.S and many other countries became highly industrialized nations, they became even more dependent on oil imports. With demand being higher than the actual amount of supply, prices kept rising reaching a peak of $140 a barrel in 2008. (Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. 2011).
Over the past 200 years, mankind discovered the fossil fuels and they used this source to produce hug energy. This affects the environment in many negative ways and caused many issues worldwide such as urban air pollution and acid rain, oil spills and the high temperature of earth. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world by 19.66% (the world factbook, 2011) and the second oil producer country in the world with roughly 10.121 million barrels a day – which account for 12% of the total world production of oil in 2010 (Fontinelle,2011). Moreover, the country relies heavily on oil industry. And the most successful companies in the country are thus whose work in oil industry such as ARAMCO Company. The reason behind this success is because most of these companies get financial support and attention from the Saudi government and sometimes the government owes these companies. Because of the massive reserve of oil and the high income that generated from oil, the country has less attention to seek for other sources of clean energy such as solar energy and wind energy which leads to the increase of air pollution in the country. However, oil is expected to last in the next 50 to 100 years (Hubbert, 1956). Furthermore, the International organizations have made many decisions to protect the environment and environmental resource such as Kyoto Protocol which decided to raise the use of solar energy to 50%of the total global energy use by 2020 (UNFCCC ,2005 ). Recently, these issues lead the Saudi government to realize problems, such as air pollutions, and start to invest in clean energy area but not as expected. These days many people in Saudi Arabia argue the uses of clean energy and replace with the fossil fuels. And they d...
Mast, Tom R. Over a Barrel: A Simple Guide to the Oil Shortage. Austin: Hayden, 2005. Print.
Energy is the key to accomplish economic,social and environmental targets of humankind, and amount of energy consumption,vanishing energy reserves, and production methods has been the most controversial subject in today's world. Scholars, governments, companies and societies are looking for a solution to fulfill the rising energy demand over the rapidly industrializing world. All these effort is to reach global economic growth in an environmentally non-destructive, efficient way. As the energy consumption increases worldwide, new terms like sustainability and efficiency of energy, vulnerability in supply and the effects to the environment are becoming more popular terms. Forecasting the results of new coming challenges like climate change and the search for a affordable energy with a reasonable cost with enlightening policies are the most attractive research subjects.
middle of paper ... ... g the Energy Revolution." Foreign Affairs. Nov/Dec 2010: 111. SIRS Issues Researcher.