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Energy Independence

January 10, 2006

There will be a lot of talk in Washington this year about winning America’s “energy independence.” What does that mean?

Depends on whom you ask.

For those who have difficulty conceiving of an energy economy that is not dominated by petroleum, “energy independence” means drill in the U.S., then drill some more. Drill the Arctic National Refuge, drill offshore, drill the Rocky Mountain Front. Just drill, dammit.

Except that it won’t work to reduce our vulnerability to high prices or supply disruptions. Oil prices are largely outside our control, since oil is a globally traded commodity. Oil supply is largely outside our control also, since we use 25 percent of global production and 98 percent of remaining conventional oil reserves are outside the United States.

As long as we are so heavily dependent on oil, we will be dependent on foreign oil. No independence there.

For others, “energy independence” means diversifying our energy menu and producing more energy at home. Use biofuel grown in the Midwest instead of oil produced in the Mideast. Erect more wind turbines in the Great Plains. Install more solar panels in the Southwest. Find ways to clean up coal so it doesn’t endanger public health and stoke the atmospheric heat engine. Crack the technological nuts that will bring the long sought hydrogen economy. Above all, use energy more efficiently.

That’s a far better path towards energy independence. But energy independence, if so achieved, would not mean energy autarky. We could not wall off our energy economy from the rest of the world even if we wanted to. Oil will remain a fungible commodity traded in a global market. Increasingly, natural gas will be shipped to distant markets. American companies will buy and sell energy goods and services from other nations in transactions governed by price and value, not by political slogans.

Energy independence, in a more accurate sense, will mean less risk, greater freedom of action, and more mastery over our future.

Using energy more efficiently will leave more dollars in our pockets and give us more choices in how we spend and invest them.

Ramping down oil dependence will mean disentangling ourselves from the rancid regimes that export oil, with the concomitant corruption of our democratic ideals that results from making unsavory deals with such regimes.

Ramping up dependence on renewable energy technologies will cut us loose from the shackling conventional thinking prevalent in Washington today that nothing can be done about global warming without harming the economy. By developing cleaner energy technologies through the combined efforts of the public and private sectors, we will create new economic opportunities for Americans. We will take charge of dealing with the climate problem as only the world’s largest economy can. We will lower risks. We will make use of our independence in the deepest sense – by taking responsibility for the well-being of our descendants.

Energy independence will give us the wherewithal we need to deal with the interrelated global problems of climate change, energy security, and economic development.

If we make the right choices, energy independence will be a state of mind that will serve us well.