stll, its nice to know things are starting to change.

we use it for EVRETHING. look around your room, try to find somthing that is not made from oil, or used oil in the fabrication of the product.

 

Paint, plastic, ink, almost anything you find anywhere was created with oil, or the use of oil.

 

just about the only thing you could find around the house that dosent have oil in it would be, un-varnished un-painted wood furniture.

and your food, that comes in plastic bags... made from oil

 

we are addicted to it, and there is no easy way out :/

 

And most of the US's energy comes from coal, which produces most of the CO2. I'll give the coal industry some credit for trying to find a way to cut down on emissions, i'm sure you've all heard of the "clean coal" method.

 

Fid's right though, renewable energy will be very big in the comming years. With the development of photovoltaic film which is a lot cheaper to make than cells we're looking at possible energy independence for the average family. Or at least a big step towards it.

 

Of course we need oil, but even my Dad, who's a very experienced Petroleum Engineer, agrees that we only can use oil for so long until we can't sustain global demend. We'll never "run out" of oil, but the price of looking for/extracting will become too hard and expensive for the globe to rely on. A large percentage of oil is in deep water, but it's really hard to get

 

It's not necessarily going to be easy, but I am an optimist when it comes to human resoursefulness and the development of new technology.

 

 

Granted, one of the reasons alternative fuels haven't caught in the mainstream is because of little public interest. Gas (at least used to be) cheap and abundant, but as costs go up so will public demand for something different. Considering this is a market economy, it's really up to the consumer to decide what he wants. If we were a more socialist country, it might be easier to make the switch. Consumers really are the mysterious force, why should you buy a more expensive, less powerful hybrid/electric car when gas is cheap? But especially with the development of this new electric car, we'll probably see a change in that.

 

Of course big oil is a part of it, but even exxon (and other oil company's) are getting into alternative energy because they know it's comming up very quickly.

 

Considering how many people the oil and gas business employs, it would be  a big blow to the workforce if we suddenely switched energy methods.

 

I guess you sorta missed my point of being an average american consumer....

  

 

While they'll always be a need for some jobs that are required for getting oil: working on oil rigs/ pipe managment etc..it really has nothing to do with production.. i'm talking about jobs that really become useless if we stopped using oil for gas purposes.

 

-Many mechanics would be without jobs..afterall, how many people work with or around combustion engines? ...a lot.

-Many actual gasoline making wokers would be without jobs since the demand for gasoline will drop dramatically. But yes, we'll still need people for cracking oil.

etc.

 

Oil and Gas is a BIG part of the american society....a lot bigger than we all think, saying that people won't lose jobs is really being naive.

 

I'm not against switching energy methods, i'm just saying that a big action like that will make big ripples.

 

As long as I dont have to drop 80 bills a week in my tank, its all good. Saving the world who cares.

 

Most of us do ;)