The US is too depenent on oil?

Question

Why is it that we American’s refuse to change our primary source of fuel? We are completely dependent on oil! Imagine if all of the money that we are using to make sure we have allies in the Middle East went to our farmers to grow corn for ethanol or develop a specific farming technique to grow specific wood for Methanol. We would not be bending over backwards for countries that are in such turmoil. It would be somewhat hard to hold the US over the preverbal barrel if we could say, “we really don’t need that much oil and we don’t have to deal with you!”

Yes, I know most of you believe that we are there to help bring democracy to an unstable region. My opinion it is so we as a nation can import oil with ease with these nations. My understanding is that these are the top 10 nations that America imports oil from:
1. Canada
2. Mexico
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Venezuela
5. Nigeria
6. Angola
7. Iraq
8. Algeria
9. United Kingdom
10. Brazil


If we didn’t have to deal with 3 of which have unstable governments and 1 that has a questionable government, how much better off would we be economically and ecologically. So, why allow us to be so dependent on oil?

Answer 1

This is such a HUGE issue I could write an entire book (and some would say I do that with MOST of my answers in here). However I will try ot just hit the high points.

1. We are too dependant on foreign energy sources. Would America even CARE what happens in the Middle East if they didnt happen to be sitting on billions of gallons of oil we need? The way to make oil cheap again is to stop using it in personal vehicles. Develop hydrogen powered vehicles, or compressed air, or cars which run on milk or something, I dont care, just stop using Middle East oil and you marginalize the people who own it, then we, as a nation, can tell those sexist idiots where to stick a camel for maximum effectiveness.
2. Once the oil's gone, thats the whole ballgame. This doesn't just mean no more gasoline; it also means NO MORE PLASTICS. No more DVDs or hearing aids, no more bicycle seats or artificial hearts. No more 2 liter Pepsi bottles and no more plastic bags to carry the Pepsi home in. I predict a time when 2 things will happen:

1. Youre great grandchildren will curse your names for wasting such a valuable commodity on such frivolity as privately owned vehicles, and
2. There will come a time when asphalt parking lots and streets will be ripped up to get to the petroleum they still hold. You think junkies getting clean and going through detox are hard to watch? Wait til you see the oil junkies jonesing for a "fix".

Last point. The only way America is going to be a Super Power again is to get on top of this energy dependence. As long as someone else holds our energy needs in their sweaty little hands, we will never be the independent power we think we are.

Answer 2

The developed world is highly dependent on oil, because so many modern technologies use it as a starting point. It's not just energy, plastics and many vital chemicals are also derived from crude oil.

Methanol is not really a solution - you could devote all the land in the US to growing corn for ethanol and you'd barely meet the country's energy requirements. (And, you'd be too dependent on food imports at that point).

As far as power generation is concerned, actually, the US could become oil independent fairly easily, the US does have sufficient reserves of coal and natural gas to meet it's energy needs for some time, and nuclear power could meet those needs for centuries. None of those sources meet with the aproval of environmentalists, and energy concerns are still making plenty off oil, so why fight them?

Answer 3

Okay...if we can drill in our own back yard, use our AMERICAN companies to refine, heck do something really outrageous and build a couple new refineries, and sell it without using terrorist countries, that would benefit us. Because right now the money they get from us buying their oil isn't going to their people. It is going to fund their military that attacks us and other innocent countries. And if we can stop buying even 3% of oil from Iraq that is 3% money they will have not have to terriorize America, other countries, or their own people. Guess what even if Hannity didn't graduate college that doesn't mean $hIT. How many people graduate college and didn't even pick up a book. It isn't hard to skate by in college and get a degree. Also, with the LIBRAL agenda being JAMMED down students throats in school. Its not like he would have learned anything with substance in it anyway.

Answer 4

In order to run this economy, it takes energy.

The price of corn has gone up due to the demands of ethanol.

I agree that we should increase our use of "alternate" fuel sources but also that we should increase our use of available oil supplies we have (read Alaskan reserves).

Developing other sources such as nuclear, solar, and wind takes time and money before it can become economically viable. For example, how much would it cost for you to install solar power on your roof and how long would it take to recoup those costs in energy cost savings. Hopefully, this equation will be significantly better in coming years, but right now it's pretty high. Still many are doing it and its certainly something on my list of considerations.

The cost of oil however is set by world supply and demand and currently is most influenced by the amount of energy that China needs in their growing economy, despite all that OPEC or these other nations are doing. In the past however, OPEC has been the cause of price spikes.

Good point in your question though and definitely something for us to consider.

Answer 5

We will be dependent on oil until a better reliable source comes up..However the rest of the world is too reliant on us.They feed off of our money like leeches mostly due to our initial generosity and then future strongarm demands from others...

Answer 6

Because we have enacted laws to prevent us from pumping oil out of our own ground for the sake of the environment, therefore making us buy it from abroad.

None of the alternative fuels are currently better than gas. Are you proposing even more subsidies other than the current ones for farmers and ethanol. It is already costing us millions through taxes we give back to the oil companies that should build roads.

Before you say we should stop the subsidy on ethanol, it will raise the price of gasoline another 5 cents per gallon if we do, the gas companies only make about 8 cents per gallon and the current subsidy on ethanol is 50 cents per gallon of ethanol mixed with gasoline. E85 would go up 40 cents per gallon.

If you want to pay more to drive, go ahead, but I prefer to save money.

Answer 7

First we need the infrastructure in place,until then we use oil.
Seen any Hydrogen stations going up anywhere ?
Now, how many acres are you willing to take out of food production to make alcohol?
Corn feeds people and food animals and we only have so much farmland.
Now ,run down to the drug store and price plain old rubbing alcohol,comes out to about 4.50 a gallon.
Add in the federal and state taxes we pay on gasoline to the cost of the alcohol.
Are you seeing the light yet?

Answer 8

Part of the problem is that there are far too many oil and gas lobbyists that think they are just far to slick, and are the ones running the way politicians think.

Answer 9

The world is too dependent on oil.

Answer 10

But then what would Exxon/Mobil do? They might have to invest their profits in other technology like ethanol, hydrogen, or something else. It would cost them too much to retool everything so it will not happen for a long time.