Energy Crisis Of The United States Essay - 2153 Words

Energy Crisis Of The United States Content May be Outdated At the beginning of the year the President of the United States announced that the United States was in the middle of a nation wide energy crisis. The President gave many solutions including using more solar and wind energy, nuclear power, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The President told the American people that they would have to watch their energy use and conserve as much as possible. Gas prices reached $2 per gallon in the Midwest for the second straight summer, and California continued to be hit by unprecedented power woes that forced rolling blackouts. The price of crude oil rose sharply, from around $10 a barrel to a peak of $37. The†¦show more content†¦And OPEC, which once virtually dictated world oil prices by manipulating supplies, failed in two attempts to persuade its members to cut production by just 2 percent. Environmentalists were dismayed because cheap oil meant a continuing lack of economic incentives to develop or switch to alternative energy sources. Average regular gasoline prices at the pump fell in January to $1.06 per gallon, obliterating the effects of the small energy tax imposed by the federal government the previous October to encourage conservation. United States? oil companies were unhappy with the low prices because 15 percent of the 6.6 million barrels per day they are capable of producing comes from wells that are very expense to operate. Oil executives estimated that they needed prices of about $18 per barrel to keep such wells profitable. By mid-year, oil prices had inched upward but still hovered below $17 per barrel ? low enough to keep people ?hooked on oil.? Despite the bargain-basement prices, many electric utilities continued to reduce their reliance on oil in order to comply better with the 1994 Federal Clean-Air Laws. Such utilities, along with certain other industries, are capable of switching fuels. But, last year, the companies tended to stick with natural gas, which burns cleaner, even when oil would have been cheaper. The main problem in the electric area of energy is that no one wants to use energy saving items until it is too late. TheShow MoreRelatedThe United States Is An Energy Crisis1532 Words   |  7 PagesThe United States is in an energy crisis. We rely almost solely on crude oil for most of our â€Å"gasoline† needs, meaning our fuels. The issue with our current reliance on crude oil is, plainly, that it is running out. We don’t currently have enough crude oil production in the US to support our current demand, so we are forced to import oil from overseas. And, we import a lot of it. 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