How2Day: United States Energy Sources

Coal is still widely available but pollutes the environment. Nicholas Eveleigh/Photodisc/Getty Images
As of 2010, the United States of America still has access to significant energy reserves, largely in the form of coal deposits. The downside to coal deposits is that they provide their energy at a rather steep ecological cost: a large amount of pollution created in the burning process. As the U.S. looks for other alternative options, additional resources abound both at home, in the form of green renewables and abroad, such as extensive northern oil reserves in Alberta, Canada. To help minimize the risk of a crisis due to a lack of fuel-based energy, the United States government also holds a strategic supply of petroleum reserves to offset emergency situations.

The U.S. Department of Energy holds a permanent strategic petroleum reserve to ensure that critical supply is maintained in the event of an oil supply crisis. According to the department's website, this reserve totals 726.6 million barrels of oil, which is the highest amount that has ever been held in the strategic petroleum reserve and a mere 400,000 barrels short of absolute maximum physical storage capacities. The strategic petroleum reserve is capable of accessing up to 4.4 million barrels a day should the need arise.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, coal makes up a large portion of the United States' untapped natural energy resources. Traditionally viewed as a highly polluting fuel for energy production; recent technological improvements such as carbon capture, has made coal a significantly less polluting energy source. The United States also has access to offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico and natural gas reserves throughout the country.

Green energy generation technology also provides another potential avenue of energy generation for the United States, primarily through technologies such as solar and wind generation and to a lesser extent, hydropower, created by damming rivers and geothermal power, created by tapping the Earth's natural heat. Green energy alternatives are typified by their high initial investment costs and lower costs of long-term production due to the fact that they do not require constant fuel supply. The growth of green energy alternatives has been fueled by a high degree of adoption and demand in the national marketplace.

Neighboring on the northern border of the state of Montana is the Canadian province of Alberta, home to some of the largest oil reserves in the world. As the United States looks to quench its thirst for energy, Albertan oil reserves provide an obvious solution due to its relative physical security and political stability when compared to other oil-producing regions. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent statistics and analysis website, over 95 percent of Canada's 178 billion barrel proven reserves is located in the oil sands of Alberta. The only unfortunate drawback to using Alberta's oil as an energy source for America's future growth is that oil locked in tar sands requires higher than usual amounts of effort to obtain, which can dramatically raise the cost per barrel. Ongoing research is being conducted into ways to more easily access the oil within tar sands and to reduce the ecological impact of extraction.

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