Industrial Revolution - Oil Has Become Scarce, What Is the Best Alternative and Why?

SSBE

Tutor: Sarah O’Brien

Mohsin Nabil Mohsin

Oil has become scarce, what is the best alternative and why?

Heriot-Watt University

After the industrial revolution from 1750 to 1850, much advancement has occurred in the forms of agriculture, mining, transportation and manufacturing. Dynamic changes in the economic growth impacted individuals’ daily life. Not only the average income per capita increased by ten times during the centuries following the Industrial Revolution, but also the world’s population grew six times as it was prior to the Industrial Revolution during these two centuries (Maddison, 2003). Sustaining such rapid population growth required resources that were scattered around the globe.

Subsequent to the Industrial Revolution people started relying on machines for sustaining their massive productions and most machines need oil in its different forms and functioning. Oil; its origin is crude oil which is “naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth’s surface”(Guerriero et al, 2011).

Oil has been used as a source of fuel since hundreds of years but its peak was after the Industrial Revolution. Oil consumption kept on increasing year by year due to the technological advancements; noting the direct correlations between the two. Also, oil is considered as a fossil fuel which is a non-renewable energy source, thus its use should be monitored meticulously. Unfortunately that is not the fact. The consumption of oil was not well studied or monitored and due to that, we are facing a major issue nowadays. This issue is about the real amount of oil left for the current and following generations. The other aspect considers how much longer can we rely on oil as a source of fuel in our every day lives. This paper will try to address the overuse of oil, the alternatives to oil and what is the best alternative to oil.

The rate of oil consumption is increasing year by year due to the economic growth and technological developments, however, it is seen that the oil consumption has become more studied and monitored as the majority of oil producing countries are calculating its exports, imports and the oil reserves it