America's energy famine: its cause and cure

Book · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:7041582

Knowles, R S

In this book Ruth Sheldon Knowles, an internationally recognized petroleum specialist, clarifies the domestic and foreign issues which underlie the current oil famine and spells out the hard choices the American public faces on energy priorities in the near future. She explains how we came to be so dependent on foreign, including Arab, oil and discusses the corporate, national, and international policies that lie behind our current energy crisis. Although the decisions are not simple, Ms. Knowles firmly believes that self-sufficiency is not a dim hope but a clear possibility, as alternate sources of energy are developed and discovered. But she makes equally clear that, until the end of this century, the economy of the US requires an adequate supply of oil and gas and that such a supply cannot be achieved unless further oil discovery is encouraged. Geologists estimate that, with present technology, as much oil and gas remains to be discovered in the US both on- and offshore, as has been found in the last hundred years. Its discovery depends upon economic incentive and access to these resources, since half of our energy potential lies under federal and state lands. The immediate development of coal reserves, nuclear technology, and synthetic fuels involves controversial public policy. This book details the way new technology can reconcile essential energy resource development with the maintenance and improvement of the quality of our environment. It examines the roles of conservation and of solar energy, the timetable for America's energy self-sufficiency, and the politics and economics of today's energy problems.

• OSTI ID: 7041582
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200 -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
021000 -- Petroleum-- Legislation & Regulations
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
292000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Supply
Demand & Forecasting
293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
294002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
ENERGY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY SUPPLIES
EXPLORATION
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MATERIALS
NATURAL GAS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR ENERGY
PETROLEUM
RECOMMENDATIONS
SYNTHETIC FUELS
USA