by Mark Butler

Created on: July 01, 2010   Last Updated: July 04, 2010

The battle for American energy independence will not be easily won anytime soon but it is a long term battle that must be fought.  America’s energy sources come to us primarily via oil and natural gas but it is the independence from foreign oil that must come first but it cannot be at the expense of importing additional natural gas from Canada or Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) from overseas natural gas facilities.  Victory in this battle will be the next awakening of America and its will usher in a new, long term economic expansion that will re-establish America as a world economic power.

The benefits of not sending huge amounts of petrol-dollars to foreign governments will create huge opportunities and the money that was sent overseas will create jobs here in America and the technology needed to attain energy independence will also create jobs.  Many of these jobs will require new skills and extensive training but these are the jobs that pay good wages unlike the service industry that fails to provide a living wage to many employees in that sector. 

The barriers to success go far beyond oil companies, lobbyists and alleged corrupt politicians.   It requires a collective will of the American people to act instead of just talk about energy independence.  The primary source of our addiction to oil is the use of the automobile and its internal combustion engine (ICE).  While there have been advances in ICE technology since its invention over 100 years ago, it is relatively unchanged and a very inefficient means of producing motive force.  

The options available to America, if the love affair of the automobile isn’t ended, is to either find another type of fuel that can be produced in the US or develop another type of motive force.  Fortunately both options are currently available even if both technologies are still in their infancy. 

The first, and probably best long term solution is to use battery powered cars such as produced by Tesla Motors.  While these cars are expensive compared to similar sized cars, their range is more than adequate for everyday commuting with a few extra errands thrown in at the end of the day.  While current battery range limits the cars to about 250 miles, if a way is found to install a fast charge on the battery in 20 minutes or less this type of technology could gain rapid acceptance.     

The second option is the use of bio-diesel in conjunction

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