There’s no way around this problem.  Crude oil is running out and yet it is still being sucked down as if it were an endless spring of energy.  Human transportation has used the same non-renewable fuel for over a century while the world around us has been constantly evolving.  If our main source of fuel and transportation is not adapted to the current state of the world we live in, oil will run dry and life will get real simple, real quick.   Fossil fuels are not suitable for the world we live in and an alternative fuel source needs to take the place of crude oil until the technology in electric transportation becomes more practical.

Before pondering the best alternatives for transportation it is important to understand why fossil fuels have become less suitable for powering our day-to-day transportation.  Aside from the environmental damage that fossil fuels can cause, the US dependence on fossil fuel is absurd to begin with.  According to Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) The US is importing large amounts of oil from Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Nigeria just to keep up with current fuel demands.  To make matters worse, the world supply of oil is also dropping so quickly that oil suppliers have had to turn to more complex ways of extracting oil that are very energy intensive on their own.

Unlike the current methods of extracting and importing oil, the end result of fossil fuel dependency is simple.  No gas means no transportation and no electricity for most of the world’s population.   Without electricity life as we know it would come to an end, bringing our precious internet and funny cat videos with it.  An alternative, renewable fuel for our internal combustion cars is needed if humans want to keep progressing and not be forced back into a pre industrial revolution lifestyle.  The US Department of Energy and articles from the Smithsonian have both outlined the possible development of renewable fuels like hydrogen or crude oil that can be produced from algae.  Further research and development will be needed in order to scale up these new fuels to meet current demands but honestly, we have no choice.  Both hydrogen fuel and diesel produced from algae have promising advantages over conventional petrol from crude oil, but they are not yet researched and funded enough to be put into place.

Alternative forms of fuel will be a necessary change in order to preserve the forms of transportation we rely on, but ultimately the cars we drive and planes we fly will need to evolve into vehicles that are driven by electricity if we want to create the best scenario for balancing transportation and environmental preservation.  Currently, energy storage (batteries) is one of the biggest factors that is preventing this.  However, articles from Stanford University and Harvard are helping to spread some new breakthroughs in battery technology.  Things like lithium sulfide batteries and even batteries that use dissolved chemicals from plants like rhubarb have been progressing and showing potential to be the next step in energy storage for everyday use in homes and transportation.

Electric cars should be our final goal, but until that technology is available and practical, renewable fuels should be implemented in order to keep us puttering along in the cars we use today. Crude oil is running out. Unless we want human progress to come to a halt, clean energy production and electric transportation needs to be the next step in our evolution towards a cleaner, better earth.  Natural crude oil has been an amazing source of power and transportation, but is no longer a practical fuel for modern transportation needs. Save the remaining fossil fuel for classic cars and car enthusiasts.