In the last century, energy usage has exploded at a rate no one could have imagined.  Countless new products need energy to run, and industrial development also increased the use of energy.

Right now, the world remains heavily dependent on oil and gas for generating energy.  To accommodate increasing use of energy and the associated increasing expenses, people have attempted to use energy in a more efficient manner.

Some people have pointed to alternative forms of energy as a solution to the energy problem.  However, many scientists such as Dr. Arthur Rosenfeld feel that conservation of current resources, not the development of new energy sources, will be the method of the future.

The 1970s and especially the OPEC oil shocks proved that a country could begin conserving energy if necessary.  Communities and industry have reduced energy consumption in order to lower costs.  Individual involvement in increasing energy conservation and efficient use has played a crucial part in the struggle for improvement.

Large companies lose billions every year due to inefficient energy consumption.  Dr. Rosenfeld estimates that $60 billion of energy was wasted in 1982 by the US.

There are a variety of solutions to this problem of waste.  Recycling materials tends to save huge amounts of energy.  Installing better equipment also helps conservation, and the costs of the equipment are often far below that of the wasted energy.

In the future, energy will have to be better conserved.  Modern countries have already begun major conservation efforts, but the next thing they must do is to take advantage of current science to decrease their energy consumption.