How can the US become more energy independent, especially independent of the Middle East?

Question

And please identify yourself as Con/Lib/Libertarian/Other.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Encourage domestic expoloration, production & refining. We haven't developed a new oil field or built a new refinery since thye Nixon administration. The problem is that Greens & Dems will block all such efforts.

Taxing imports would also help, but that would be political suicide.

I am a Neocon Republican.

Answer 2

In just scanning the exective summary in the link that summit seeker provided one of the things they are saying is something I have said and know as well.

To get alternative energies into production will require big energy to invest into it. Private enterprise will be the vehicle by which already existing technologies are put into production.
Government can only push it by giving incentive to do so ( tax incentives ).

the Middle east would have no wealth if the first world hadnt located the oil and developed the technology for them in the first place. Now the rest of the world is held hostage at times by oil producing countries.

From where I work I look out the window and see a renovated apartment building with the whole roof covered with solar panels. They are renting studio apartments for 309 dollars a month. Thats dirt cheap compared to anywhere else I bet its already rented out and they havent even finished it yet.

An LED array light bulb uses far far less energy than incandescent or flourescent lighting. And lasts much much longer. Why arent these used in places where lights are always on.

I am pretty definitely conservative when it comes to fiscal/economy issues but one thing I know.
Big energy whether it be oil, power whatever... they will only change if someone twists there arm and gives them reason to.

Someone has to knock em in the head and say hey the future is over there and you can make money doing it, or someone else eventually will and you will be left behind to go bankrupt.

Answer 3

First, the US gets almost no oil from the Middle East. Our biggest foreign supplier is Canada. Mexico is number two and Venezuela is number three.

We swap oil from Alaska that's needed on the East Coast with Japan who buys oil from Nigeria and ships it here. That's the fourth largest foreign supplier. This is because on the distance from Alaska to Japan versus shipping it around the Horn of South America and back up to Texas or New Jersey.

1. Increase the tax on gasoline by $2 a gallon. $1 immediately and another $1 in three years.

2. Increase the Federal CAFE standard for new cars, trucks and SUV's.

3. Greatly restrict the use of oil in electric power plants. Switch to nuclear.

Answer 4

All the answers are at the link provided. This is a report published by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a think-tank whose work on this project was funded by the Pentagon.

If you're too lazy to read the whole thing (it is quite long and technical, but if you're an engineer you'll find it interesting) at least educate yourself by reading the executive summary. This is the most exhaustive, scientific (i.e., not political) study that I am aware of. It should be required reading for all policy makers.

Answer 5

Take advantage of every energy source available. Wind power in windy areas. Solar in sunny places. Develop means to tap into wave energy, current energy in our rivers and streams, thermal where we have volcanoes. It's a matter of being willing to spend the money to develop this energy. Our politicians are all talk and no action, if they really cared or were concerned, when OPEC hit us with the fake energy crisis thirty five years ago, we would have learned and did something to insure it wouldn't happen again. An American Independent.

Answer 6

Conservative.

e85 is a good start, but we need to give fuel dealers a tax incentive to sell it. Many cars already run on it..

Beyond that, serious development of market viable alternative technologies. There's already a battery powered roadster available, if you have $100k burning a hole in your pocket. Cut that to 1/4 the cost, and you can solve the problem

Answer 7

We need to drop this BS "Not in MY backyard" attitude. That's why we haven't built a refinery in this country in 30 something years. Hell, some group tried to put windmills up - I think it was in Nantucket Sound but too lazy to look it up - anyway, the residents had a FIT. Americans need to wake up to reality - we can't have it both ways.

Conservative Libertarian.

Oh, and I'm an Alaskan - *we* want to drill in ANWR. It's the environmentalists who won't let us. Domestic oil beats the hell out of imported - and ANWR would buy us some time to develop alternatives.

Answer 8

Tax incentives for auto manufacturers to build fuel alternative vehicles.

Tax incentives for builders to build and sell solar powered homes.

If Brazil can do it, what is preventing the US?

- Independent with bias against current admin.

Answer 9

1 - Production:
-Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Wave, Nuclear, biofuels. No single method will address the problem.

2 - Conservation:
-CF light bulbs, higher mileage standards, better building codes, effeciency standards in factories, better batteries, lighter construction materials (esp. in cars).

3 - Innovation:
-Use the tax code to encourage innovation in a market-based manner that doesn't allow OPEC to destroy alternative fuel production by dumping oil on the market.

And I'm a liberal.

Answer 10

I am Republican. The USA has so many stocks of oil, it is scary. These stocks are being kept hidden, and secret, for the protection of America, in case of a war, like WW III, for example. I know because my husband's father worked for Gulf oil his whole life, and was one of the worker's to contain the oil. We American's are not "hungry" for gas, and oil, but these secret stocks must be kept to save us in a worse case scenario of a bad war. America is taking care of itself. We want to use other means of oil now, and the price almost doesn't matter, because in the end, for example, many folks think we are nearing a very extreme war, WW III, because of Iran and N. Korea, money isn't going to help us survive, is it? Oil, will be our savior. We need to drill in Alaska. No one is going to care much about the Caribou when they get hungry after a major war.

Answer 11

Use uranium based nuclear energy to make hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars.