In the hydrocarbon industry, high prices are not necessarily good for refineries because they hurt margins significantly, according to Mark Peters, publisher of Hydrocarbon Processing and Construction Boxscore. As a result, the last year has been a tough one-much harder than 18 months to two years ago. Because the recent spikes in crude oil were unexpected and rapid, the hydrocarbon Valves processing industry hasn't been able to keep up with the pace in terms of raising their own prices, he pointed out.

"Essentially what we are seeing worldwide is the end of the era of cheap energy sources," he said. The nation needs to find as many alternate sources of fuel as it can, but most are workable only on a smaller level, not at the power grid scale, he said.

Still, the focus has become stronger on alternatives to traditional fuel sources such as:

    Biofuels. While biofuels very recently have taken a bad rap because of scarcity of food crops, Peters said, the political power behind such fuels in the U.S. is high. While increased amounts of ethanol are now coming from Brazil, where sugar is used, "that doesn't help the farmers in the Midwest."
    Solar. The popularity of solar sources has increased, but the expense for a solar panel is still around $25,000, "and most people won't make that leap," Peters said.
    Hydrogen. Wide acceptance of hydrogen is still a long way off, again because of the expense and the fact a truly efficient hydrogen cell has not yet been developed.
    Arctic National Wildlife Range. At some point, there will need to be development in ANWR, but conservation is still a priority so that development is a long way off, Peters said.
    Oil sands. While the Canadian oil sands are a promising source of supply, Congress' 2007 energy law specifies that the U.S. can't buy fuels that would increase greenhouse gas emissions and oil sands do that, Peters pointed out.


Climate change also has been thrown into the mix so in the U.S., politicians are not looking at resources within the nation's borders. "We are the only country in the world not actively pursuing all our energy sources, [but] we continue to lecture others that they are not producing enough cheap fuel," Peters exclaimed.

The world also needs a replacement for the Kyoto treaty because while the countries that signed it made great promises, no one is making them accountable for those promises. And countries such as India and China, which continue to say they will not participate in greenhouse gas emissions programs, are some of the biggest emitters: China's emissions were up 11% and India's 8% in the last two years.

All of these developments will play a role going forward, resulting in different refining processes, different configurations within refineries, and more crackers and environmental protections. But the future of the hydrocarbon processing industry remains strong, Peters said.