Prometheus notwithstanding, humans have made use of many types of fuels ever since Homo erectus first burned wood two million years ago. Wood was the predominant fuel, and it was heavily used in America until 1880 when coal surpassed it. Wood use declined thereafter because coal burned better and because its forest sources became scarce inasmuch as wood was in demand for many other uses.

Coal was the principal US fuel from 1850-1930. Coal is an underground fossil fuel that was metamorphosed, by earth heat and pressure, from buried terrestrial swamp vegetation which lived 200 million to 400 million years ago (peat and lignite, two poorly-burning other fossil fuels that also formed from buried surface plants, were never used extensively in America and neither was dung, which is still widely used in undeveloped countries).

Oil (petroleum) and natural gas (methane) are two cleaner burning fluid fossil fuels that formed from molecular changes to the protoplasm of ancient marine plants and animals that lived on the seafloor or that sank there after death. They were buried by ocean sediments before they could be destroyed by bacterial decomposition.

Oil and gas have been the most heavily used American fuels since 1930. Prior to 1917, they were obtained primarily by wildcat-drilling (exploratory drilling not based on geologic data). But in 1917, J.J. Galloway, who was a genius with total recall (as well as my micropaleontology professor in 1947), discovered that fossil shells of microscopic Foraminifera (forams) could be used to locate oil and gas underground.

Galloway found that forams extracted from rock or sediment layers drilled in wildcat wells could determine whether or not oil and gas were likely to be found in other wells. This initiated the widespread application of scientific methods in searching for buried fossil fuels and enabled their discovery and use to increase exponentially. Within 13 years, the resulting huge jump in availability of oil and gas made them the leading American fuels by 1930. Using micropaleontology and sophisticated new geophysical methods made the US self-sufficient in energy needs as new finds of domestic oil and gas deposits kept pace with our astronomically increasing rates of consumption - until 1958 when consumption began outstripping domestic production.

Importing energy fuels commenced then and has increased annually. The US now imports more than half the petroliferous fuels we use. Much of the vital oil and gas our nation runs on comes from unstable, untrustworthy countries - or from countries ruled by totalitarian potentates who are in danger of being overthrown, or who hate us as enemies. Can we depend on Venezuela, Liberia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, or Algeria to be able to continue shipping us long-term, adequate, uninterrupted oil supplies?

The end of the oil era was foreseen in 1948 by M. King Hubbert, a Shell Oil geologist, who predicted correctly that world-wide oil production would peak in the early 1970s and then decline thereafter.

To maintain our standard of living, Americans must really begin to practice energy conservation and not just talk about it. Thermostats should be lowered (at least one degree) in winter, and raised in summer. Warm sweaters and blankets should be used in cold weather, and fans and cross-ventilation in hot weather. Energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs should be used, and lights should be turned off when leaving a room for more than 20 minutes. Driving should be avoided when you can walk or bike - and forget about fast, powerful, gas-guzzling SUVs and ORVs (when are you ever going to drive 120 mph over unpaved rough terrain, anyhow?). And support development of safe alternative energy such as wind and solar - which are already feasible and inexpensive in the long run. Also, increased insulation and windows that allow light (but not heat) to pass - saves energy; and money too.