The Energy Crisis

Energy Crisis

Justine Rae M. Guinto
ABCA

An energy crisis occurs when prices rise in the supply of energy resources to a community, society or country. It most commonly refers to the shortage of oil and other natural resources. It may be referred to as an oil crisis, petroleum crisis, energy shortage, electricity shortage or electricity crisis.

The current problem with energy crisis today is the continuing and unreasonable rise of prices of gasoline (petrol) and other oil. People find it hard to control. Back in the day you could pay a small amount of money and still get almost a full tank; pay the same amount today and you get less than half. Other difficulties arising from the energy crisis is the environmental perils it causes due to our constant reliance on fossil fuels.

Causes of energy crisis are numerous: one of this is over-consumption. The current population of earth is growing and growing, and with that many number of people, there will be more demands for energy. The more demands for energy there is, the more people rely on getting more energy, hence the rise of gasoline and oil prices.

As well as the upheaval of prices, it also affects the social, political and economic aspects of either the community, society or even the whole country. Due to competition for those supplies there could be rising political instabilities. And while these countries compete, others which already have access to oil could have internal conflicts with other states due to the steady rise of energy prices and demands. Conflicts over energy access are sure to happen. The coming years could be marked by frequent resource wars as more countries try to top each other for control of the world’s hydrocarbons.

Along with this, the environment is also in danger of being fully stripped of its resources due to our continuing addiction to oil, natural gas and coal.

Some of the effects of energy crisis are the reduction in number of businesses which are dependant on gasoline to be able to operate.

Since people spend so much on fuel, they have less money for other things. This means they cannot spend money on consumer goods, restaurants, entertainment which are all seeing less traffic and earning less money. It also produces devastating results for other stores who do not sell on the internet, like eBay or Amazon do. More and more people buy their things online rather than paying for gas to drive to the mall.

As it was said, sixty-five percent of our garbage is biomass: food, paper, scrap wood. All of it could be converted to methanol, which is said to be twice as efficient as cellulosic ethanol, supposedly the next big thing in alternative fuels. Coal could also be used as a good alternative; instead of feeding it to power plants (which is dirty and inefficient in use) it could be converted to clean-burning methanol. Black liquor, which is a toxic by-product of the paper industry, could also be converted into methanol.

When it comes to gasoline and cars, why not rig every vehicle sold in the country to be flex-fuel compatible so that it can run on just about any blend of hydrocarbon-based fuels—like gasoline, ethanol, methanol, etc? Technology for this already exists, and the process is remarkably cheap.

Improving technology could also be of great help. We need a good alternative to fossil fuels; for example, like harnessing vast amounts of solar power and start storing the carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants underground. We also need green buildings that demand less energy for heating and cooling, and automobiles that get vastly more miles per gallon. If your workplace is not that far from home, why not use a car powered by an electric battery? Although it is much slower than your average car (which requires gas), it nevertheless proves to last longer than the latter.

In our small community, some of us have purchased a product called the Superkalan. Basically, it’s just your average ihawan (which, of course, you have to operate the outside the house lest you want it to be full off and smell like smoke). But with the all the commotion of the continuing rise of gas prices (for the stove), we have decided to resort to what Mother Nature still has to offer, just like in the good old days. Instead of using the gas stove to cook meals 24/7, we now use this instead (except in the morning and other special occasions that need quick cooking). We also use wood for fuel instead of your usual coal. Although the black, powdery residue it brings forth sticks to the butt of the pot or pan you place atop—which is rather inevitable anyway—it is nevertheless a great means of using up the spare wood lying around after a storm and saving money because of our lessening need for the gas needed for our stove. Saves nature, saves money.