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A single source of energy that can replace crude oil - call it a silver bullet - does not exist. Instead, what the United States needs is more like stiver buckshot - a combination of many sources of energy, along with increased energy efficiency.
A major component of this approach is developing domestic renewable energy sources that can power our society and ensure its continuation as the planet's supply of fossil energy becomes scarcer. This is not the time to debate when fossil energy will be depleted or whether we have reached global "peak oil" production. Why? Because we already know that all petroleum, including the oil sands in Alberta and the Bakken formation in North Dakota, is finite.
Finite means that crude oil will one day be depleted. In the meantime, the law of supply and demand will apply: as oil becomes scarcer, it will increase in cost. If the demand for petroleum increases, or even if demand stays the same while the supply decreases, the increased costs will eventually force us to seek alternative sources of energy.
How will the U.S. and global economy respond? The standard of living in the United States and around the world will be vulnerable in a petroleum-limited future. Why? Because global economic stability rests mainly with a nation's ability to supply energy to fuel its economy, especially the supply of cnide oil. Here in the United States, our vulnerability to disruption in the energy supply is severe. Last year, we consumed more than 25 percent of the worlds total output of petroleum, yet the United States has only 5 percent of the world's population. And over 60 percent of the petroleum that we use is imported! That is not sustainable.
A littie background
The OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s was a wake-up call. We suddenly realized that petroleum permeated every aspect of the U.S. economy. Those of us who are old enough can still remember the long lines of cars waiting at filling stations and the effect that the embargo had on our shaky economy at the time. Unfortunately, when the petroleum spigot was turned back on in the early 1980s, we abandoned most of our energy production and efficiency research programs. We went back...