Introduction
Back in 1973, the country was hit by oil crisis that left all individuals in a quagmire. This was a wake up call for various stakeholders to take necessary action that amounted to imposing National Maximum Speed Limit, down sizing automobile categories and enacting National Energy Acts among other (Juhasz 237). However, it is still evidence that more needs to be done to help arrest the problems of energy in the country.
This is because the need for energy not only in the country but globally is growing exponentially calling for a review of the policies in place as well as coming with new ones. Considering the current trend on energy consumption especially from oil, there is need to conserve it or else we risk coming to a stand still in terms of economic growth due to lack of energy.
Needs section
As suggested by Juhasz 42 tremendous increase in human population has an automatic effect on increased amount of energy need. A larger population will need energy for lighting their houses, during construction of new buildings, a larger amount of energy is consumed, and there is increased need for transport among others. All these put pressure on the available energy resources. Unfortunately the problem facing BP since last year has made it a challenge for oil products to be available (Brune 207).
The environment has been negatively impacted as a result of the oil spill forcing the company into legal suits where they have parted with lots of money that could have been used to better oil conservation, processing and storage. Political instability in a number of OPEC countries has negatively impacted on availability of oil forcing prices to sky rocket due to short supply. For instance countries such as Egypt and Libya have experienced political instability which has seen to it that oil supply has declined.
There are studies that have shown that there is a decline in oil reserves. The amount of oil resources underground has been deemed to decline at an alarming rate and in the near future, there will be no more underground reservoirs of oil. It is no doubt that this has been influenced by the raising demand of the energy source (Brune 37). Another area of concern when it comes to oil conservation is the manner with which the rich in the society have absolute control on the resource.
In the major countries that are top suppliers of the product, there are a few rich individuals who dictate how the product is to be priced, supplied, transported among other attributes. This negatively influences impact on the consumers. Lastly, oil as a source of energy compared to other sources is heavily depended on. This kind of over-reliance is a threat to it being available in the future (Madison par. 4).
Policy section
Having in mind that the demand for energy will continue growing; to help propel the growth of the economy there is need to come up with steps that will help conserve oil. One major way to do this is to solicit for alternative sources of energy. Despite the fact that 80.0% of transport and industrial sector depend on oil, having in place other sources of energy especially from bio fuel, solar energy, nuclear and more so the renewable sources is called for. This will not only help ease the pressure on oil as a source of energy but also save our environment from carbon emission which depletes the ozone layer (Jochem & Dadi 26).
Although there are areas that can be a challenge to curb energy consumption as a result of increased human population, it can be rational if American would embark to utilize public transport (Hakes 83). Additionally bikes can be used. This proposal has been refuted by some of the American on the grounds that their comfort is interfered with. If adopted, this will cut down on the amount of oil consumed (Madison par. 2).
Additionally, policy aimed at encouraging manufacturing of vehicles that are energy efficient as well as those that can use electricity will help in efforts of conserving oil. This can be attained in various ways; for instance government providing the manufacturers with incentives which will in turn make such vehicles cheap and affordable to the citizen (Maass 74). Similarly tax incentives for those who buy these kinds of vehicle will encourage Americans to purchase them.
Provision of funds by the government to be invested in areas such as alternative energy sources for instance solar, building more oil storage will go an extra mile in helping conserve oil energy. A part from giving incentives to manufactures of cars to develop energy efficient ones, the funds can also be used in capacity building on how best to conserve energy. Funds can also be pumped in the field of research aimed at coming up with strategies to conserve energy especially from oil.
There is also need to preserve the oil resources that are under our water bodies. There is also room for the relevant stakeholders such as suppliers and distributers to adopt most efficient channels of supplying the product. This will help in ensuring that there is no wastage and the products reach the consumers on time. Lastly, Americans need to re-introduce breed reactors (Maass 61).
Benefits section
According to Jochem & Dadi 91 there are a number of benefits associated with the policies brought forth in this paper. One major one is that oil as a source of energy will be made available in the future to continue support the economic growth of the country. It is worth to note that the future generations will also have an opportunity to utilize the same product.
Similarly, with other alternative sources of energy such as bio-fuel and solar energy pressure on oil will ease (Brune 121). Additionally, there will be efficient use of energy resources hence minimizing waste. Another advantage of conserving oil is the protection of the environment. With other sources of energy emission of green gas will be minimized hence curbing the concern of global warming.
Conclusion
From the review of oil conservation, it is evident that there a number of problems such as population increase, war and political instability in countries constituting the OPEC among others.
With these issues, there is need to come up with policies that will help conserve oil such as encourage use of public transport or using bikes, come up with other alternative sources of energy, government providing funds to help in capacity building and incentive to car manufactures to mention but a few. The benefits of the policy include efficient energy consumption, conservation of environment and future availability of the resource to the future generation.
Works Cited
Brune, Michael. Coming Clean: Breaking America’s Addiction to Oil and Coal. Oxford University: OUP, 2008. Print.
Hakes, Jay. A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy, and the Environment. New York: Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print.
Jochem, Eberhard & Dadi, Zhou. Realizing the Potential of Energy Efficiency: Targets, Policies and Measures for G8 Countries, 2007. Web.
Juhasz, Antonia. The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry—and What We Must Do to Stop It. New York: Sage, 2008. Print.
Maass, Peter. Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil. New York: Wiley & Sons, 2010.Print.
Madison, Lucy. As Republicans Push for More Offshore Drilling, Democrats Plan Vote on Repealing Tax Breaks for Oil Companies, 2011. Web.