A Crude Awakening

If you haven't noticed the price of gas going up in recent months, check your pulse, you might be dead! With the exception of a recent drop in oil prices, Americans are paying a lot more than they used to for energy. But, why is the price of oil rising like Dick Cheney's cholesterol? Let's explore a few facts.

Fact #1: There is only a finite amount of oil on Earth
Fact #2: The demand for oil will only increase over time

Facts 1 & 2 combined tells us that gasoline (a product derived from oil) can only increase. Over the last several years, gas prices have increased at an average rate of about 30 cents a year. The first six months of 2008, gas prices spiked to over $4/gal. This was due to speculation by energy traders of a "cooling" US economy and a potential recession. Take a look at this graph.



Today, gas prices have come down from that all time high to more "normal" levels and will likely continue to drop over the next few months. However, this short-term relief is just that: short-term. Facts 1 & 2 will never go away and so we need to do what we can NOW to prepare for rising oil prices in the future.

How do Americans consume energy? We can breakdown energy consumption by consumer classes as follows:

• Industrial
  
• Transportation
  
• Residential
  
• Commercial
  

According to the US Department of Energy, most of the energy consumed in the United States is by industry (manufacturing, mining, construction, etc). If we can convert all equipment (i.e. construction vehicles, mechanized assembly lines, drills) to run off electricity and provide this electrical energy by means of clean, renewable energy sources (such as solar, wind and water power) or nuclear power, we can eliminate more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. In addition, we will be more than halfway there on the road to energy independence. The result: lower energy prices for you and me, which leaves more money for our PS3s and plasma TVs.

Unfortunately, today, we are far from achieving that goal. 86% of all energy used in the United States is through the burning of fossil fuels. Over the last eight years, under the Bush administration, U.S. energy policies have been stagnant. However, starting in 2009 under the Obama presidency, U.S. energy policies are expected to undergo a renaissance.

A recent WER poll revealed that roughly 75% of Americans think that the US is too dependent on foreign fossil fuels and foreign oil. Over 80% believe that it's the government's job to eliminate this dependency and bring clean, renewable & efficient methods of power production right here.

So, who is paying for that war in Iraq?

Welcome back!

I was sitting at a Starbucks in Long Beach studying for my final exam on the naturally fascinating subject of Channel Coding Theory when inspiration decided to strike again. This time, it's on the subject of the economy. It's no secret that the U.S. economy is in a pretty lame state. Americans are facing inflation, a crashing housing market, a stock market in peril and that's just the tip of the iceberg. What many Americans may not be aware of is our growing national debt. And I'm not talking about personal debts (that's a topic for a different post). I'm talking about the U.S. government's debt. According to the U.S. National Debt Clock, as of September 2, 2008, America owes over 9.6 trillion dollars. With the U.S. population at 300 million, that's about $30k per person (including men, women and children)! Our country's debt increases at nearly two billion dollars a day. But, who does the U.S. government owe? Amazingly, nearly a quarter of our debt is owed to foreign governments (including Japan, China and the UK).

Here is a graph that shows how the debt has grown over time:



As you can see, except for a rise at the end of World War II, the Debt remained constant for nearly forty years. However, with the exception of a brief period between 1998 and 2000, the Debt has since increased steadily at roughly $200B/year.

Obviously, a growing national debt is bad for many reasons. The biggest reason it's bad is because when the government is borrowing money from it's citizens, the citizens have less money to buy stuff. So now it becomes harder for you to buy that new iPod or worse, gas and food. The other reason it's bad is because a large portion of our debt is owed to other countries. This puts the United States in a very weak international position and doesn't make us look good the World's eyes.

What can you do to help us get out of this mess? Vote! Go out and vote for political leaders who will make reducing the national debt a priority. If all else fails, run for office and do it on your own.

My special thanks to Ed Hall who provided me with the data for this blog posting.

Inspiration Strikes!

Greetings loyal readers!

I have returned to the blogging scene. After several false starts, I am confident this will be the first post in a long string of blog postings yet to come. Why the sudden resurgence in blogging energy, you ask? It's definitely not due to an increase in available time. My time is more limited than ever, but there's just so much to write about! And without my saxophone or piano, I have no better way to express myself. Originally, this blog was meant to simply be a travel blog (as the name implies). However, I will use this blog as a venue to write about a variety of topics ranging from government and politics to science and engineering. Check back often! I intend to update this blog frequently. See you at the next post!

Warm regards,

VG