AAA South Jersey July/August 2012 : Page 8
AAA South Jersey’s scholarship contest Jim Celia (center, joined by his parents) celebrates winning the scholarship contest. For Jim Celia, the most difficult part about writing the winning essay in AAA South Jersey’s scholarship contest wasn’t the actual writing or the subject matter. It was a sudden change of plans that caused him the biggest problem. The contest, open to all high school seniors living or attending school in Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester or Salem counties, presented a challenging question. The question was “Explain which of the following three transportation projects should be of primary concern to the nation’s lawmakers: Rebuilding the nation’s highways and bridges; pursuing new and alternative sources of fuel and energy for automobiles; or developing a new, high-speed rail system.” AcesVans-SNJ-MJ12 5/25/12 2:26 “I wasn’t going to write about alternative fuel,” explained Celia, a senior at Washington Township High School. “I was going to write about the high-speed rail system, since I had just participated in a math-based competition on the subject. Then I was talking to one of the people who had been on my team, and he said he was going to enter the contest and write about the high-speed system, so I had to change my subject.” Celia said his winning essay (his entry is printed on the next page page) was written in “about a half hour” with another 10 minutes or so to proof the final product. He explained that for his essay he was able to combine his passion for reading and his interest in one of his school subjects to create the winning paper. “I was reading Popular Science magazine, PM Page 1 and we had just had a lecture in economics on government spending,” he said of his essay, which mentioned ethanol fuel and battery-powered vehicles as possible fuel solutions. The resulting paper was quickly selected by a panel of judges as the top thesis from the more than 250 entries received. A total of 57 high schools were represented in the contest. Celia will receive $5,000 from AAA South Jersey to go toward his tuition at the University of Delaware in the fall. The Sewell native, who is currently ranked second in his class, will major in Accounting. At Washington Township, Celia is involved in the Mock Trial club, the Debate team, the Math League, the National Honor Society, and is vice-president of the Rotary Interact Club, a community service organization. AAA.com • SJ First • 8 • July/August
Scholarship Winner
AAA South Jersey’s scholarship contest<br /> <br /> For Jim Celia, the most difficult part about writing the winning essay in AAA South Jersey’s scholarship contest wasn’t the actual writing or the subject matter. It was a sudden change of plans that caused him the biggest problem.<br /> <br /> The contest, open to all high school seniors living or attending school in Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester or Salem counties, presented a challenging question. The question was “Explain which of the following three transportation projects should be of primary concern to the nation’s lawmakers: Rebuilding the nation’s highways and bridges; pursuing new and alternative sources of fuel and energy for automobiles; or developing a new, high-speed rail system.” <br /> <br /> “I wasn’t going to write about alternative fuel,” explained Celia, a senior at AcesVans-SNJ-MJ12 5/25/12 2:26 PM Page 1 Washington Township High School. <br /> “I was going to write about the high-speed rail system, since I had just participated in a math-based competition on the subject. Then I was talking to one of the people who had been on my team, and he said he was going to enter the contest and write about the high-speed system, so I had to change my subject.” <br /> <br /> Celia said his winning essay (his entry is printed on the next page page) was written in “about a half hour” with another 10 minutes or so to proof the final product. He explained that for his essay he was able to combine his passion for reading and his interest in one of his school subjects to create the winning paper.<br /> <br /> “I was reading Popular Science magazine, and we had just had a lecture in economics on government spending,” he said of his essay, which mentioned ethanol fuel and battery-powered vehicles as possible fuel solutions.<br /> <br /> The resulting paper was quickly selected by a panel of judges as the top thesis from the more than 250 entries received. A total of 57 high schools were represented in the contest. <br /> <br /> Celia will receive $5,000 from AAA South Jersey to go toward his tuition at the University of Delaware in the fall. The Sewell native, who is currently ranked second in his class, will major in Accounting. At Washington Township, Celia is involved in the Mock Trial club, the Debate team, the Math League, the National Honor Society, and is vice-president of the Rotary Interact Club, a community service organization.<br /> <br /> Scholarship Contest Winner!<br /> <br /> By Jim Celia<br /> <br /> As the catchy UPS commercial indicates, the business world is composed of logistics, or strategic planning to account for changes in the global marketplace. The term logistic is also the description of a function modeling an event which grows rapidly before leveling off at a set carrying capacity. While logistic functions have many uses, one of them is the basis of the concept of peak oil, which states that at some point, we will reach a maximum level of petroleum production and after that point, we will no longer be able to produce oil at a higher rate. With the world becoming increasingly more dependent on oil, mainly for automobile travel, it is now time for scientists to use their own logistics to plan for a future where cars are propelled not by petroleum, but by new sources of alternative energy.<br /> <br /> The International Energy Agency has stated that we have already reached this peak oil point in 2006, meaning that the world’s production of oil will never exceed that point. On the surface, this does not appear to be a concerning thought, but when the numbers are analyzed, this is quite disturbing. Automobile transportation in developing nations is much more ubiquitous than in the past. While this is excellent for their economies, their use of oil means the world use of oil increases as they continue to develop. It is here where economics shows a depressing picture for the future of oil. If the world’s supply of oil, at best, remains constant for the next 50 years, while the world’s demand for oil increases at a steady rate, equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity will increase. The consumers will pay higher prices while oil companies will be forced to produce more. Unfortunately, as peak oil point has already been reached, they will not be able to produce more to solve the problem of increased demand. Economic meltdown will result, causing two completely separate types of inflation: demand-pull inflation from people wanting to buy more oil where there is none to be had, and the cost-push inflation as the increased resources costs in the form of oil will make it too costly for other companies to be able to produce. In short, oil is not the answer for the future.<br /> <br /> How can we solve our future fuel issues? It has certainly been a topic of debate among politicians and economists, and so far, the answer has been wavering and noncommittal. Encouragement for the Chevrolet Volt disappeared after the initial costs were found to be too expensive, but that does not mean innovative methods of removing petroleum from the equation should be discarded permanently. In fact, science offers many solutions which are currently being developed. For the short term, we could consider developing the possibilities of ethanol fuel, namely E85, which is 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline. Most modern cars, at this point in time, can run on E10, but there have been successful implementations of cars and motorcycles which run on up to E1000, completely ethanol-fueled engines. Combined with the development of cellulosic ethanol, which creates fuel from dead plant cell walls, ethanol could be one possibility for the fuel of the future.<br /> <br /> Another alternative is the combination of battery-powered electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells. This is an idea, which coupled with an interim solution to reduce or eliminate fuel usage in the present, which could completely end our dependence on oil to power our vehicles. While the hydrogen fuel cells would take more water (which would then by hydrolyzed into charged particles to provide power) than gasoline by mass, the amount of water necessary to power the car could be conserved by simultaneously running a battery powered fuel cell to power non-locomotive parts of the car, such as window wipers, radio and stereo system, and air conditioning. In case of low water in the fuel cell, the power could be manually routed to the battery until a refueling station was reached. Battery powered cars and hydrogen fuel cells are currently being developed, and as long as we have a solution to last until they are fully functional, they could permanently solve our energy problem.<br /> <br /> The most important aspect to remember is that none of these ideas would be possible without an infrastructure around which to build them. It is all well and good to market cars which run solely on ethanol fuel or are powered by batteries, but if there are not fueling stations built around the area in which potential buyers live, the cars will be impractical. Government is the answer to the problem of which to build first: infrastructure or automobiles. By subsidizing companies to convert their currently gasoline fueling stations to newer ethanol stations or battery charging stations, the government will promote the growth of alternative fuels in the United States.<br /> <br /> It is from here that all the pieces fall into place. The media coverage surrounding the program will pique citizens’ interest in purchasing their own alternatively fueled vehicle, and the money spent on the subsidies could be recovered by eliminating tax breaks for gasoline producing companies, who would no longer be necessary in this new energy economy. We would no longer have to fear peak oil, surging prices and stagflation. Perhaps the most appealing effect of subsidizing is that by fundamental Keynesian economics, the money spent on the subsidy would have a multiplied effect on the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For every dollar spent by the government, we would see more than one dollar of GDP growth, something we need in our current state of recovery. Crunching the numbers, it is clear that government officials should start mapping their logistics to this logical play to solve the imminent oil crisis, improving the economy and protect the environment.
