Few of us will deny that being dependent on foreign oil supplies is undesirable. But it is not widely known that available oil supplies worldwide are dwindling, which drives the need for alternative ways of meeting our energy needs. While there is still a lot of oil in the ground, much of this is becoming harder and more costly to extract. The term “peak oil” describes the concept that oil is a limited resource and at some point the available oil supplies will become less and less. According to some sources global oil consumption already outstrips viable new oil sources….