The Concerns

In the past year the world has felt the effects that high oil prices can have on day to day life.  As gas prices soared to over $60 dollars a barrel, questions were raised as to whether oil prices would ever drop to the previous levels.  Although there is much debate on the short term variations of oil pricing, there is no doubt that the earth has only a finite supply of oil.  As oil reserves are being depleted at record pace due the development of China and India the demand for this limited resource has been greatly enhanced as the supply has dwindled.  In the future the demand for oil will only increase as countries continue to develop.  It is thus in our interests as a nation and as a species to reduce our dependency upon oil. 
            The United States is the largest consumer of oil in the world; this is due in large part to the large number of vehicles in the US.  Therefore, if the US is to reduce its dependency on oil it must make vehicles not only more fuel efficient but it must also explore using other technologies that do not use crude oil as a fuel.  President Bush hopes that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be the answer to this problem since these vehicles only waste byproduct is water.  Yet this strategy overlooks the US’s fuel dependency problem because the most abundant source of hydrogen comes in the form of crude oil.  This is also only a long-term solution because hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles will not me economically viable for at least ten or fifteen years.  Thus there is a great need and demand in the US for more environmentally sustainable and fuel efficient vehicles.