Why are we still dependent on oil for energy?

Answer 1

For years it was the cheapest form of energy.. there is still plenty of oil around, they just found that we will pay any price for it...when will the price come down?.... when every one decides they have had enough, learn to car pool again...ride the bus, train, etc... learn to stay home or combine all those needless trips to town into one trip... bottom line..its all up to us...

Answer 2

Because 50 years ago the transportation bill supported building highways and byways across this great nation of ours. The automobile defined American life. If instead we had built railways, we would all be riding trains instead of driving gas guzzling SUVs. Europeans travel by train. We get in the car. Need bread? Get in the car. Going to work? Car. Vacation? Car. Public transportation never caught on here, and because of that, we are and always will be dependent on foreign oil. The price of gasoline will only go higher. It hit $2 and we freaked-but we didn't use less. At $3 we really freaked, and while some may have cut back, there really hasn't been any move to change things. You haven't heard the President say he's going to promote public transportation. F NO! He's an oil man, and as long as we keep using oil, he'll be happy!

Answer 3

Very simply, because we have not yet discovered an alternative that beats oil for price, feasability and performance.

Ethanol has promise, but corn-based ethanol is not economically viable as it takes up to 200,000 BTUs worth of fossil fuel based energy to produce 100,000 BTUs worth of ethanol based fuel. Sugar cane based ethanol (as used in Brazil) is economically viable but the US does not have enough cane growing capacity to meet the need, and probably never will.

Hydrogen is an excellent fuel source but the cost of production is extremely high. Oil would have to exceed $200.00 per barrel for it to be economically viable with today's extraction technology. There are also significant safety, storage and distribution problems yet to be solved.

Shale oil deposits in North America exceed the known world reserves of traditional fossil fuels. At $70.00 per barrel it is now economically viable and production test sites are in operation to work out the technical details. This will only buy time and won't rid us ot the dependance on fossil fuels but at least we can become independant of foreign oil if it works out.

The best alternative fuel -- and one that could be implemented today -- is bio-diesel. Soy based bio-diesel is economically viable right now. Little modification of existing systems is needed to implement its use and new systems can be designed to be compatible for very little added cost. As a bonus, bio-diesel does not have the odor problems that traditional diesel fuel does. It does have the other limitations, particularly power output, of diesel fuel. The American public isn't yet ready for any diesel powered vehicle but we may eventually have no choice in the matter.

Answer 4

What are the other choices we have today? People don't want electric cars because they don't have that much power / range.
Everybody likes driving big trucks instead of smaller cars and the oil companies are happy about todays situation...

Answer 5

Because we haven't discovered anything else yet. Or at least that's what the oil industry wants us to believe.

Answer 6

Get ready for this:

Just the other day I saw a vehicle that ran on water. It made national news. I told my wife to prepare for the price of water to skyrocket!

Answer 7

Why are u dependent on yahoo answers to answer your question??

Answer 8

because we love cars, fast food, and breathing in pollution

Answer 9

are you that f#cking dumb??

Answer 10

dunno