Word: crudely
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...shortage. But we also need to tackle problems on the demand side. Developing countries such as India and China demand vast quantities of oil, but they don't have a lot of energy-saving technology and aren't taking concrete steps to promote energy conservation. Our sources of crude oil are not everlasting. Governments must do their best to educate their people about the need to save energy. Citizens must play a part in energy conservation in their daily lives, or oil prices will not come down. Kenny Tan Singapore...
...electronic valve controls, and you would be up another 17%. Even redesigning side mirrors to cut wind resistance would help. If automakers improved the fuel economy of SUVs and pickup trucks by 35%, the U.S. would save 1 million bbl. of oil a day, curbing its dependence on foreign crude. Greener SUVs would also free cash for home improvements and consumer spending, boosting the economy...
...good news is that as the price of crude has headed steadily upward, technological innovation has driven down the cost of alternative energy sources. Wind farms cover hillsides near Palm Springs and Altamont Pass in California and are springing up in the breezy Midwest and on the Atlantic Coast too. Solar cells can churn out electricity at around 25¢ to 35¢ per kilowatt-hour, falling but still a multiple of the cost of energy from coal-fired power plants. Canada is extracting oil from the tar sands of Alberta for an amazingly efficient price...
Another problem is refinery capacity. Even an unlimited supply of crude is useless if it can't be refined into gasoline, heating oil and other fuels. And for the past 20 years, says Gheit, the refining industry has been losing money--or has barely made it: "[The industry was] closing refineries because they weren't profitable." That set up a situation in which a hurricane like Katrina or Rita or last year's Ivan could trigger a shortage by putting even a few of the remaining U.S.-based refineries out of business for a few weeks. Yet the industry...
Beyond that, the supply of crude is not unlimited. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the coast of Florida for drilling, which congressional Republicans have been pushing for, is a relatively short-term fix. And the more oil that is removed, the more expensive the cost of extracting the remaining oil becomes. At some point--possibly as early as 2010--production will therefore reach a peak, though not necessarily a sharp one, and then gradually start to decline. "The problem," says Simmons, "is that the global economy and the U.S. economy are structured on the assumption that...