New Energy Sources - Sample

As the global economy develops, the demand for energy resources such as oil and natural gas is rapidly increasing. As such, corporations and governments are now aiming to locate additional deposits in previously unmapped and uninhabited regions of the world. However, this essay will outline why this approach is unsustainable in the long term.

New discoveries of oil and gas reservoirs will indubitably bring economic benefits in the short term. Increasing the supply will put downward pressure on the price of fossil fuels, and in turn keep inflation in check. This brings a host of benefits not only for individual consumers but also for nation-states. Furthermore, developing economies require energy in order to maintain their growth, and new discoveries have the potential to relieve strained oil reserves and fuel economic prosperity.

However, our global fossil fuel supply is unlikely to meet demand in the coming decades. It is a well-established fact that as nations develop their economies, their energy requirements will also grow, as the world has seen with a multitude of nations throughout history, particularly from the 20th century onward. This can clearly be seen by comparing past and current energy consumption within advanced economies, such as the United States and China, both of whom have had meteoric growth in the past 100 years, along with an equally substantial appetite for energy. Emerging economies in previously underdeveloped regions, such as those in Africa and Asia, are therefore expected to put enormous pressure on the global supply of energy. Such circumstances become untenable when we recognize that both the world population and the global economy are projected to grow in the coming decades, and that fossil fuels are non-renewable. While we can certainly stabilize our energy production in the short term by discovering new oil and gas fields, it is improbable that we will satisfy the international energy requirements until the end of the century using fossil fuels. Thus, investments into locating untapped petroleum reservoirs are wasteful and shortsighted.

Furthermore, diverting resources towards oil and gas means that the international community will take even longer to develop alternative energy sources. Solar, wind, and hydropower are in dire need of funding to develop their technological capabilities to one day meet our demands. These renewable energy sources are almost infinite and definitively safer than fossil fuels, but they require more time and effort invested to replace carbon-based fuels as our main energy source. Therefore, considering our limited time and resources, any amount spent on outdated oil and gas is taking away from a possible future of clean and virtually limitless energy. Moreover, additional investments in non-renewable energy will undoubtedly increase our dependence on and consumption of these polluting and costly resources, incurring further environmental and human costs.

In conclusion, while there are short-term benefits to be had, the disadvantages are too significant to argue in favor of continued investments into non-renewable energy resources.