Every forecast shows that this vulnerability will become more severe for the foreseesable future. This arab oil embargo brought to the fact that the dependence of any nation on oil an gas was fraught with uncertainty in the short term and must end in the long term. Many observers had been making the point for years. The so-called conventional energy resources af oil,gas, coal and uranium are finite, and will therefore be exhausted at some time in the future. Major debate goes on as to the amount of each resource available, the project rate of use, and therefore the time when the resources will be exhausted.
Energy is defined in classical thermodynamics as the capacity to do work.
The supplies of these common energy sources, except wood, are finite. Their lifetime is estimated to range from 15 yr for natural gas to 300 yr for coal. The two most significal are nuclear and solar energy. Nuclear energy requires highly tewchnical and costly means for its safe and reliable utilization and may have undesirable siude-effects. Solar energy, on the other hand, shows promise of becoming a dependable energy sourse without new requirments of a technical and specialized nature for its widespread utilization.in addition, there appear to be no significant polluting effects from its use.