Alternate Energy Resources

Energy is the driving force of industry and, indeed, of civilization. The world is presently using about eight terawatts of energy (one terawatt equals one trillion watts). By the year 2030 studies project annual worldwide consumption of between 25 and 40 terawatts, a three-to-five-fold increase in just 50 years. That is an enormous amount of energy to generate. The United States leads the world in per capita consumption of energy with its primary source of energy coming from petroleum. Oil provides nearly 45 percent of the nation\u27s energy, and oil and gas together supply 73 percent. In 1980 it is estimated that the total US demand for oil was 6.2 billion barrels, of which 41 percent had to be imported. The nation\u27s proved reserves of oil amount to about 45 billion barrels of reserves. Even as more is discovered it must be remembered that fossil fuels are finite in amount. Sooner or later the units of supply of all of our energy supplies are going to be reached. Energy is consumed in a great many ways. What we must learn to do is use energy to its best advantage