WORLD REPORT EDITION    TOP STORY

 

  February 21, 2003

 

The Power of Oil

 

It's costly, it's polluting and other countries control most of it. Is oil worth the trouble?

 

Deep beneath the earth's surface, nature's most powerful substance lies in shiny, sticky pools. Oil began forming hundreds of millions of years ago as plants and animal remains were covered with layers of rock. Over the ages, those remains decayed to form the mighty black brew from which we make gasoline and other fossil fuels. Oil's energy powers our cars, trucks, trains, planes, automobiles, factories and electrical plants. Oil is used to make tires, crayons, even bubblegum.

 

Oil can also make trouble. Some nations sit atop vast underground lakes of oil. Other places - Japan and most European nations, for example - have little, if any, oil of their own. The nations that need oil must buy it from oil-rich countries that control the oil market. This imbalance of power can make relations between nations tricky, says energy expert Robert Ebel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

 

"Four countries - Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Russia - control almost 70% of world oil reserves," says Ebel. "The greater our dependence on foreign oil, the greater the risk that events in oil-producing countries will interfere with our supply."

 

Lately, that risk has grown clearer. A strike in Venezuela, the fifth-biggest oil producer, caused oil prices to jump. The threat of war in oil-rich Iraq has also made prices go up. The United States produces oil, but it also imports about 59% of what it needs. So when foreign oil prices rise, we pay more.

 

A Nation Hooked on Oil

 

The U.S. uses more oil than any other nation. Most is pumped into our 200 million cars in the form of gasoline. On average, an American burns through 25 barrels of oil a year. Compare this with 15 barrels for a citizen of Japan or 12 for a Frenchman.

 

High costs and sticky foreign relations are not the only drawbacks of our oil habit. Oil is also one messy fuel. When fossil fuels burn, they release carbon dioxide and other polluting gases. The gases are bad for our health and our planet. They can trap heat near the earth's surface, contributing to the rise in temperatures known as global warming. In addition, ships carrying oil have accidentally spilled millions of gallons, polluting our oceans and killing sea life.

 

Is There Another Way?

 

If oil is so bad, why do we depend on it? For starters, nearly all of our cars and factories are designed to use oil and gas. Changing them to use other fuels would be very costly. Besides, oil does its job. "We continue to look for a practical oil replacement," says Ebel. "We just haven't found one."

 

Still, it's possible to be less wasteful. In fact, we've done it before. In 1973, a few oil-producing nations got angry at the U.S. and tripled oil prices in just a few months. Gasoline was in short supply, and there were long lines at gas stations. U.S. leaders vowed to cut our reliance on foreign oil. New rules forced auto companies to build cars that use less gas. In 1975, the average car could go just 12 miles on a gallon of gas. By 1990, some got more than 30 miles per gallon.

 

But in recent years, with low oil prices, Americans have gone back to buying big gas-guzzlers. About one of every four cars now sold is a sport utility vehicle (SUV), which get as little as 10 or 11 miles per gallon.

 

"Right now, consumers don't value fuel efficiency," says Eron Shosteck of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "Anytime gas is cheaper than designer bottled water, it's not a big deal."

 

Last month, President Bush called for a $1.2 billion program to develop a pollution-free, hydrogen-powered car. Such a car would solve many problems, but it's at least 20 years away. Other options are available right now. Hybrid cars that run on both electricity and a little gas, like the Honda Insight, are already on the market. And if consumers demanded it, "the average SUV could go from 20 miles per gallon to 40 miles per gallon using available technologies," said Jason Mark of the Union of Concerned Scientists. If world events keep driving up the price of oil, Americans may once again rethink what they're driving.

 

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