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It’s a measure of just how dependent the world has become on fossil fuels that we call any other form of energy production “alternative” energy. Ironically, humans relied on many of these so-called alternatives long before they learned to burn coal or refine petroleum into heating oil and gasoline, relying on the sun and the wind to keep themselves comfortable. Yet these Stone Age strategies, and many others, are today labeled not only alternative, but too often “experimental,” “impractical” or “anti-progress”—and undeservedly so.

It is the aim of this book to provide an overview of energy sources and strategies beyond fossil fuels and along the way to dispel many of the misconceptions about them. Based on facts and figures rather than unsubstantiated claims and scare tactics, this book should inspire, inform and enlighten readers.

Why Do We Need Alternatives? To answer that question, we need to start by discussing fossil fuels—what they are, where they come from, how they are used and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Within this context, the pressing need for alternatives becomes quite clear.

The continent Australia can be seen as having the unluckiest hand in the geological draw. Instead of being a part of Pangea, the large mass that other continents broke off from millions of years ago, Australia was part of a super-continent situated closely to the South Pole, Gwondanaland. It has experienced a drift over the past millennia, but to a less amiable position than most, to a latitude where dry and arid temperatures are the norm. While other continents experienced tectonic fluctuations that promoted fossil fuel formation, Australia continued to remain the driest of all continents, a hard and rough landscape, more conducive to coal formation than to the formation of crude oil deposits. In fact, Australia continues to be the largest exporter of coal (mostly to China), but their oil reserves started at the smallest of amounts at nine billion barrels, about half a percent of the world's supplies. Luckily, Australia possesses quite a small population due to its harsh landscape and oil usage has been pretty conservative.

Australia has been mostly self-sufficient with its oil production and usage, as 85% of the oil used is domestically produced. However, reserves are dwindling as oil usage is on the rise. Estimates show that by 2010, Australian oil supplies will only provide 42% of their need and will be forced to import the difference, mostly form Middle Eastern reserves. The population of Australia has experienced 300% growth since 1945, but mostly to the coastal cities, while its rural populations have dwindled. The cities are heavily motor vehicle dependent, making need for oil supplies to increase. Because Australia is an island quite separated from other continents, transport of imports to their population is very costly. Transportation of all products throughout Australia is dominated by semis and eighteen-wheelers. As a result, oil dependence continues to grow.

Energy Tags: clean energy, solar energy

Oil and Gas companies profits are being kept components of their business which reflect their core business competencies in-house. However, with the release of the Exxon Mobile Profit, being the highest of any public trading company ever, is said to be over $40 Billion dollars! Looks as if the American Consumers took it in the chin again!

Oil & gas can be a very profitable investment. The companies typically pay a 12 to 16 percent royalty on oil and gas they extract from federally owned waters. Thus making royalty payments the second largest source of government revenue next to taxes, bringing in approximately $9 billion in annual revenues which historically provided needed funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Historic Preservation Trust Fund, the oil-producing states and the general treasury. These businesses deal with a massive amount of data. Of this massive amount of data the oil and gas industry profits make up a large portion. Oil and gas companies profits may sometimes have very long compute cycles that may last for weeks. As prices slid more than $2 a barrel Thursday amid economic worries this did not hamper the oil and gas companies profits. This was quite evident at the fuel pumps! More on Imagine - Exxon Mobile Oil and Gas Companies Profits Breaks All Records Again!

European energy company E.ON has reported losses this month so far, due to the falling prices of crude oil. With all the panic at the beginning of the year are we finally seeing some much needed price drops for energy?

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Northern Alberta, Canada is the location of a very large, rich oil sand field. The Athabasca oil sands are named for the Athabasca River, where the oil sands are easily seen from the river banks. One third of the world's oil sands are found here in Alberta, Canada and in Venezuela. The Athabasca oil sands field is unique in that the oil sands are located very near the surface and can be easily surface mined.

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