The first step to kick our oil addiction is to admit we have a problem, and the longer we wait to do so the worse our problem is going to get. Humans are hooked and oil is running out. Yet the human population, America in particular, is in a state of denial. We either ignore the muffled doomsday calls from petroleum geologists that witness first hand the depletion of our oil supplies, or we simply deny the existence of a problem in the first place.
Our favorite defense against claims of oil depletion is the low gas prices we currently enjoy. We argue that prices are low therefore supply must high. Anyone with even a limited economics background would agree, yet that’s far too easy an explanation.
The real story lies with the rise of the U.S. fracking sector. Emergence of this new domestic market poses a threat to Middle Eastern oil giants like Saudi Arabia. Yet fracking is a more costly process than traditional oil extraction. Using this as an advantage, Saudi Arabia began to drive oil prices down to levels that frackers could not compete with. Granted, Saudi Arabian markets feel the heat of revenue decrease as well, yet they will endure while frackers will not.
Once the competitive threat of fracking has been eliminated, there is no doubt gas prices will be raised higher than ever. So enjoy low gas prices now because they will not last.
The fact is we are currently at “peak oil.” This is the point in time that we have pumped the maximum amount of oil out of the ground, meaning that from this point forward, we will produce less oil on a global scale each successive year.
The concept of “peak oil” is particularly frightening when you consider our demand for oil each year is increasing. This classic disparity between supply and demand is the root of the energy crisis we will face in coming years.
We could begin the shift from nonrenewable to renewable energy if we subsidize infrastructure creation that supports the use of inexhaustible and renewable energy sources and increase the tax on gas. This would shift would occur because innovation, technology and entrepreneurial markets would begin to favor renewable energy sources over the more expensive nonrenewable, such as oil.
This is a time sensitive issue. Infrastructure creation for solar, wind, hydro and possibly geothermal energy will require an input of energy. Therefore we cannot wait until oil is entirely gone to make this crucial shift. Oil and other nonrenewable resources will be essential to kickstart the shift.
We need to switch to renewable resources sooner rather than later, but it is also unreasonable to believe all these changes will happen at once. It will be a gradual process and any step in the direction towards renewable energy is a positive one. And once momentum has been gained, the shift will only become easier.
-Johns is a sophomore political science from Carmel, Indiana.