Roger Zion got one thing right: Rising demand is behind the run-up in oil prices ("Energy shortfall remedies," Commentary Tuesday).

Unfortunately, Mr. Zion doesn't propose to do anything about it. His energy prescription is another rehash of the tired, tail-chasing formula of more domestic drilling and more budget-busting handouts to energy companies that don't need them. It won't work and cannot be made to work. We can't base today's energy strategy on gauzy notions of reprising the glory days of "cheap gas and boundless energy supplies."

The facts tell us that U.S. demand consumes 25 percent of global oil production. U.S. domestic oil reserves account for 2 percent of oil remaining in the ground worldwide. It doesn't take a degree in math to realize that a strategy of depleting our domestic oil reserves as fast as possible will leave us more dependent on foreign oil than ever.

There will be no "massive contribution" to energy independence from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as Mr. Zion claims. The U.S. Department of Energy projects that oil imports will be higher in 2025 than they are today - even if the Arctic refuge is drilled - because of rising demand.

Mr. Zion talks of being practical. We can start by rediscovering the old-fashioned practical virtue of thrift. Motor-vehicle fuel-economy standards save nearly 3 million barrels of oil per day. With today's technology, we can do much better than that. More efficiency will buy us time to get off the dangerous oil-dependence treadmill that Mr. Zion wants to stay on. Biofuels can make a significant contribution to lowering oil demand and put dollars in the pockets of U.S. farmers instead of foreign oil potentates.

Ideological hyperventilating and tiresome slogans won't solve our nation's energy problems. Our nation needs a fact-based strategic energy policy that focuses on efficiency and diversifying our energy portfolio.