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At the moment, majority of the world uses petroleum products with very little emphasis put on renewable energy sources like solar, wind power, hydro, thermal energy or harnessing the oceans tidal energy.Most of the power plants use coal, petroleum based products or a combination of coal and gas based to generate electricity which is distributed to consumer via the main power grid.
Not enough emphasis is placed on environmental friendly energy farms. Most vehicles at the moment use either petrol, diesel or natural gas to power itself. Commercial buildings and homes usually use electricity (taken from the main power grid)to power the home appliances/office machinery, gas based water heaters to heat the water and either an electric or gas cooking range to cook food. What if these fossil fuels run out sooner than later? What if our nations lose access to the fuels because of blackmail tactics, or some natural calamity? What if we are deprived of these energy sources before we have a viable energy plan is ready?
I believe we are totally unprepared to handle any energy crisis in the short or long term. Some nations draw petroleum products from their own oil wells/gas fields or mine coal from areas rich in these things. Yet, it's not enough to power the whole nation. Therefore, we are purchasing large quantities of energy products from the middle east.These oil producing countries are earning billions of dollars each year without plowing any portion of the profits for discovering newer and cleaner/less polluting technologies.
At times petroleum prices are raised without rhyme or reason. High prices encourages folks to save energy by using less energy at home, car pooling, using public transport or even cycling to work to save a few bucks. Low prices causes the opposite reaction. Maybe the oil producing nations feel threatened by our efforts on renewable energy efforts or not spending enough on fossil fuels thereby suddenly lowering prices causing some environmentally friendly companies to became unviable. It's still not too late for nations to plan out an alternate energy backup plan. Enhancing the capacity of wind, solar, hydro power, geothermal and tidal based power plants by investing more money in these areas will go a long way in giving us a brighter and cleaner future.
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