Eight Presidents and Counting...
Jon Stewart's Daily Show took a long look at the political history of promises to "free the U.S. of its reliance on foreign oil."
Every President since Nixon has given that pledge, and each had his own ideas for how we would get there - and when. TIme and again, American resolve has wavered and it's not that we are failing under a light breeze, this is a daunting challenge because hydrocarbons work extremely well. They release vast energy per kilogram, they are relatively easy to find, produce, distribute, store, and consume. They exist in every continent. The technology for production and use is well-tested, well-understood, and easy to procure.
So, it will take a lot more effort than repeating the same tired pledge about "changing America's energy future" to move away from coal, oil and gas - and anyone who thinks we can actually fully move away from those three sources is living in another world entirely. The question is not whether we will rely on hydrocarbons, but rather how much will we rely on them, and for how long can we do so before the environment forces our hand? [Note: it doesn't matter whether you worry about CO2; the methane emissions, and ocean acidification alone will force the world to change its ways.]
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