Energy According to some experts oil is a finite resource and within the next 25 years a global peak will occur in oil production. At the same time, oil use is continually expanding as more and more industries, countries and global use demands additional oil. In fact, some experts believe that oil reserves will be depleted within the next thirty years (Sheehan, Cambreco, Duffield, Garboski, Shapouri, 1998, p. 2). Projections such as these, if they are found to be true, will present future Presidents of the United States with a continuing source of trouble that will necessarily have to be addressed, probably more than once. How those future (and current) Presidents address the issue of a depleting oil supply will likely shape the face of not only America, but the entire global community.

One expert offers a grim outlook regarding the future of energy around the world. In 2009, Ayhan Demirbas wrote that the "declining availability of fossil fuels may cause increases in fuel prices and declining security of energy supply in the current energy system" (p. 212 -213). He also wrote that oil is the fossil fuel that is most in danger to become short in supply (p. 213). If what Demirbas writes turns out to be true, then the Presidents of the United States will have to replace that fuel source with a different source that is just as inexpensive and environmentally friendly as oil.

Demirbas believes that natural gas...

He writes "the NG is the fastest growing primary energy source in the world, and that the reserves and resources of conventional natural gas are comparable in size to those of conventional oil" (p. 213). However, what replaces oil in the long run is probably not as important as what it will take to make the change happen, or even if such a change is truly a change worth making.
One recent article states "President Obama could jump-start a green revolution today without spending more money or awaiting approval from Congress" (Klare, 2010, p. 11), and it looks as though he is well on his way to doing so. His halting of oil production in the Gulf and other areas means that other more costly forms of 'alternative' energy will be used and the oil that domestic producers are able to access will be more expensive as well. Obama's energy 'policy' seems to be one of change, change, change, yet nothing changes except the cost. On one hand it's easy to stop companies from drilling for oil (especially when you are President) but it's an entirely different matter to come up with an alternate source of oil that America can actually use. Future Presidents will have to face this same fact. Some experts believe that wind is the answer, others believe nuclear energy is the answer, while others tout natural gas.

Whatever the answer is, Presidential policy will have to address…