Nonrenewable Energy. Efficacy of Oil Resources as a Future Source of Energy

Efficacy of Oil Resources as a Future Source of Energy
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 Efficacy of Oil Resources as a Future Source of Energy
Non-renewable energy resources refer to energy resources that cannot be regenerated once depleted since their formation takes up to billions of years. Fossil fuels are the major form of non-renewable energy in the world. For centuries, fossil fuels have powered the global economy. Coal, oil, and natural gas are the major forms of fossil fuels. They are mainly made up of hydrocarbons. Their use has been on the rise with more coal plants being commissioned and hundreds of permits for gas and oil exploration being given in different parts of the world. Fossil fuels were formed millions of years ago. During that period, the earth was covered by thick vegetation, swamps, and seas. When these plants died, their tissues which were rich in carbon dioxide were sedimented in areas with low oxygen concentration, which prevented their breakdown. Exposed to large amounts of heat and pressure over time, these tissues underwent chemical transformation, becoming coal, oil, or natural gas. These fossil fuels are found in different parts of the world today. The deposits are found deep underground and require advanced technology to explore and drill. The massive advancement in technology that has been witnessed recently has resulted in increased accessibility to previously inaccessible resources. Ocean exploration, hydraulic fracturing, as well as the extraction of oil from heavy sands has also been made possible by technology (Neff, 2016).  
The use of fossil fuels has been associated with adverse environmental effects such as air pollution, waste disposal problems, and climate change. The burning of fossil fuels leads to global warming and ultimately climate change. Extraction and transportation of fossil fuels such as oil also carry the danger of oil spills, which lead to massive environmental degradation. The other disadvantage of fossil fuels, like all other nonrenewable resources, is that they are bound to get depleted. However, despite these disadvantages, fossil fuels are relatively inexpensive to extract, transport, and store. Therefore, they are the main source of energy on earth (Neff, 2016). Oil Resources
Though the scarcest of all the fossil fuels, oil is the most used especially in transportation. It is easy to extract and offers a reliable source of energy.  On top of producing the most energy globally, oil is also used in the manufacture of a wide variety of products. Moreover, it has several advantages over the other fossil fuels such as the ease of transportation. Crude oil is the commodity extracted from the ground. Following extraction, it can be transported either by pipelines or tankers to refineries where it is taken through the fractional distillation process to yield various end products. Approximately half of the conventional oil reserves are found in the Middle East. Unconventional oil reserves have majorly been explored in North America (Neff, 2016). 
As the use of oil increased in the past 50 years, so did the environmental impacts of its production and use. Air pollution and oil spills are some of the major environmental impacts associated with the extraction of oil. In 2010, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico took months to clear, adversely affecting marine life and ecosystems. Due to the high amount of energy required in the unconventional extraction, this type results in higher levels of pollution as compared to the conventional types. On top of releasing higher amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment, the use of tar sands also leads to massive ecological disturbance. During consumption, the burning of oil releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment resulting in climate change. Other hydrocarbons released from the consumption of oil such as nitrogen oxides, lead to a reduction of the quality of urban air, affects human health, and leads to the formation of acid rain (Neff, 2016).Efficacy of Oil Resources as a Future Source of Energy
Though controversy on the use of fossil fuels due to their environmental impact exists, their use will probably go on for a considerable period of time. Debates on the reserves of oil left have raged for years now. For instance, oil production in the United States was projected to hit a peak in the 1970s and then decline. However, the production began rising in 2010, hitting historical levels by 2015. The emergence of new technologies that have increased accessibility to new deposits has managed to cool off the debates. Moreover, due to the rising prices of oil, companies can economically explore oil in more expensive and remote areas. Assuming that no new oil discoveries are to be made, the global oil reserves are projected to last at least 48 years. However, this projection is nowhere near accurate putting into consideration the advancing technology as well as the rise of unconventional extraction. Heavy oil sands and hydraulic fracturing are some of the unconventional methods in use in North America (Neff, 2016). 
The reducing reserves of oil, as well as the high costs of unconventional extraction of oil, raises questions about the efficacy of the oil as a future source of energy. The doubts over oil’s efficacy are increased by the increased volatility of prices of oil. For instance, while a barrel of oil sold for US$100 in 2014, a barrel sold for US$40 in 2016 (Baumeister & Kilian, 2016). As the standards o...