Drilling, alternative fuels and efficiency: Can the United States wean itself from imported oil?

Perhaps the most daunting challenge the next generation of Americans will face is what President Bush called our “addiction to oil”. The challenge is to find the means to provide for our transportation needs in the face of declining world oil production. Perhaps the central question is whether we will export the great wealth of America to foreign countries in payment for oil before we tackle the grand challenge of creating a new transportation future that does not rely completely on oil.This article presents the historical facts relative to America's oil demand and domestic and world oil production resources. These historical trends are used to construct a scenario of future supply and demand for oil in the US. A range of existing technologies, which can reduce the need for petroleum imports, are then evaluated using wedges analysis, giving projections to the year 2030.