Breaking the Chains: 6 Solutions for Ending Dependence on Foreign Oil

by Lewis Reynolds (Politics Daily) America doesn't have to depend on overseas sources for one of its most vital national needs. A move toward energy independence, aside from creating as many as 14 million new jobs, can help rebuild our nation's industrial base and provide one of the most stable and secure energy supplies in the world. Best of all, this new domestically produced energy can be both renewable and sustainable. Here are a half-dozen ideas on how to start:

1. Invest in new infrastructure to process alternative fuels. There's little dispute over the feasibility of manufacturing liquid fuels from non-petroleum sources. Brazil is energy independent thanks, in no small part, to production of ethanol from sugarcane. Germany relied on coal during World War II. South Africa continues to tap coal and natural gas using the technology developed during years of isolation resulting from apartheid. The same technology is capable of producing fuels here in the United States -- and decades of research and the emergence of nanotechnology make energy produced this way much more affordable and economically competitive with oil-based fuels.

...There are already multiple competing commercial technologies and at least 20 plants in operation or under construction in the United States alone, mostly in the chemical industry. Using a separate but related technology, the gases manufactured using this process can be converted to form a wide range of fuels, including those already most familiar to Americans and compatible with the existing vehicle fleet and infrastructure: diesel, jet fuel, gasoline components, and ethanol.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, production of fuel in this manner can be economical and highly profitable.

...2. Use existing biomass to ease our transition away from petroleum use. While virtually any organic material -- such as coal, natural gas and biomass -- can be used to manufacture fuel, biomass offers a distinct advantage: Its use makes the entire fuel cycle carbon-neutral. (A carbon-neutral fuel cycle means that no matter how much fuel we consume, there will be no net increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.)

...3. Grow "energy" crops. Once we've exhausted the country's existing supply of biomass, we will need a consistent and sustainable source of additional biomass -- and that will require cultivating so-called "energy crops."

...4. Implement government intervention wisely. ...There are many steps government can take to grow and protect an alternative-fuels industry. For starters, one immediate risk to such a nascent industry is a counter-attack from powerful predators, such as oil exporters and multinational oil companies. It is essential to the long-term survival of the industry that it be protected from a reactionary drop in prices.

One potential mechanism for protection is the establishment of a price floor for crude oil. The floor price could be set to ensure that domestic alternatives, including fuel produced from biomass, could compete with foreign oil even in a falling market. READ MORE