End of Oil: Alternative Energy Sources vs. Oil as Energy - Essay Example

The man responsible for the drill was Colonel Edwin Drake and the well then came to be known as Drake Well after his name. It can be said that the real intensive search for oil began thereafter. Corsicana came to be known as the next major oil field in the state of Texas. By 1901, it became one of the largest oil producing fields in the country outside Pennsylvania. During 1922-23, the state of California came to be known as the top oil producing state in the US. The Southern California region comprised of Signal Hill, Huntington Beach, and Santa Fe was the most prominent oil-producing region at that time meeting one-fourth of the world demand.

The major oil discoveries in the first 50 years came from the US (History of Oil, 2011). New Discoveries vs. Production-consumption Scenario Campbell (2011) argues that global oil discovery peaked in the 1960s. Since 1981 the world has been using more oil than it finds. The gap is ever increasing between discovery and its production. It is a fact that the stock of this natural commodity is now on the decline. It is quite likely that by the end of this century petroleum stocks would have almost exhausted from this earth and with that perhaps the era of economic development based on oil also.

Source: http://www.oilcrisis.com/campbell/ Alternative Energy Sources vs. Oil as Energy Alternative sources of energy including renewable ones cannot replace fossil fuels as currently 86 percent of the world's energy needs are met with only fossil fuels. Moors (2012) argues that the cost of producing energy from alternative sources such as solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear is many times higher than it costs to produce energy from fossil fuels and that is the major stumbling block in harnessing the alternative sources of energy.

This may only happen when the oil prices go up due to oil shortages likely to be created in the next few decades. Though energy cost from solar cells has reduced substantially in the last two decades still the cost economics is not lucrative enough that can replace oil as an energy source on a large scale. Wind energy has its limitation to being available mostly onshore and cannot meet huge energy requirements in the hinterland to replace oil. Nuclear energy is not favored for its waste management issues and potential future hazards for mankind.

Major consumption of oil is in running the automobile sector and no economically viable technology is readily available that can replace the oil in this sector; moreover, it is highly unlikely that a radically different yet technically and economically suitable technology is developed in near future or at least in next two decades that can replace oil completely and that is the biggest dilemma before mankind (Peak Oil, 2005). Likely Consequences to Mankind When oil is on its way to depletion in the next few decades, it will be interesting to explore the likely consequences for humans in the coming years.