The future of fuel

It's true. Gasoline is not unlimited in supply. And it's becoming more and more costly. The largest remaining supplies of gasoline in the world lie beneath gorgeous pieces of wilderness that it would be a shame to ruin, or beneath war zones, areas full of political or religious strife and economic hardship--often controlled by people that hate Americans and/or Westerners. Not to mention that the use of gasoline pollutes the environment. So what is to be done?

It's okay, folks, alternatives are being found. During the 19th century, noted English economist William Stanley Jevons was concerned about his country's supply of coal. He believed that the country could run out of coal at any time, and the industrial revolution, at least there, would grind to a halt. And that never happened. There is still plenty of coal out there, and we don't even use it that much anymore anyway (which is part of the reason that there's still plenty of it out there). Why? Because long before it did run out, other, better sources of energy were found, mainly oil. And the same thing will happen with oil. When it becomes just too costly to acquire and use, the economy will push us toward other energy sources.

But what, you may ask, could possibly supply us with energy so cheaply, powerfully, and efficiently? Are hybrid cars the answer? They don't seem like it, do they? They still use gasoline, just not as much, and aren't effective for country driving. What about solar power? But that's so expensive, and not particularly efficient.

Some people are talking about vegetable oil, and things like that. What about it? Well, it's renewable, and in fairly high supply, especially in the U.S. But then, it does mean less can be devoted to food, and the energy industry would be subject to droughts and other chance occurrances. Besides that, it just doesn't seem to be catching on very well, because gasoline is used so widely. Well, as for that, the transition may be difficult, but eventually, some sort of transition will be necessary.

And there are still other answers. They'd require a transition too, probably, but again, it'll probably be necessary.

So what else is there? For one thing, bacteria are now being used to produce fuels. This is relatively cheap and completely renewable. Not to mention, it's not as subject to chance events. Nuclear energy is also making strides. It's clean, it's safe, it's relatively cheap and renewable. And now they're able to use it on a much smaller scale--we're talking table-top experiments.

The future's comin' folks. And it's gonna be cleaner and more efficient. The earth's ability to repair itself will kick in, environments will recover from the damaging use of fossil fuels, the o-zone holes will patch themselves, and everybody will be alot happier. Party time!