For anyone who has read The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, he makes an interesting comparison to our current dependence on oil and the growing worldwide energy crisis. He states, "This is not the first energy crisis the world has experienced." In fact, he says it is merely one in a series of energy crises that mankind has gone through. It is likely that this latest crisis will lead us to develop new forms of energy, which will likely lead us to yet another energy crisis sometime in the distant future.

Expending energy to serve our needs, and making a rational comparison between the energy used and the energy gained, goes back as far as mankind itself. If this were not the case, early man would have sought small, easier-to-catch animals rather than large animals that were far more dangerous to hunt. The amount of expended energy produced a greater energy gain.

Depleting our energy sources through a growing economy (primitive as it may have been), and a lack of conservation, is as old as time and memorial. As Roberts points out in his book, Europe practically depleted its forests as its economy grew. Had it not been for coal, Europe and the United States would have suffered severe economic hardship. Firewood was the first energy crisis of the new world.

Next came coal. While we still have abundant supplies of coal, the pollution caused by the use of coal in the 1800s nearly choked London and other major cities in the world to death. There was no choice but to wean ourselves from coal, resulting in the next energy crisis. Enter oil. On Jan. 10, 1901, on Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas, Anthony Francis Lucas struck a gusher that began the age of oil.

Why is all this important? It's important because the energy crisis that we are experiencing is simply one in a long series of energy crises that people before us have faced. This oil crisis will pass as new energy alternatives replace oil. Ethanol is simply one of those replacements in an ever-evolving list of energy alternatives. It is almost certain that ethanol will someday be replaced with yet another energy source that is even more efficient and abundant. That's the nature of a changing world.

A recent discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico has the petroleum industry abuzz. However, we all know it is merely a flash in the pan or a blink of an eye in the scope of the world's energy needs. Ready or not, the end of oil is coming, whether it happens in 20 years, 50 years or 100 years. How long it lasts makes little difference, but the main point is that oil is a finite resource. What started on Jan. 10, 1901, on Spindletop Hill in Texas, in fact, signaled the beginning of the end of oil.

Have a great month!