Finite Energy Resources for a Growing Population

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued an updated attempt to alert the public to problems associated with the trend in energy consumption. In a report titled the International Energy Outlook, it projects that in 2040 the United States will still be highly dependent on fossil fuels for its energy despite the current trend in increasing “clean” energy production, e.g., solar, nuclear, hydro and wind. It finds that the country will still depend on non-renewable supplies of coal, oil and natural gas, the latter two augmented by “fracking.”This report has major implications for the U.S. in terms of both the worldwide trend of steep increases in energy consumption and the U.S. trend. The U.S. energy future is complicated by our fast growing population – primarily because of immigration – and the energy consumption’s impact on the environment. The unsolved question that looms for future generations is what will happen as those non-renewable energy resources begin to wane.