For the last 50 years oil has been the major source of energy for the United States and the rest of the world. Ever since the discovery of major oil reserves in the middle east the world has depended on it. Within the last 20 years alternative energy has become a major issue. In 1999 the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Spectrolab have developed a record-setting solar cell that can convert sunlight to electricity at 32% efficiency. This is a major step because this along with the development of inexpensive mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on the cells could open the doors for affordable mass production.

Another option in the future is fuel from fermenting plants and their waste. In 1999 a bill was introduced to set aside $300 million over the next six years to do research to find out if this is a viable energy source. Another option for the near future is cutting out use of oil. If we were to just heat cool and light buildings in the right ways or apply known technologies that can double the average fuel efficiency of cars we could see dramatic cuts in out oil use. If we were to just increase the use of win generators and solar power both to supply electricity to the grip and to make hydrogen fuel for cars, we could also reduce our dependence on oil. It is vital for the United States if it wants to remain a world super power to end its dependence on oil and in particular Middle East oil. For starters the Middle East is a very unstable region, yet it has over 65% of the worlds known oil reserves. On top of this fact there is a very limited supply of oil in the world and by most estimates at the rate we are using it, it will run out in about 50 years. The major problem now is the politics involved. Many conservatives from the south and in particular our current president Bush have had their campaigns funded by the oil industry. Hopefully this problem will not follow us into the future and we can get over the politics involved and start to use alternative energy sources so America can continue to be a world super power long into the future.