Oil Dependency: Increase Research Funds

Brian Turner Turner 1

Professor Dimon

English 091

November 5, 2006

"Oil Dependency: Increase Research Funds"

America's dependency on foreign oil is slowly crippling the average citizen's hard-earned income with outrageous fluctuation in gas prices. The American government seriously needs to step it in gear and start taking action on possible supplemental energy sources to replace foreign oil and actually begin providing those sources to the public without overpricing. Today's foreign oil is polluting our air and crushing we as American's pockets. "Rising U.S. demand for imported oil accounts for more than a third of the U.S. trade deficit, draining more than $500 million per day out of the U.S. economy. Burning oil fouls the air, harms public health, and contributes significantly to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere" (www.fcnl.org). The problem in today's American society is greed. There are too many corporate giants that are afraid of their back pocket deflating. If we were to provide these possible alternate energy resources, the corporate giants would have to take a cut in their billion dollar salary in order for the American consumer to afford the alternative. This idea would be very tough to accomplish. My proposal is for politicians, who have the necessary power, to begin a national campaign on helping to increase research funds for alternative fuel sources.

The national increase in research funds could greatly benefit this countries oil dependency. There are several companies that are in the process of developing alternative

Bryant 2

resources for fuel. We have already seen the new hybrid cars begin coming out to attempt the cut back on foreign oils. But these alternatives are not quite efficient enough to completely replace gas as the main source of fuel. This reason is mainly because, though the fuel cost is cut being hybrid, the engine durability is not matching up to the old trusty gas and diesel engines. But with more money for further research into the problem, this

could ultimately become obsolete with the hybrid car. There are other means of possible future solutions to our oil dependency, one being hydrogen fuel cars. This is my main personal solution to oil energy. The process of retracting hydrogen from water to be stored within a power cell is genius. This fuel cell is the power source for the car's engine to run. Maker's of this cell are attempting to develop a hydrogen power center than can be kept at the owner's residence for fuel fill-ups. The idea is for water to be pumped within this power center and then separate the hydrogen molecules to be stored within a hydrogen cell. This greater hydrogen cell within the center would be able to be pumped or drained into the car's power cell, ultimately creating an alternative fuel source for motor vehicles. With good intentions, there are already some companies sponsoring further research for this technology. "The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership includes the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), whose members are DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation; and five major energy companies. The government research program supporting the partnership's goals is part of the administration's $1.7 billion initiative over five years to advance