by 
Signs of the times. This past quarter, Elon Musk’s Tesla company made a profit of $22 million, while the entire U.S. oil industry lost a total of $67 billion last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This is in part due to the global oil prices falling, as well as humanity’s awakening push for clean, renewable energy.
According to the Renewable Energy Institute, the price efficiency of solar technology will be better than fossil fuel by 2025 and will continue to get cheaper and cheaper until that time.
However, the newly elected President of the U.S. says that he wants to “lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.” Donald Trump also says he will initiate this action within his first 100 days of being in office.
While this action is certain to increase jobs for more Americans, we must also take into account the environmental impact this will have as even more carbon will be released into the atmosphere if these now dormant energy reserves begin to be tapped.
Additionally, the price of oil continues to remain low and even if jobs are created, there is no guarantee these companies in the fossil fuel industry will be able to profit financially.