Assignment 1 - Oil Consumption

Date Due: Thursday July 10 by Midnight Pacific Time

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Assignment 1 Questions

1. Find a plot of world oil consumption from 1950 to the present (or the near present) and attach that to your submitted homework. Inspect that graph and answer the following:
   
   
2. a) approximately how long did it take for the World to triple its annual use of oil starting from 1950?
   
   b) Using the period 1960-1980 as a baseline, extrapolate what the world oil use should be in 2008. Is it higher or lower than the current use?
   
   c) Argue whether or not we should be surprised that we may now be actually running out of oil.
   
   
3. Summarize some of the new methods that now exist to discover possible new sources of oil. Also summarize the current/recent worldwide activity that is taking place to drill for new oil.
   
   
4. Find some information about the current performance of electric vehicles in terms of range and power and overall cost. From this information make a determination of the current feasibility of electric vehicles as a transportation alternative. Identify some specific models of EV's that are currently being manufactured by traditional automakers (e.g., Ford, GM, etc.).