Time’s up: Alt-fuels offer best bet in energy crisis

Samuel Beckett’s classic play Waiting for Godot features two tramps who hold vigil by a tree and wait for the arrival of M. Godot, who never comes. That’s us.

We’re standing by waiting for the silver bullet that will give us a painless alternative to our massive consumption of oil. There is no silver bullet. The time has come to take every action available to pave a new energy pathway.

Oil is finite. Although there is no consensus, it is widely believed that global oil supply has peaked or soon will peak, meaning we have used half of the extractable known reserves. Growing demand from China and India is expected to increase 4 percent to 7 percent per year. China will surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest user by 2025.

The U.S. transportation sector is 97 percent crude-oil dependent. Although there are those who say oil must remain the economic engine, the engine is stalling outside the halls of Congress. Middle-class America watches while oil companies amass record profits. Yet in the face of rising fuel costs, consumers continue to increase miles traveled and purchase large vehicles. Our energy-intensive lifestyle has become a perilous American “right.”

The Arizona Republic