ABSTRACT
World energy consumption has been steadily increasing for a variety of reasons, which include enhancements in quality of life, population increase, industrialization, rapid economic growth of developing countries, increased transportation of people and goods, etc. There are many types of fuel available worldwide, the demand for which strongly depends on application and use, location and regional resources, cost, “cleanness” and environmental impact factors, safety of generation and utilization, socioeconomic factors, global and regional politics, etc. The energy utilization cycle consists of three phases: generation, distribution, and consumption, all of which must be closely balanced for an ideal energy infrastructure. Any bottlenecking or shortage would immediately affect the entire cycle as a limiting factor. If there is a decrease in production of a certain type of fuel, the distribution and consumption of this specific fuel would also decrease; so that fuel switching from this type to another, as well as forced conservation becomes inevitable. Further, based on the supply and demand principle, the consumer price of this fuel type would undoubtedly rise. Even a breakdown in the transportation system of a certain fuel type would affect the consumer market directly, and consequences such as fuel shortage and price hike would be realized at least for a limited time in the affected region.
