American Consumers and the growing energy crisisThe Effects on Transportation Industry - Essay Example

Tremendous increase in the price of petrol and diesel and other fuel also has had an adverse impact on the transportation industry. This paper discusses the effects of the growing energy crisis on the transportation industry. There are many causes for the increase in the consumption of energy and, as stated earlier, the main reason can be attributed the population explosion. Mass immigration is the driving force behind this unprecedented and environmentally damaging surge in our population ("Alert Archive", 2001, March).

Supply of fuel is too less to meet the demands. This increase in demand is in turn due to the increase in the population. The United States of America is the dream land for many people outside America. People become ecstatic if they get an opportunity to live in the USA and settle down there with family and friends. The funny part is that these immigrants do not realize that they would suffer because of themselves! So, this increase in population and in turn the increase in demand and the shortage of supply have led to what we call the energy crisis.

This is the obvious reason. The Energy Crisis has two huge effects: Energy will become much more expensive and no longer abundantly available. This is severe: we use energy for almost everything, so this has an effect on all facets of live. First it will give a reach/distance contraction within the economy (less transport and less mobility, due to high energy prices). Second it will (due to the fact that energy is used for everything), make everything more expensive ("The Credit Crisis joins the Energy Crisis: Creating the Perfect Storm", 2008, para.4) This crisis has an impact on various areas like the stock markets, gold and so on.

But it is relatively more on the transportation industry. In America, it looks like people would find themselves in a financial constraint to get to their homes from workplaces and vice versa! The issue of transport is now tugging at the sleeves of every person in America mainly due to the increase in cost of fuel. Especially, in a place like America where most of the people rely on public transportation, a bigger impact is felt. Here, the transportation industry includes not just the buses, cars and other vehicles but all other related factors right from the manufacturing of the vehicles, the infrastructure construction and maintenance and other facilities.

Every process is affected because of this crisis. The transportation industry will suffer, because the consumption of energy is not restricted to refilling the fuel tank alone. There are many other areas where energy is consumed in various forms for different purposes. Some of them are stated below. Vehicle manufacture, maintenance and disposal. The energy spent for manufacturing and recycling vehicles is a direct function of vehicle complexity, material used, fleet size and vehicle life cycle.

(Rodrigue & Comtois, 2006)Vehicle operation. Mainly involves energy used to provide momentum to vehicles, namely as fuels, as well as for intermodal operations. The fuel markets for transportation activities are significant. (Rodrigue & Comtois, 2006)Infrastructure construction and maintenance. The building of roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, terminals, ports and airports and the provision of lighting and signaling equipment