Some experts say that the world is headed for a huge energy crisis because of a decline in the availability of cheap oil.
They recommended a reduced dependency on fossil fuel. This has lead to an interest in alternative power/fuel research such as fuel cell technology, hydrogen fuel, biomethanol and bio-diesel, karrick process, solar energy, tidal energy and wind energy. To date, only hydroelectricity and nuclear power have been significant to fossil fuel with big ecological problems (residues ad water spending). Hydrogen gas is currently produced at a net energy, which is also experiencing decline in production in North America.
There have been alarming predictions by groups such as the Club of Rome that the world would soon run out of oil. Although technology has made oil extraction more efficient, the world is struggling to provide oil by using increasingly costly and less productive methods such as deep-sea drilling and developing environmental sensitive areas such as Arctic National Wildlife Refugee.
The world’s population continues to grow at a quarter of a million people a day, increasing the consumption of energy. The per capita energy consumption of China, India and other developing nations continue to increase as people living in these countries adopt modern lifestyles. At present, a small part of the world’s population consumes a large part of its resources, with the US and its population of 269 million people consuming more oil then China with its population of 1.3 billion people.
Alternative energy development is the only long-term solution to this crisis. The world at large needs to pool its resources to work towards this end.
MARIAM RIAZ
Lahore
