When the demand for, and the consumption of, a stock limited
(exhaustible) resource steadily rises, the price is driven up
until the resource is “economically depleted” which means the
cost of producing the resource is higher than the value of the
product. At that point a substitute (or alternative) resource
becomes exhaustible energy resources heavily relied upon now are
fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) and, to a lesser
extent, nuclear resources. Exhaustible energy powers the economy
of the United States and the lifestyles of its people. More than
85% of U.S. commercial energy is derived from fossil fuels, and
8% from nuclear. Only 7% of our commercial energy is provided by
renewables, mostly as biomass and hydropower, and increasingly
wind and solar. Let’s focus on the most problematic fossil
fuel—petroleum. Currant estimates of readily accessible reserves
suggest we have about 30 years of oil left as long as every
country in the world maintains current consumption patterns,
i.e. consumption will n