Oil prices change as a result of many factors — weather, political disputes and other global problems. Meanwhile, China’s and India’s growing economies are putting an extra strain on an ever-dwindling oil supply. The United States faces a choice: either continue to scramble for oil invest in alternative fuels.
     Problems that impact the oil and gasoline supply are inevitable. In the face of such instability, however, Americans continue to consume. Transportation contributes to 65 percent of oil use in the United States, but the extent of consumption goes much further than that. Every year, 400 gallons of oil equivalents fuel the creation of inorganic fertilizer, the operation of field machinery and the transportation of products to feed each American, according to a January 2005 newsletter from the Sierra Club’s Redwood Chapter.
The United States has only 2.3 percent of the world’s oil reserves but uses 140 billion gallons of gasoline, almost 30 percent of the oil extracted worldwide each year, according to the Energy Information Administration. In a 2007 article in The Independent, a United Kingdom newspaper, Dr. Colin Campbell, the former chief geologist and vice-president of major oil companies such as BP and Shell, said he expects that the world’s oil reserves will peak in 2011. From that point on, oil will be harder and harder to find and thus more and more expensive.
    The world’s major powers are battling to gain control over this dwindling supply. China, the world's most populous country, has struck relations with Venezuela— one of the top five suppliers of United States oil — which could threaten the United States’ oil supply, according to a December 2004 BBC United Kingdom article.
Aside from such economic and political issues, oil use is clearly linked to climate change. Like other fossil fuels, oil can cause pollution and environmental degradation throughout its lifecycle of extraction, processing, transportation and use.
     But what can the US invest in, other than oil?

Ethanol
    In President George W. Bush’s proposal to reducing the nation’s foreign oil dependence by 2017, ethanol, a type of bioalcohol on which cars can run, plays a leading role. Many cities and states already require gasoline to be blended with 10 percent alcohol for most of the year in part to comply with federal pollution limits. Bioalcohol can be produced in the United States; however, such production requires energy to grow, transport and refine, according to the 2007 article from The Independent. In fact, ethanol from corn grain produces only 25 percent more energy than all the energy people invested in it, according to the September 2006 issue of Scientific American magazine.

Biodiesel
    Restaurants waste 11 billion liters of vegetable oil annually. Biodiesel enthusiasts believe that if these vast quantities of oil were used for fuel, almost 1 percent of oil consumption would be offset. Corn oil, soybean oil and sunflower oil can all be converted into fuel. Both biodegradable and nontoxic, biodiesels can be grown in the United States. However, biodiesel still produces carbon dioxide when it burns and is not cost effective to make new when waste oil from restaurants is unavailable, according to AP environmental science teacher Kathy Melvin.

Hydrogen Fuel Cells
     The negatives of the hydrogen fuel cell, an electrochemical energy conversion device that produces electricity from hydrogen, currently outweigh the benefits: Hydrogen is a limited element difficult to manufacture. The practicality of hydrogen depends on what it is derived from. “Most hydrogen comes from petroleum,” Melvin said. “As long as we get the hydrogen from petroleum, fuel cells are not going to be a solution, because the problem is that we don’t have enough.”  If the hydrogen is derived from sunlight or microbes, the hydrogen fuel cell could be practical as a source of energy, she added.
     Some researchers continue to hope that hydrogen fuel cells could ultimately replace petroleum, as they are permanent, renewable and clean, with only water as a byproduct.

Natural Gas
    Natural gas can be an efficient and clean energy alternative for U.S. homes, structures and vehicles. “Natural gas works as a bridge technology in the sense that it is produced by petroleum products, but also can be produced by waste digestion,” Melvin said.  Introducing bacteria to waste such as sewage causes it to decompose and release methane and other gases that can serve as a renewable energy source.

Fuel Efficiency
      Fuel efficiency is another vital component to freedom from oil. The former U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, which the government no longer funds, stated that existing technology, such as that used to create hybrid and electric cars, could raise the efficiency of the entire U.S. automotive fleet to 35 miles per gallon by 2010, which would save consumers about $65 billion yearly ($576 per household). Hybrid technology can also reduce air pollutants, cut oil imports in half and create about 244,000 new jobs for the economy. Currently, General Motors and Toyota are selling the efficient hybrid alternatives, which reduce wasted energy during idle and low output, recapture waste energy and reduce the size and power of a car’s internal combustion engine.

Cutting Down
     As a nation, Americans are notorious for being wasteful and thus need governmental policies that make being energy efficient, purchasing energy-efficient products and relying on public transportation beneficial to the consumer. “The model of everyone driving a single-occupancy vehicle is inefficient,” Melvin said. “Better energy alternatives will not change the petroleum problem if we do not change this model, and shift to better public transit.”
     No matter what alternative fuel sources the nation switches to, in the long-term, it won’t make a difference unless the nation changes its ways, according to Melvin. Since the production of alternative fuel sources such as natural gas and hydrogen fuel cells generally requires petroleum and mining, consumers can’t ever be entirely independent of oil. Reducing consumption is thus ultimately the biggest issue.
    Less reliance on oil would mean less of a need to focus on oil exploration and get into messy international tangles with other nations.