alternatives to oil

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ALTERNATIVES TO OIL

Peak oil is a huge problem that is facing the United States in the near future. Gas prices will skyrocket forcing most people to become self-sufficient. In other words, people are not going to be able to depend on the supermarket to get food. No more dining out, or going to the movies or traveling for vacation. The United States alone consumes nearly 7.5 billion barrels of oil each year. It would practically be a miracle for an alternative to be found and compensate for the forty percent of energy that oil accounts for in this country, and similarly the world. Oil is an amazingly efficient resource. It is transportable, and diverse, but most importantly the profit from selling oil far exceeds the price of retaining and refining it. It is very unlikely that a similar alternative will be found in time.

The most obvious of questions peak oil is going to create is the problem of transportation. Automobiles are the primary source of transportation in the United States. In fact, Americans alone drive over 2 trillion miles every year. If the price of oil gets too high, how will Americans get around? Of course there are the hydrogen powered cars, and the hybrid cars, or even the electric cars, but these are still far from being perfected, and will need oil in one way or another.

The hydrogen powered car uses fuel cells to create power. A fuel cell is a device that creates energy by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. A car powered by fuel cells would create almost no pollution, and have nearly 80% efficiency. The only problem with hydrogen is that it is very hard to store, and store safely. One can imagine the effects an accident could have on a car with a full tank of hydrogen in the back. There are other options for creating hydrogen though. A reformer takes other fuels such a methanol, and turns them into hydrogen. The problems with reformers come from the emissions. Changing methanol into hydrogen creates impure hydrogen, as well as heat and other gases, changing the overall efficiency from 80% to around 35%. A car with that amount of efficiency is not economical and would not gain a profit from the sales of the fuel.

The hybrid or “hyper” car uses a combination of two or more supplies of energy to power itself. The typical hybrid car is a cross between a normal gasoline powered car, and an electric car. The gasoline engine in a h...

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...provided us with such goods as plastics, and fertilizer. Oil has become so valuable that it has been the cause of global conflict and war in the Middle East. The United States has been to Iraq two times in the past decade. The quest for oil has made the price of a gallon of gasoline rise from five cents, to more than two dollars. In five years the price per gallon is predicted to be around ten dollars, Americans might be wealthy but they will not be able to afford that. Alternatives to oil are being created, and although not perfect, they are made more efficient with each new idea. When peak oil occurs people will learn to be self-sufficient; it is going to take a lot of hard work to have a happy and successful life. No more luxuries such as dining out, or superstores like Wal-Mart. Oil is needed to run this suburban way of life, and the fact is the discovery of oil has nearly halted. Drilling is now taking place in the most extreme environments on Earth, and oil companies are still finding less and less oil. Peak oil is real, and it will be a problem when it occurs. The trouble is determining when it will occur, and we will not know for sure until after it has already happened.

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