Oil and Energy Essay Sample free essay sample

The United States has heralded around the Earth for its unbelievable economic system. The growing of the United States started off little with minor finds and innovations. such as oil and electricity. and with those in topographic point outgrowth of new engineerings and inventions came underway. The railwaies came approximately really easy and became really popular. A adult male named Henry Bessemer came up with a manner to do steel cheaply and expeditiously. Key concern barons. such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. cashed in on the demand for steel and oil. began their ain houses. and subsequently worked on a domination in their ain country of commercialism. In 1870. John D. Rockefeller organized The Standard Oil Company along with his brother William. Andrews. Henry M. Flagler. S. V. Harkness. and others. It had a capital of $ 1 million. Before long. the company’s production soared from 2000 barrels a twelvemonth in 1859 to about 5 million ten old ages subsequentl y. We will write a custom essay sample on Oil and Energy Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He was successful. though it took longer than expected. so others were attracted to the country. and several came to unearth the oil. Economic cooperation and outside assistance brought steady growing in the economic systems of the western states like the United States ( Carter and Herz. 1961 ) . The chief beginning for this oil was the Arab states. like Iraq. which had the largest oil militias in the universe ( Clark. 2002 ) . In the Chapter 7 ofEnergyPoliticss. authored by David Howard Davis. he presents a basically valuable analysis of the national security policy of the United States and other oil-dependent and oil-producing states in the worldwhich is one that ought to be realized by American security experts ( 1982 ) . The importance of oil in fueling the growing of industry was felt in the fiftiess. As the industries were revived following the desolation wrought by the Second World War. oil ingestion in western states increased. The Arab states of all time since have legion hundred companies occupied in diversified fabrication. Heavy-manufacturing mills. using natural stuffs preponderantly brought in from the Middle East and offshore. consist of an oil refinery that generates an mixture of crude oil merchandises and chemical compounds. a steel factory fabricating reenforcing bars. a figure of cement workss. a concrete-pipe works. and an aluminum-extrusion works. Heavy fabrication is found in the major industrial centres in the Middle East. During the 1950s. the stockpiling of atomic arms began to be an of import component in the tensenesss between the USSR and the United States. Each state tried to develop arms so powerful that the other would non make bold to assail. This policy of detering an onslaught by doing one’s opposing fright countermove has spurred the development of faraway silent. volatile arms during the Cold War ( Clark. 2002 ) . New types of arms were developed by the world powers as the weaponries race went on. In 1952. the United States exploded the first H bomb ; the undermentioned twelvemonth. the Soviet Union besides tested a H bomb. Both developed projectiles that carried atomic payloads. In 1954. the United States launched the first atomic pigboat. armed with atomic missiles. By 1957. the Soviets had developed intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBMs ) rockets that could make marks in any portion of universe ( Berkowitz. 1995 ) . The development and spread of atomic arms and orbiters had introduced a new component in the cold war. Accusations of descrying undermined the pacts that tried to acquire mediate exchange of hostile actions. In May of 1960. an angry Nikita Khrushchev announced that Soviet missiles had shot down an American plane of a type called U-2. Equipped with a assortment of cameras and entering devices. the plane had been taking exposure near a major industrial country in the Ural Mountains ( Berkowitz. 1995 ) . American intelligence flights over Cuba had besides found grounds of establishing sites for atomic missiles. Alarmed at the presence of Soviet projectiles merely 90 stat mis from the United States. President John F. Kennedy went on telecasting and demanded that the Soviet Union take them instantly. He announced that American ships were heading toward Cuba to Soviet ships from presenting any more missiles. After a tense few hours. Khrushchev agreed to take the arms from Cuba ( Oakes. 1994 ) . The Cuban missile crisis had alerted leaders to the possibility that cold war tensenesss could trip armed struggle. Western and Soviet leaders began to look for ways to decrease the hazard. A major measure was taken in 1963. when Britain. the United States. and the Soviet Union signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The three powers agreed to halt proving atomic arms in the air. in infinite. and under H2O. To maintain atomic proving from distributing to more states. the United States. Britain. the Soviet Union. and many other states signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1968. Under its footings. the states that did non hold atomic arms agreed non to develop them. The states that already had atomic capacity promised that they would advance research to happen peaceable utilizations of atomic energy ( Gaddis. et Al. . 1999 ) . By the seventiess. the superpowers’ place in universe personal businesss had changed. partially because of displacements in attitude toward their Alliess. Some NATO members expressed concern about the alliance’s heavy dependance on atomic arms. Others were worried that Western Europe might go the battlefield for a atomic war. Still others were uneasy because the atomic arms in Western Europe could be used merely with American blessing. They were non certain Americans would be willing to support Western Europe at the hazard of Soviet onslaught on the United States ( Garthoff. 1994 ) . Davis besides notes that every bit good. oil became an drift for the geographic expedition for and development of alternate energy beginnings like atomic energy ( Hanson. 1996 ) . The importance of oil in fueling the growing of industry was felt in the 1950s during the Cold War. As the industries were revived following the desolation wrought by the Second World War. oil ingestion in western states increased during the Cold War ( Klare. 2005 ) . During this clip. says Davis. American leaders had preferred to â€Å"securitize† oil. That is. to project its continued handiness as a affair of national security. and therefore something that can be safeguarded through the usage of military force. By 1980. about 70 % of oil supply used by western states came from West Asia ( Light. 2002 ) . Inevitably portion of their international dealingss. the United States. for one. depended on imported oil to run their mills and transit systems and heat their places. However. oil is non unlimited. Like any other resource. it is limited in measure. While it is responsible for the growing of many Arab states. it is besides the beginning of wrangle and struggle in the international scene. The oil arm was used by Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC ) against states sympathetic to Israel. Because of the oil trade stoppage. the oil monetary values rose up to more than 100 % of the old monetary value. Rising oil monetary values hurt about all the industrial states. One of the lessons that could be learned from this monopolistic dealingss is the Arab-Israeli struggle that was complicated by the engagement of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Middle East. Both as a beginning of oil and as a strategic location. the part was critically of import in the competition between the two world powers. Adopting a pro-Arab base. the Soviet Union supplied some Arab states with arms. military preparation. proficient aid and fiscal assistance. The United States. which had continued to endorse Israel. besides sought to battle Soviet influence in the Arab universe. It strengthened ties with Egypt. Jordan. and Saudi Arabia and pressed for a negotiated solution to the Arab-Israeli struggle. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces in 1991 stemmed from the desire of Saddam Hussein to annex the rich Kuwaiti oil Fieldss. While his aspiration was thwarted by a joint military force led by the United States and its Alliess. the incident could be a preliminary to what could go on in the hereafter once the oil supply in some Arab states reach a critical deficit degree. Gradually. other states are turning to the usage of atomic power as an alternate energy beginning ( Clark. 2002 ) . The development of atomic energy is both a blessing and a curse to civilisation. It is a blessing when 1 considers how western states have bit by bit reduced their dependance on oil some by every bit much as 40 % of their entire energy demands. North Korea. nevertheless. besides believed to be capable of constructing a atomic bomb. Its refusal to let itself to be inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency has spawned frights that North Korea has so developed the bomb. For its portion. North Korea frights aggression by the United States and South Korean forces. which are regularly carry oning war exercisings every twelvemonth. Indeed. the universe is non in the slightest peaceful. but at present. there is no security issue taking halfway phase and the state of affairs in Al-Qa’ida is no exclusion. Al-Qa’ida is a terrorist party that shores up the programs and actions of Muslim Rebels across the Earth. Its instigator and main foreman is a millionaire Arabian indigen more popularly known as Osama bin Laden. Davis likewise contends that U. S. military and foreign policies have been increasingly maneuvered by the demand to vouch firm entree to abroad oil. more than of all time in the Middle East. and that as American imported oil dependance carries on to ironically beef up our industries and struggle with some British-dependent Arab states. the American forces will of all time more find themselves engaging war to guard oil-producing zones and supply paths ( Davis. 1982 ) . He besides considered that the development of atomic energy is both a blessing and a curse to civilisation. It is a blessing when 1 considers how western states have bit by bit reduced their dependance on oil some by every bit much as 40 % of their entire energy demands. Through the book. Davis carries out a constructive public service by puting premium upon the national security costs of America’s trust on foreign oil ; costs that have often gone overlooked. Central to the thought of the book is how American leaders have preferred to â€Å"securitize† oil while continuing healthy international dealingss. In Davis’s words. â€Å"to cast its continued handiness as a affair of ‘national security. ’ and therefore something that can be safeguarded through the usage of military force† ( Davis. 1982 ) . The U. S. military and foreign policies have been increasingly maneuvered by the demand to vouch firm entree to abroad oil. more than of all time in the Middle East. and that as American imported oil dependance carries on to ironically beef up our industries and struggle with some British-dependent Arab states. the American forces will of all time more find themselves engaging war to guard oil-producing zones and supply paths. No inquiry about it ; the 9/11 incident was the beginning of hypertrophied belligerencies and watchfulness every bit good. Security demands have turned our state into a constabulary province. As the oil supply grew. the United States widened contacts with the Arab states. It sought to keep a finely balanced policy in the Middle East. While keeping its ties with Israel. the United States besides tried to stay friendly with the Arab states. The usage and betterment of 10s of 1000s of stuffs in all signifier of industry have made for better criterions of life and much more leisure clip during the industrial period. When such betterments serendipitously came up in the modern epoch. most would hold. nevertheless. that such colossal technological promotions do non come without a monetary value. To Davis. modern warfare had become an flagitious branch of the globalized production of energy. Sophisticated arms engineering. like chemical and biological arms. has provided the agencies for mass devastation of life and belongings ; instantaneous communicating and broad airing of information of all sorts have bound intercontinental peoples together but at one fell slide. hold besides brought with them less privateness ; the great usage and maltreatment of natural resources has wrought severe menaces to the environment and human civilisation ; and the relatively frantic gait of human being may finally name into inquiry many of the benefits of high engineering that mostly ripened when descrying orbiters started come uping and atomic pigboats began suppressing the seven oceans of the universe. all transpired when every world power was busy combating the new wars under â€Å"hushed† but tactically noxious conditions ( Berkowitz. 1995 ) . Furthermore. Davis besides expounds that coal. crude oil or oil. and natural gas have been and still are the preferable beginnings of energy for place and industrial usage. These are the fossil fuels. which were formed by partial decomposition of and force per unit area of the Earth on the remains of workss and animate beings that lived 1000000s of old ages ago. Petroleum is used as the get downing stuff for gasolene and for many industrial merchandises. such as plastic. man-made fibres. and drugs. However. the West Virginia’s coal industry becomes one of the biggest indirect subscribers to the country’s clime alteration ( Ambler and Summers. 1958 ) . The energy industry argues in Davis’ book that excavation is supplying huge addition for the mountain-bound state by crafting level sites to developed commercialism to this destitute part. However. two per centum of these countries have been utilized for any advancement. While most of the United States depends on the West Virginia’s coal industry as a beginning of energy. there are beginnings of energy that are comparatively non-polluting and should hold been utilized a long clip ago. Adds Davis. solar energy. which does non add extra heat to the ambiance. can be collected by solar panels placed on rooftops. Photovoltaic ( solar ) cells produce electricity straight from sunshine. Falling H2O is used to bring forth electricity in the hydroelectric workss. Geothermal energy is derived from the heat of magma in the earth’s nucleus. Water. converted to steam by this heat. may be pumped up and used to heat edifices or to bring forth electricity. Wind power provides ad equate force to turn vanes. blades. or propellors attached to shafts which. in bend. spin generator motors that produce electricity ( Ambler and Summers. 1958 ) . The competitions between East and West went beyond a battle for political power to competition for prestigiousness and leading in such Fieldss as scientific discipline and engineering. Technology is seen as a ruling force over society. presenting a menace to human freedom. Today. colonialism has been brought to a whole new degree. With the universe condensed by globalisation. things have been restlessly clashing in the air. in infinite. and under H2O. To this day of the month. Davis affirms that America is providing Israel with modern arms and shipped weaponries and gave considerable economic assistance to some Arab lands. Indeed. though throughout the Middle East. old struggles spurred new 1s as hostile dealingss persisted. the world powers like the United States. with critical involvements in the part. carefully supervise all developments and at times intervene merely for the interest of the dry nutriment of oil dependance and national security ( Davis. 1982 ) . Mentions Ambler. 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( 2005 ) .Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum ( The American Empire Project ). Metropolitan Books. Light. Gail R. ( June 20. 2002 ) . â€Å"Security vs. Liberty: weighing the options. † Accessed January 23. 2007. Available: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. msutoday. msu. edu/research/index. php3? article=20Jun2002-9 Oakes. Guy. ( 1994 ) .The Imaginary War: Civil Defense and American Cold War Culture. Oxford University Press.