There is one fact often overlooked when dealing with the issue of oil and that is this: We cannot make a finite resource infinite.
In other words, regardless of what we do to curb our gas consumption, there will be an end of oil. Whether this happens in two years or 200 is a question with no solid answer.
Critics of our oil crisis argue that in the past when we've needed more oil, we've drilled more holes. More holes equal more oil. And while this has worked in the past, it will not in the future. It can't work. It goes directly against even the most basic of logical reasoning.
Yes, past generations had enough oil. They were lucky. Whether we're as lucky has yet to be seen. But one thing is certain, our luck will run out, and when it does who will pay the price. Our children? Our grandchildren? I shudder to think of the Earth they have no choice but to inherit.
We could leave them a world glued together with "alternative energies" like ethanol, electric cars and electricity being generated from windmills.
A single alternative is as impractical as no alternative. We need many viable solutions working together to create a society comparable to what we have now, for all our solutions are as flawed as those who hope to use them.
Ethanol is more oil-dependent than most alternatives. The best yardstick to measure an "alternative energy" against is this: How much energy you put in to how much you get out. Ethanol, at best, breaks even.
An electric car would run on lithium-ion batteries. These batteries lose a portion of the capacity to hold a charge every month, as anyone who has owned a cell phone or laptop can attest to, and only have a lifetime of two to three years at best. Imagine the burden of replacing thousands of dollars in batteries every two years or so.
These cars are environmentally friendly in name alone. They still consume electricity that is generated from coal and oil, which arguably contributes to global warming.
Windmills could be a substitute for coal and oil. But a windmill's capacity to generate electricity is so far below that of coal and oil, it's almost laughable to include it in any serious discussion of "alternative energies." But we do so for one simple reason: We don't have any better ideas.
There is no quick and easy answer to our oil crisis.
To begin to work on a solution we need to accept an end to oil as not a possibility but a certainty. Our society needs to change to a more efficient, more nimble and dynamic one. One that is not so addicted to oil.
And we cannot begin to change until we accept this: We cannot make a finite resource infinite.
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* ALEXANDER LANG is a student at the University of Utah. He works with alternative fuels in his free time.
