| For a number of years, as oil prices declined during | | | | increases, many of the solutions remain years away |
| the mid-1980s, government funding for alternative | | | | from implementation. Our over-dependency upon |
| energy sources faded. Now, though, with resurfacing | | | | foreign oil sources is a problem today, so what can |
| concerns over energy, researchers are looking for | | | | be done more immediately? First of all, we can make |
| alternatives for meeting our national energy needs. | | | | better use of the oil and natural gas reserves |
| Too much reliance on oil imports weakens us | | | | available right here in this country. In fact, we have |
| politically. Plus, fossil fuels are finite resources which | | | | greater stores of natural gas than any other country. |
| cannot meet our energy needs forever. These | | | | Secondly, further development could be done with |
| reasons have renewed interest in researching | | | | geothermal energy. This 'heat mining' utilizes the heat |
| alternatives. This renewed focus could create | | | | that is stored within the Earth's rock crust and |
| opportunities for the knowledgeable investor to | | | | transforms it into usable energy. Research has |
| make money through royalty investments. | | | | already indicated that geothermal could become a |
| There are a number of energy options being | | | | major electricity supplier for the country, and the U.S. |
| explored, each with its own advantages and | | | | is already the world's biggest producer. |
| drawbacks. Solar energy offers the advantage of | | | | If you're not a research scientist, how might all this |
| being limitless. The trick is channeling it into a usable | | | | affect you? Well, energy considerations might inform |
| form. Although the sunshine is free, the hardware | | | | your investment strategies. As we look inward for |
| and the labor for converting it to usable electricity | | | | energy supplies, rather than overseas, oil and gas |
| can be very pricey. Wind is a fast-growing energy | | | | royalty investments look like a promising option for |
| source, but it still accounts for just 1 percent of | | | | growth. Plus, if you make royalty investments in the |
| electrical production. The noise of wind farms can be | | | | land that produces such supplies, it may also pay off |
| annoying, and if those farms are established in | | | | if geothermal energy systems are developed. The |
| remote areas, it is difficult to transport the energy | | | | technologies used to mine heat are similar in many |
| they produce. Fuel from plants (biofuel), particularly | | | | ways to the systems used for extracting oil and gas, |
| corn, has been utilized more and more in recent | | | | and the hot rocks that produce this heat are available |
| years. Ethanol is generally an effective substitute for | | | | in most parts of the U.S. |
| petroleum. However, critics assert that too much | | | | Through a combination of strategies, some |
| diversion of crops and farm land for fuel production | | | | immediate, some long-term, we ought to be able to |
| drives up food prices. | | | | lessen our reliance upon foreign sources for our |
| Even as the research into these alternatives | | | | energy. |