oil shortage (Page 8)

Oil is trading for between $47 and $44 a barrel, and someexperts think it will reach $50 in the near future. Thecauses are Iraq, Russia and hurricane Charley.

An attack on an Iraqi oil well, and the fact that oil fromIraq is still flowing at only half its former rate,contributed to this, but Iraq isn’t the main reason for theprice rise. And news from Venezuela that Hugo Chavez willremain as president actually caused prices to drop slightly,since he guaranteed oil market stability if he won (weimport about 15% of our oil from Venezuela). One majorfactor in the price rise is the dispute between the Russiangovernment and the giant oil company Yukos. Even tropicalstorm Charley had a hand in the price rise, since ittemporarily halted oil output in the Gulf of Mexico.
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One way to avoid Middle Eastern conflict and pricevulnerability would be to wean ourselves from oil. But whatelse could we use?Coal ispolluting and would increase global warming. The mainproblem is our cars?no alternative fuel has been discoveredyet that works in them and companies aren’t trying todevelop one because it would be taxed higher than foreignoil imports!

Lee Dye writes in abcnews.com that about half the cost ofevery gallon of synthetic oil produced in this country goesto federal and local taxes. Chemical engineer Galen Suppessays, “But there’s no U.S. taxes on foreign oil. You’retaxing domestic production, but you’re not taxing imports.”
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Western countries worry that the Middle East wars andterrorist threats mean there will be a shortage of oil inthe future. Both the U.S. and U.K. have plenty of coal, butburning it would cause heavy pollution as well as escalateglobal warming. But there might be a way to have our coaland use it too.

Alex Kirby writes in bbcnews.com that we could burn coalonce again if we could figure out how to get rid of thecarbon. Now U.K. scientists are investigating the idea ofpumping the carbon dioxide emissions underground or underthe ocean and storing them permanently there. This isalready being done in Norway.
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We always knew that spinach would save us somehow, and now it looks like it may be able to combat global warming. Solar cells give us hope that we may be able to avoid fossil fuels in the future, and drastically cut greenhouse gases. Theproblem is, they’re not very efficient. But that’s wherespinach comes in?
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