S. In essence it is a year saved, and a year earned, similar to the old adage a penny saved is a penny earned. Recently a number of projects have been approved for the development and implementation of alternative power sources. For example, there are 35 bioenergy plants, 3 hydroelectric plants, and 15 photovoltaic plants currently in use by the state of Florida providing 1,069,917.1 kilowatts (State F). The most prominent examples of how the government has begun this quest for efficiency is the regulation of fuel efficiency standards. The transportation sector is the biggest consumer of oil in the country demanding nearly 4 billion barrels of oil each year (Coastal 113). Any regulation in the transportation sector creates massive reductions in energy consumption, amounting to less oil consumption. Massive research has been put into developing electric cars and consumers are beginning to see the resulting fuel/electric hybrids coming to the market. Consumers need to make a movement supporting this alternative to ensure a bright future. Electricity is an excellent alternative to gasoline in automobiles, because by may be generated using any of the following methods. This is a starting point and definitely indicates the government is beginning to understand the need to venture onward to new energy sources, thus implementing regulations to extend the amount of time our oil supply will last for. A prominent alternative energy source the government has been implementing is the Nuclear power plant. By 1989 18 percent of the U.S. energy consumed was generated by nuclear power (Energy 39). Nuclear power is generated by fission which then creates heat to boil water, releasing steam and then powering a turbine, creating no hazardous pollutants. Nuclear power plants cause no harm to the environment and are highly accepted by green organizations. Nuclear plants generate high amounts of electricity from a relatively small amount of uranium, but uranium is also a non-renewable resource, thus eventually creating the same problem as the oil shortage.
