Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Current Events The Switch Of The United States The Switch Of The United States 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 current rate has settled at about $26 per barrel. The cost of home heating oil rose as well. “Many energy analysts, while willing to apply the term “energy crisis” to California, say the nation, as a whole is not in the throes of a crisis. They note that oil imports continue unabated and say the current price problems come from shortcomings in the transmission of energy to companies and consumers.”(Energy Conservation News, 2000) At the moment, our biggest problems, in the oil market, are that the United States is in the clinches of the mighty oil countries that decide how much oil to pump and sell to the United States. When an oil producing country is angry at the United States withholding oil until demands are met seems to be a popular solution. Leaving the United States to seek alternative oil sources to pump so as not to be at the mercy of these smaller oil producing countries and their blackmail attempts. The top three producers of oil are; Saudi Arabia with 8.10 billion barrels, United States with 3.24 billion barrels, and Russia with 2.56 billion barrels in a year. The top three consumers of oil are; United States with 7.06 billion barrels, Japan with 1.18 billion barrels, and China with 0.50 billion barrels in a year. The United States would have to almost triple its producing efforts to equal the consumption rate. Early last year, environmentalist and United States oil company executives found themselves sharing the same concern: low oil prices. As the year began, the average cost of crude oil continued to fall despite high demands during a cold winter, limited reserve capacity among members of OPEC and the continuing absence from the market of any oil from Iraq. In January, crude oil was selling at a five-year low of $12 a barrel. And OPEC, which once virtually dictated world oil prices by manipulating supplies, failed in two attempts to persuade its members to cut production by just 2 percent. Environmentalists were dismayed because cheap oil meant a continuing lack of economic incentives to develop or switch to alternative energy sources. Average regular gasoline prices at the pump fell in January to $1.06 per gallon, obliterating the effects of the small energy tax imposed by the federal government the previous October to encourage conservation. United States’ oil companies were unhappy with the low prices because 15 percent of the 6.6 million barrels per day they are capable of producing comes from wells that are very expense to operate. Oil executives estimated that they needed prices of about $18 per barrel to keep such wells profitable. By mid-year, oil prices had inched upward but still hovered below $17 per barrel – low enough to keep people “hooked on oil.” Despite the bargain-basement prices, many electric utilities continued to reduce their reliance on oil in order to comply better with the 1994 Federal Clean-Air Laws. Such utilities, along with certain other industries, are capable of switching fuels. But, last year, the companies tended to stick with natural gas, which burns cleaner, even when oil would have been cheaper. The main problem in the electric area of energy is that no one wants to use energy saving items until it is too late. The ensuing consumer rush of purchasing energy saving items is comparable to “closing the barn door after the horse gets out”. The majority of Americans do not try to save energy, then when a mild drought comes, like the one last spring, the United States has a major problem on their hands. In the northwest, there is an agreement between Washington State and California. The agreement is that in the summer Washington sells all its extra electricity to California, and in the winter, California sells all its extra electricity back to Washington. The drought that hit the northwest was no major problem for Washington or Oregon, but when California’s conservation efforts came up short they did not have any extra electricity to sell to Washington. Instead, Washington and Oregon had to sell electricity to California, which caused Washington and Oregon to drop into their own energy crisis. Thus causing a ripple effect across the entire northwestern United States. The more serious problems are the long-term effects of our energy consumption. Americans continue to use fossil fuels, which are non-replenishable resources. Fossil fuels also, release toxins such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which combine with other gases to form what is called Greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are so named because they work like the glass in a greenhouse: They permit sunlight to enter but prevent heat from escaping. Many scientists believe a buildup of greenhouse gases is causing global warming, the gradual heating of the atmosphere. Now don’t be worried about using up all of the oil right away, there is estimated to be about 73 billion barrels in North America. However, only a small fraction of this can be extracted at current prices. Of the known oil reserves that can be profitably extracted at current prices, more than half are in the Middle East: only a small fraction are in North America. At the end of the 20th century, the world reserves of petroleum were estimated to be roughly 1 trillion barrels. By 1998 worldwide consumption of petroleum totaled 27 billion barrels a year. “The world’s natural gas reserves were estimated to be roughly 1,500 trillion cubic meters (5,000 trillion cubic feet). Worldwide consumption of natural gas by 1998 totaled 2.3 trillion cubic meters (82 trillion cubic feet) a year. At the end of the 20th century the world coal reserves were estimated to be roughly 1 trillion metric tons, and by 1998 world wide consumption of coal totaled 5 billion metric tons a year. Total worldwide energy consumption is expected to grow at 2.2 percent per year until 2015.”(Energy Conservation News, 2000) Alternative energy industries, such as nuclear energy, hydroelectric energy, solar energy, wind energy, and geothermal energy currently only account for a combined 14 percent of energy consumed worldwide. There are 107 nuclear reactors in the United States, but no new reactors have been ordered in more than 20 years. Alternative energy has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, especially in the area of harvesting wind. Wind energy is a promising source of electrical power because it is a clean and renewable resource. However, because winds speeds vary by time of day, season, and even from one year to the next, wind energy is an intermittent resource. At windy sites it is common for wind turbines to operate 60 percent of the year. Even when operating, however, the wind may be insufficiently strong for wind turbines to generate at full capacity. Overall, turbines installed on windy sites operate at an average of 25 to 35 percent of full capacity. In comparison, coal-fired power plants usually operate at an average of 75 to 85 percent of full capacity. The intermittent nature of wind energy does affect consumers when wind turbines are tied to an electrical network, or power grid. Many wind turbines in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia are connected to large electricity networks. The effect of windless days can be offset by production from other power-generating sources, such as coal-fired plants or hydroelectric plants that are connected to the power grid. Such a system helps provide reliable power supplies to consumers. People located in remote sites that rely on electricity from wind turbines often use batteries or a backup generator to provide auxiliary power during extended periods without sufficient wind. “Operationally, modern wind turbines are as reliable as conventional power plants. Most commercial wind turbines are offline (down for maintenance or repair) less than 3 percent of the time. Wind turbines are also known for their longevity—many turbines have been generating electricity since the early 1980s. Many American farm windmills have been in continuous use for generations, while some traditional European windmills have been working for almost 300 years.”(Science and Technology, 2001) Nuclear power plants are on the way out. Their unsafe records, and the extreme risks, makes nuclear power plants unreliable, until further safety measures can be made. The United States needs to put more money into making nuclear power production less hazardous, while also producing a place to put the radioactive material that is created as a byproduct. A safe disposal of this material makes nuclear power cleaner then other energy alternatives, and there is a lot more uranium 235 on the Earth than any fossil fuel. Nuclear power is the power of the future. The other thing the government needs to put money into is wind power. Wind power is inexpensive, clean, and an easy way of making energy. There will always be enough wind, and wind energy will not destroy the o-zone layer. The only energy problem that will probable take the longest to resolve is the oil/gas problem. In Europe, many people already drive electric, or gas efficient vehicles. Here in the United States most people drive the most convenient or popular vehicles no matter how much gas the vehicle uses. Americans need to be more environmental friendly. Now, no one is saying to go hug a tree, but doing the little things can help. If you ask college professors if they thought there was an energy crisis in the United States this year, they would say “no”, if you ask officials at the local energy department if there was an energy crisis, they would say “no”, but if you ask the Federal Government if there was an energy crisis they would say “yes”. So was there an energy crisis or not? John P. Holdren, energy expert, reported, “it appears that the Bush-Cheney administration is not listening and is instead involve in an energy version of “voodoo economics.” Since taking office, the administration has undermined a number of sound pieces of existing energy policy, including federal support for energy efficiency and demand-side management. Wind energy systems that are now directly cost-competitive with many currently installed fossil fuel technologies, as well as a range of renewable energy options such as biomass and solar that can be moved to full economic competition through the consistent application of research, development, and dissemination policies, have been ignored or discouraged.”(Energy Conservation News200) Which leads some to believe that Bush has done nothing more then to help the big power companies “bring in the dough.” As time moves along, Americans will find different more efficient ways of supplying their need for energy. The question is not what, but when. Since we are running out of not only time, but also resources. Bibliography: References “27th Environmental Quality Review.” (1995, February 12). National Wildlife. 37. “Barriers to Lower Prices.” (2000, June 1). Energy Conservation News. 11. Bartholet, J. (2001, August 13). “Alaska: Oil’s Ground Zero.” Newsweek. 19-23. Bashford, S. (2001, August 2). “Npower plans ‘green’ energy service” Marketing. 3. “Commission In Bid To Improve Links With Energy Policy.” (1998, October 16). Europe Energy. 4. “Culm to Clean Fuel Gets Big Boost.” (2000, June 1). Waste Treatment Technology News. 10. Ebersole, R. (2001, November 14). “Nuclear Reactions.” Current Science. 6. Fineman, H. & Isikoff, M. (2001, May 14). “Big Energy At The Table.” Newsweek. 18-22. “Fuel Cell Energy Expands.” (2000, June 1). Fuel Cell Technology News. 9. Holdren, J. (2001, July 1). “Energy Policy.” Science and Technology. 5. Kluger, J. (2001, April 9). “A Climate of Despair.” Time. 30-36. Lemonick, M. (2001, April 9). “Life In the Greenhouse.” Time. 24-29. McCarthy, T. (2001, July 16). “High Noon In The West.” Time. 18-32. Piore, A. (2001, July 30). “A Nuke Train Gets Ready to Roll.” Newsweek. 26-28. “Progress in Reducing Energy Intensity.” (2000, June 1). Energy Conservation New. 11. Reynolds, P. (1998, October 5). “Solar Power Players Moves And Mergers In The Oil Industry Cast New Light On The Fast-Growing Solar Energy Market.” Time International. 55. Sloan, A. (2001, May 14). “Profiting From The Darkness.” Newsweek. 23. “Squeezing Liquid Fuel From Natural Gas.” (2000, June 1). Industries in Transition. 2. “Ultra capacitor module delivers 150 kJ of storage.” (1998, October 12). Electronic Buyer News. 41. Word Count: 1889
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