How can US lessen fossil fuel dependence

Reducing the Dependence on Fossil Fuels
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Abstract
Three reasons necessitate a shift from the traditional good old fossil fuel system. These include rising cost of fossil fuel extraction, continued depletion of that resource and the detrimental impacts of fossil fuels on the environment. The global consumption of fossil fuel is getting close to the maximum allowable use if the allowable temperature rise is to be contained within the agreed 20C. The continued use of fossil fuel dependent inventions is thus highly unsustainable. For this reasons, identification of alternatives is of prime importance. Among the best-placed alternatives to solve this challenge is the intensification in nuclear, solar, wind and bio-fuels energy. These products are renewable and therefore can be used infinitely and are clear. Clean energy means that the sources do not produce greenhouse gasses that are contributing to the witnessed climate change. To achieve this, the US will need a paradigm shift. Structural and legal frameworks should be applied to offer incentives to individuals or organizations that concentrate on investments that produce clean, renewable energy. There should also be state withdrawal of assistance in projects that are involved in the production of fossil fuels.

Introduction
Fossil fuel has been the primary energy source since the industrial revolution. Its availability has been a major determinant of the pace with which an economy thrives.

For this reason, most economies have invested considerably in its exploration. Although mainly produced by the OPEC member countries in the Middle East, the product is uniformly vital across the globe. According to the U.S. Energy information Administration, the US consumes approximately 7.08 billion barrels of petroleum products annually. This translates into a daily usage of 19.4 million bpd. This accounts for estimated 35% of the daily total energy consumption for the United States denoting the importance of the resource. Fossil fuel based energy sources are either mined or imported from OPEC and the Persian Gulf countries. Of the locally produced sources, 4.74milliom barrels per day are exported to over 147 countries around the globe while 9.45million barrels per day are imported making the net import rate to be 4.7million barrels per day. (“How much petroleum does the United States import and export? – FAQ – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)”, 2016) In general, fossil fuels have accounted for over 80% of the energy sources in the US for the last 100 years, and the trend is expected to continue far into the foreseeable future.
Despite this, there is need to diversify from reliance on fossil fuels. Global markets for the product have been falling drastically over the past years reducing the economic viability of mining coal. More importantly, the course for environmental sustainability continues to demand evaluation of cleaner sources of energy. Concerning the market and sustainability challenges, the US should utilize the current extensive technology to harvest alternative sources of energy such as the wind, solar, bio-fuels and nuclear to drive the economy.
Problem Statement
Fossil fuels have been the key drivers of the economy as we know it. The use of petroleum energy allowed the revolutionization of agriculture through mechanization and therefore it enabled people to produce enough food to sustain the growing population and even sell the surplus. It has also contributed significantly to globalization through its impact in powering transportation systems. (Morgan, 2015) Despite its importance, it is becoming increasing important to restructure the economy to have key drivers that are independent of fossil fuels. There are three significant factors that necessitate this change. The primary factor is that this is a non-renewable resource. Global reserves are rapidly diminishing and therefore an alternative is required. Secondly, the cost of drilling the crude oil continues to escalate with the increased cost of labor and other requirements. (Tegg, 2016) Countries have an exponentially growing debt and therefore this rising cost is no longer sustainable. Eventually, its impact on the environment is becoming unanimously frowned upon across the globe. 2016 is anticipated to be the first year where carbon levels will remain above 400 ppm for the entire year. (“Earth’s CO2 Home Page”, 2016) Carbon has a blanket effect and an excess of it in the atmosphere cause retention of higher atmospheric temperatures which results in dire impacts on the environment. These include climatic changes, rising sea levels, and aggravated occurrence of natural catastrophic events such as hurricanes due to changes in significant atmospheric pressure levels and trade winds. During the Paris United Nations Convention for environmental change, global leaders agreed that it was necessary to retain temperature rise within 20C. According to Bill McKibben, this figure can only be kept if fossil fuel burning is kept within 565 GT. (Clark, 2016) There are more than 2700 proven sources of fossil fuel in the earth’s crust which means we can only use about a fifth of it to maintain a sustainable climate change. A substantial amount of this has already been consumed. It is, therefore, essential that alternative sources of energy be sought.
Recommendations
The US needs to focus on cleaner renewable energy sources. Luckily, current developments in technology continue to make this possible. One of the alternatives that offer an immense opportunity for the actualization of this is an investment in nuclear energy. There are controversial issues regarding nuclear energy extraction, and most political school of thoughts is formed either for or against the use of nuclear energy. However, the use of Uranium to generate nuclear energy has considerable advantages. The use of nuclear energy reduces the dependency on fossil fuels and therefore reduces the rate of greenhouse gasses emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, a little amount of the energy produces a lot of power. This reduces the cost of production, transport, and supply. Besides, its generation is continuous and therefore minimizes price fluctuations allowing for planning and uninterrupted industrial production. Lastly, nuclear energy, unlike the other recommendations to be made hereafter does not dependent on natural cycles which increase its dependability.
Solar energy is another important alternative that can be used to substitute for fossil fuels. The applicability of this immense resource is grossly understudied. Among the chief benefits of solar energy is that it is available in infinite supply. In any case, the harvesting of solar energy has no bearing on the quality of sun energy received in the immediately adjacent area. Secondly, although the initial investment is relatively high, the subsequent investment is negligible and therefore cheaper in the long run. Most of the US states have an average greater than 4 Sun Hours per day which is equivalent to more that four kilowatt-hours for each square meter. (“Solar Insolation – Sun Hours Per Day”, 2016) When considering a combination of solar and biomass energy, the US has over 586,687 Quadrillion BTU’s of energy which is even higher than that available from fossil fuels. Intensification in investing in these areas, therefore, has huge capacity fro growth.
Biofuels and ethanol can be used either as substitutes for fossil fuels or additives to the fossil fuels. Thos will reduce the number of fossil fuels that must be burned and therefore bring the US closer to the target of minimizing dependency on fossil fuels. To achieve these results, the US will require conducting an extensive education and ensuring that major stakeholders understand the need for the rapid shift. There must also be an accompanying change in structural and legal frameworks to focus incentives on investments in clean, renewable energy and discouragement on overreliance in fossil fuels.
Conclusion
Fossil fuel sources of energy have been terrific in the past to propel industrialization and development forward. However, various reasons are making continued reliance on it grossly unsustainable. It is, therefore, paramount that alternative sources energy be identified. Luckily, technological inventions of today allow people to try out more possibilities than was possible numerous years back. Among the options that are available for the US include the use of nuclear energy, increased utilization of solar energy. Change in structural and legal frameworks to enhance these possibilities will be highly beneficial in creating avenues for financial and environmental sustainability.

References
Clark, D. (2016). How much of the world’s fossil fuel can we burn?. the Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/keep-it-in-the-ground-blog/2015/mar/25/what-numbers-tell-about-how-much-fossil-fuel-reserves-cant-burn
Earth’s CO2 Home Page. (2016). CO2.Earth. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from https://www.co2.earth/
How much petroleum does the United States import and export? – FAQ – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2016). Eia.gov. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6
Morgan, K. (2015). THE NEED FOR FOSSIL FUEL (1st ed., pp. 1-4). Kinder Morgan White Paper.
Solar Insolation – Sun Hours Per Day. (2016). Bigfrogmountain.com. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from http://www.bigfrogmountain.com/SunHoursPerDay.html
Tegg, D. (2016). The Economy And Fossil Fuels | The New Economics Party. Neweconomics.net.nz. Retrieved 8 November 2016, from http://neweconomics.net.nz/index.php/863-2/the-economy-and-fossil-fuels/