For a number of years, as oil prices declined during the mid-1980s, government funding for alternative energy sources faded. Now, though, with resurfacing concerns over energy, researchers are looking for alternatives for meeting our national energy needs. Too much reliance on oil imports weakens us politically. Plus, fossil fuels are finite resources which cannot meet our energy needs forever. These reasons have renewed interest in researching alternatives. This renewed focus could create opportunities for the knowledgeable investor to make money through royalty investments.

There are a number of energy options being explored, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Solar energy offers the advantage of being limitless. The trick is channeling it into a usable form. Although the sunshine is free, the hardware and the labor for converting it to usable electricity can be very pricey. Wind is a fast-growing energy source, but it still accounts for just 1 percent of electrical production. The noise of wind farms can be annoying, and if those farms are established in remote areas, it is difficult to transport the energy they produce. Fuel from plants (biofuel), particularly corn, has been utilized more and more in recent years. Ethanol is generally an effective substitute for petroleum. However, critics assert that too much diversion of crops and farm land for fuel production drives up food prices.

Even as the research into these alternatives increases, many of the solutions remain years away from implementation. Our over-dependency upon foreign oil sources is a problem today, so what can be done more immediately? First of all, we can make better use of the oil and natural gas reserves available right here in this country. In fact, we have greater stores of natural gas than any other country. Secondly, further development could be done with geothermal energy. This 'heat mining' utilizes the heat that is stored within the Earth's rock crust and transforms it into usable energy. Research has already indicated that geothermal could become a major electricity supplier for the country, and the U.S. is already the world's biggest producer.

If you're not a research scientist, how might all this affect you? Well, energy considerations might inform your investment strategies. As we look inward for energy supplies, rather than overseas, oil and gas royalty investments look like a promising option for growth. Plus, if you make royalty investments in the land that produces such supplies, it may also pay off if geothermal energy systems are developed. The technologies used to mine heat are similar in many ways to the systems used for extracting oil and gas, and the hot rocks that produce this heat are available in most parts of the U.S.

Through a combination of strategies, some immediate, some long-term, we ought to be able to lessen our reliance upon foreign sources for our energy.