by Paul Schingle

Created on: October 25, 2009   Last Updated: October 29, 2009

First, it should be noted that the energy crisis that exists right now is not America's alone. The fact that fossil fuels are, in fact, finite and will eventually be drained completely from this earth is a crisis for any member of the human race. Yes, it's nice when the cost of gasoline drops and we can afford to drive for a little less, this week. But, that doesn't solve the long-term problem.

According to research presented by Paul Roberts in his book, "The End of Oil," fossil fuel production will peak some time in the middle of this century. Simply put, some time between the years 2050 and 2060, humankind will have sucked more than half of all fossil fuels out of the ground. Real mass- production of oil removal began around 1900. So, if it will have taken us 150 years to drain half, does that mean we'd still have another 150 years worth of oil left? No.

With increased population and increased numbers of industrialized peoples, demand increases exponentially. We may have another 75 years worth of oil left after peak-maybe. Make no mistake about it, the energy crisis is real. And the problem isn't just America's - it is a global problem.

So, what's the solution? The easiet thing (on paper) is to come up with other sustainable sources for energy. The most promising, long-term solution, appears to be hydrogen. Scientists have found ways to convert water to hydrogen power and run engines similar to internal combustion (gasoline/diesel powered) engines.

The problem appears to be that the conversion process (from water to hydrogen power) is less-than-efficient. Also, holding tanks for hydrogen power would be limited in size, thus limiting length of travel between fuel stops. There are a number of fairly considerable kinks still to work out, but this could be a longer term solution.

Other sustainables that have been talked about and even had some mild successes include wind and solar power. Obviously, if we can harness this energy for long term use, it could keep overall energy costs lower and also be safer for the environment. It's a win-win. Until we can master these forms of energy, we will need to still rely on fossil fuels. Now, does that mean we must rely on crude oil to solve things? Not necessarily.

Internal combustion engines can, and some do, run on natural gas (such as propane). This is cleaner, cheaper and, actually, fairly abundant. Now, will natural gas solve all of our energy woes? No. It is a (potential) mere stop gap measure until we can effectively harness other cleaner sources of energy.

So, in answer to the question, will cheaper oil turn the energy crisis around? The short and simple answer is no. It helps our pocket books in the short term and that's all. We need to find sustainable alternative sources for energy and we need to make them viable sooner than later. If we don't, the earth we leave behind for future generations will be worse than what was left for us - and that's not how it's supposed to be.

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