The Energy Crisis: Oil, Suburbia, and the American Dream

There’s a lot of buzz these days about the energy crisis and oil. In fact, this discussion is one with of mutual dependence and effect.  The impending shortage of oil and natural gas IS the energy crisis, especially in countries of the Western and developed world. The United States is possibly the best case of an increasing cultural addiction to natural gas. But why should we care?  We’re distracted enough from iPods and BMWs, television and music; where does the energy crisis fit into our lives? Petroleum and natural gas power our cars and our electricity; it makes our agricultural crops stronger and allows export of cheap foreign products.  The energy crisis is the reason for all our luxuries; the enetrgy crisis presents an inevitable end to a common affluence America has known for decades.

Without natural gas, Americans would live either in the industrial city or in the raw country, instead of the developments and suburbs that are the hallmarks of American living. Cars make this living arrangement possible:

In the early 1900’s the Industrial Revolution had resulted in these unhealthy, packed cities where thousands of people would live and work. There became a movement to want to live far away from the dirt and smoke, near the country without actually being exposed to the hardships of country living. The first people who could afford to live in developments were the well-to-do. Trolleys and rail cars were paid for by the developers of the communities to take the residents to and from the city. The land was largely still rural in character; the housing itself was beautiful and spacious. The suburbs in the beginning were not like the suburbs of today, which are only a pale imitation of life in the country.

From that time until the 1930’s great Depression, a housing boom that resulted in more people leaving the city. After WWII, the GI bill for returning soldiers held a provision for “no down payment to acquire a house in the new suburban subdivisions” (Keene). 13 million suburban houses were built in the 1950’s, of which 11 million were paid for by GI bill loans (The G). From that point, the suburbs weren’t just for the wealthy, they were for the middle class as well. In these communities, plans included a complete system of schools, stores, and homes. However, the decline of railcars gave way to the popularity of cars; people were able to live even further away from the city than ever before while maintaining a workplace there.

Suburbia

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It is in the relevance of the suburban life to the use of cars that connects it to the looming energy and oil crisis. Individual transport is the main method of transport for those that live the suburban lifestyle; buses and trains are not a monetarily prudent choice in these relatively sparsely populated areas compared to the city. Every year, more and more cars are on the highways. You can get to Maine from Florida without ever leaving the highway! The Interstate Highway System was a major construction project, beginning from its conceptualization in 1939 by GM, that attests to America’s love affair with the car.

But can the Earth support this constant demand for oil? The biggest exporter of oil to the US is usually Canada at 14% (Oil industry Statistics), which might not seem like a lot. The problem is that “almost all of Canada’s energy exports go[es] to the United States” (Canada Energy Data, Statistics, and Analysis ) so we are effectively draining most of Canada’s oil resources. Most Americans know that one of the greatest amounts of recoverable oil on the planet is in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is “the world’s largest producer and exporter of total petroleum liquids” and has 20% of all proven oil reserves (Saudi Arabia Energy Data, Statistics, and Analysis). But how much oil is that? Many sources estimate the number of barrels or oil and natural gas that are still available in the reserves but is this really reliable? “[American] domestic oil reserves would be exhausted [by 2010] at the current rate of consumption” (The Coming Oil Crisis). According to experts, we have anywhere from 20 to 50 years before all oil has been depleted depending on the rate of consumption. Consumption, though, has only increased. As America went from small suburbs with identical home plans to opulent “McMansions”, complete with a pool and al the modern amenities and technology, so has our need for the natural gas and oil to support the functioning of such a lifestyle. To understand the oil dilemma, it is necessary to understand the dilemma of oil extraction:

Oil production occurs in a bell curve correlation (K Deffeyes). At a certain point, production will peak and after that point, the production will decrease, no matter what technologies are invented to refine extraction methods. Also, later oil that is extracted will be of lower quality and more difficult to extract (it is deeper in the ground). This means that oil will become increasingly less efficient to refine, yet more and more expensive to buy. According to M King Hubbert, the geologist who first predicted the Oil Peak in 1956, oil production peaked in the 1970’s. Due to the gas scarcity in the 1970’s it is likely that the peak was delayed until the 1990’s.

Hubbert Peak Oil

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Has the amount of oil in Saudi Arabia peaked? At this point, it is uncertain but it is very probable that it is true. If so, then it can be said that the world oil production, due to the importance of Saudi Arabia’s role in oil production and discovery, is also at a peak (Johnson, Crawford and Burger).

The oil we have today is not found in abundance; it is the remaining well of whatever we have devoured in the past. From a political standpoint, powerful countries realize that with oil comes power. Thus, the enduring military and political presence in the Middle East and influence in other countries of resource availability. The purpose of war in Iraq, as many people are aware of, is the need for oil to sustain the status quo in world powers and in national quality of life. There is the theory of WMD’s or of George W Bush’s personal grudge against Saddam Hussein; however, the magnetic hunger for oil alone is enough reason for the importance of Iraq to American interests.

So how can we make the future more reliably certain, instead of depending on a resource that is decreasing to sustain a quality of life that is only increasing in its demand? What is the reality behind these facts about the energy crisis?

A) American suburban culture does not allow us to walk as much as we drive. To drive less means to expend oil less. To do this, new developments must be made with the idea of self sufficiency and spatial efficiency in mind. Where there are strip malls, there should be multi purpose, multi level facilities for a given community.

B) We must be willing to walk places and use less individual transport. Cars are a defining American cultural artifact, originating and ubiquitous in the US.

C) We must find a better source of renewable energy. While it would be desirable to decrease petroleum and natural gas usage, it would be very important in the near future to totally stop all need for these resources at all. By 2030 (more optimistically, 2060), we will be faced with this reality whether we are prepared or not. If we look at the current alternative energy (ethanol, hydrogen, etc) today, they are all not as feasible as oil because they either (a) use oil/ natural gas as a prerequisite ingredient and/ or (b) are more energetically taxing to produce than their output offsets. These technologies only prolong the inevitable, they do not actually solve the energy crisis. To save the future, the world must find a new energy source or understand that the earth’s capacity to provide for our lifestyles will disappear within our lifetimes.

Oil powers our economy and it is the world economy. From pesticides to shipping fuels and electricity to cars, oil ensures that American life remain on a consistently increasing affluence that was not available to our parents. Unfortunately, the present irreplacability of this natural resource means that the same everyday luxuries we enjoy today may not exist for the next generation.

References:

Canada Energy Data, Statistics, and Analysis. United States Department of Energy. May 2008. <http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Canada/Background.html>

The Coming Oil Crisis. Ecosystems. << http://www.oilcrisis.com/>>

Johnson, Crawford, and Burger. Stategic Significance of America’s Oil Shale Resource: Vol I. US Dept of Energy: March 2004.

K Deffeyes. “Hubbert’s Peak”. 2008. << http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/the-peak.html>>

Keene, Jennifer. Doughboys, the Great War and the Remaking of America. Johns Hopkins University: 2001.

Saudi Arabia Energy Data, Statistics, and Analysis. United States Department of Energy. August 2008. << http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Saudi_Arabia/Background.html>>

“The G”. The Brunswick School. <<http://www.wicknet.org/history/jbooth/CulturalStudies/ACS%20readings/The%20GI%20Bill%20Reading%202.doc>>

~ by paperdreamer on December 11, 2008.