To achieve energy self-sufficiency for the sake of national security and reasonable prices, the U.S. will be looking at many different sources. There are many promising technologies in development which will be economically practical with oil prices higher than $60 or so a barrel.
No one can be sure how long it will be before alternatives are developed to a commercial level and the necessary infrastructure is in place to make utilization possible. For example, shifting motor vehicle propulsion from liquids to electricity will require an enormous build-up in generating facilities. New power plants take years to permit and build, nuclear power plants longest of all.
There will be a demand for oil and oil derivates and substitutes for years to come, no matter what alternative energy sources are developed. Airplanes will require jet fuel of some sort, for example.
The more fuel the U.S. can develop on its own – or obtain from friendly sources in our hemisphere such as Canada, Mexico and Brazil, the safer the U.S. will be. There are tremendous oil resources available off the coasts of the U.S. and in Alaska that can and should be opened up to environmentally responsible oil development.
Because of recent technological advances, oil shale in the Rocky Mountains may be the biggest prize of all -- triple the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. It is estimated that 1.5 trillion barrels of oil can be recovered from shale in the U.S. Here, too, as with offshore and Alaska, there is a Democrat moratorium in place that needs to be ended.
Oil shale isn't the only answer to what ails us, but should almost certainly be part of a package that includes overcoming environmentalist resistance to building new refineries and drilling offshore and in Alaska to produce enough oil and natural gas to give us literally years of all those resources we need. Nuclear energy is crucial to a solution, as well, and yes, we need to continue work on solar energy, battery technology, hybrid, high-mileage autos, and much, much more.The chief enemy to much of this is ideological paralysis, a never-say-die resistance to anything that smacks of the old ways, and there is this much truth to the arguments - without prudence and an iron determination to avoid environmental degradation, we could wreck ourselves while aiming to save ourselves.
And yet technology has already achieved the means of drilling without disaster and can almost certainly provide us the other protections we need as we aim to maintain a standard of living some denigrate despite all its victories over human misery. It will take years to reach our destination, but if we are rational and have confidence in ourselves - if we carefully take dangers out of the picture and then refuse to be scared - we will find ways to endure the moment and get there.
