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Focus
Top photo credits: Left: PhotoDisc; right: ANWR.org; insets (left to right): ANWR.org; Matt Orendorff/U.S. Coast Guard; Image Vault; ANWR.org
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Petroleum: Possibilities in the Pipeline Charles W. Schmidt Abstract
Photo credits: Left: PhotoDisc ; right: ANWR.org ; insets (left to right) : ANWR.org ; Matt Orendorff/U.S. Coast Guard ; Image Vault ; ANWR.org Despite being the world's second largest producer after Saudi Arabia, the United States now imports 56% of its oil from overseas, a figure that could reach 70% by 2020. That petroleum is a nonrenewable resource is an undeniable fact. Even so, advances in technology are enabling geologists to find new oil and gas deposits and extract them economically from hard-to-reach places. The extraction industry claims these technologies have ushered in a new era of "environmentally friendly" drilling and exploration, and the Department of Energy estimates there is enough recoverable oil still underground to fuel the world economy well into the next century, if not beyond. But are nonrenewable energy resources the best place to be spending the world's research energy? And if not, what are the alternatives?
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