America is addicted to fossil fuels for its energy and transportation needs, even George W. Bush said so in the State of the Union Address in 2006. Over 90 percent of the energy we use in the United States comes from burning fossil fuels. In the year 2001, the United States consumed over 19.6 billion gallons of petroleum oil. This figure represents 26.1 percent of the total world oil consumption for the year 2001. Approximately 50 percent of US oil consumption is by private automobiles.
- There is a finite amount of fossil fuel left on the planet.
- The majority of the world's remaining fossil fuel is located outside the borders of the United States.
- The burning of fossil fuel is harmful to our environment.
There is a finite amount of fossil fuel left on the planet. Most experts agree that there are between 990 billion to 1.1 trillion barrels of accessible crude petroleum oil left on the planet. The BP World Energy Review 2002 puts the number at 1.05 trillion. At the current rate of usage, 24 billion barrels a year, the world will run out of oil by the year 2043. Furthermore, if the demand for crude continues to increase at the same rate that it has in the past, the world’s oil supply may be depleted of as soon as the year 2020. As the oil supply becomes scarcer, the remaining oil will become more expensive and more fiercely coveted. Vegetable oil based fuels, on the other hand, are renewable and can be produced perpetually as long as people take care of the land that the oil producing crops are grown on.
The majority of the world's remaining fossil fuel is located outside the borders of the United States. According to British Petroleum’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2002 report, The United States has a total of 30.3 billion barrels of proved oil reserves. This represents about 2.9% of the world’s total oil supplies and presents a number of problems for our country. First, it’s a strain on our economy because we send resources abroad, rather than using them to employ American workers. Second, piping and transportation infrastructure are expensive, create additional pollution in the manufacturing process, and create risks for devastating oil spills. Perhaps the most dangerous problem of America’s foreign fuel dependency is the potential for conflict and war. While it is difficult to calculate what percentage of military spending is incurred as a result of oil interests, a basic overview of Pentagon strategy reveals that oil interests loom large in planning. As our country continues to slash domestic services to support an ever-increasing military budget, home-produced sustainable fuel sources, such as vegetable oil/bio-diesel, could justify reductions in Pentagon spending, free up resources for schools and health care, create jobs, and reduce the need (or the perceived need) for wars abroad.The burning of fossil fuel is harmful to our environment. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (formed by The World Meteorological Institute and the United Nations) reports that the average temperature of the earth’s surface has increased 1.08 degrees Fahrenheit (.6 degrees Celsius) over the last hundred years and that the planet is now warmer that it has been in at least 420,000 years. The IPCC goes on to state that, “in light of new evidence and taking into account the remaining uncertainties, most of the observed warming… is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.” According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, about 95 percent of carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions in the United States come from burning fossil fuel. It is not longer up for debate that the burning of fossil fuels is the major cause of global warming and global climate change, the question now is, what to do about it.
As a consumer of approximately 25 percent on the world's fossil fuels,
America has an obligation to radically change our consumption habits for the good of the planet.
- Melting ice caps and the destruction of the arctic bioregion
- Rising sea levels and the loss of land and habitat involved
- Ocean-wide degradation of coral reefs (Coral reefs are known to oceanographers as the “lungs of the ocean”)
- Planetary disruption of hydrological systems
- Increasing extremes in weather patterns throughout the world
One must also take into account the planet-wide degradation of our air supply that results from fossil fuel consumption and the problems caused by oil spills in the oceans and along the coasts of the world. These problems can be traced directly to the oil industry and the over-consumption of oil for American automobiles.
Biodiesel use results in major reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Switching from petroleum to vegetable based fuels can make substantial reductions in each of the eight categories of greenhouse gasses. This includes 100% reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions, 50% reduction in carbon monoxide emissions, 60% reductions in soot emissions, 50% reductions in hydrocarbon emissions, 75% reductions in polycyclic aromatic carcinogenic (PAH) emissions. Perhaps most importantly, a switch to bio-diesel would result in not only dropping new carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, but would actually reduce the existing carbon dioxide as well, because plants absorb much more CO2 than their combustion produces. Imagine, fields of sunflowers fueling our country’s transportation rather than the burning oil fields of the Middle East.
While the majority of the countries of the world ratified the Kyoto Protocols, vowing to shift to sustainable energy, The United States remains one of the few holdouts, seeming to lack both the consciousness and the political will to address what may well be the most critical issue of our time. The BIO Tour project plans to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and encourage the US not only to fall in line with the world, but to actually take the lead in transitioning to Sustainable Energy Now!