How? She recommends two ways to fix the problem and believes it can be accomplished in two decades. First, make it mandatory that every new vehicle be equipped, for $100, with the ability to burn any combination of gasoline or alcohols made from a variety of feedstocks as well as waste and coal. Alcohol does not mean just ethanol and ethanol does not mean just corn. Biologists are getting into the energy game big time. We will be able to turn multiple sources of organically grown products into alcohol fuels. Korin’s point is that you have to create a platform for alternative fuels to compete by having vehicles equipped to burn them. The best alternatives will rise or fall through competition. We must challenge the current petro-industrial complex that does not want change. They like it just the way it is and don’t want to disrupt their cycle of profits. As long as oil is required in cars, the petro-industrial complex is happy. U.S. based oil companies lobby hard to avoid any change in our addiction to oil.
The second big step is to produce plug in hybrid electric vehicles which can reach oil economy levels of 100 miles per gallon without compromising size, safety, or power. If the vehicles were also equipped with the ability to run on alcohol based fuels when a liquid fuel was required, these vehicles could reach 500 miles per gallon. Since the vehicles could be recharged at night, the department of energy estimates that 70% of the U.S vehicle market could shift to plug-in hybrids without requiring additional electricity generation. This statistic is truly amazing. It varies, of course, by region, but overall, we have the tools in hand today to make the changes necessary.
In other words, to strip oil of it’s strategic significance, we don’t need a Manhattan Project to develop a whole new source of energy. We do need to remove the 54 cent a gallon ethanol tariff. This will allow the U.S. to develop partnerships with biomass producing countries in Africa and Asia and provide us with an alternative other than oil. Merrill Lynch estimated that if alcohol based fuels had not been developed in the world, the price of oil would be 15% higher. This translates into a savings of 80 billion dollars to the U.S. economy.
So, I’m a contrarian and rather than hope for a steep fall in oil prices, I hope OPEC remains greed stricken, gets tied up with internal politics, and misses their opportunity to stabilize world oil prices. More oil from OPEC on the market is not the long term answer to our problems. More determination by every U.S. citizen to finally break free from our slavery to oil is the answer. We can change the world. It’s time for all of us to say “Enough! I’m not going to take this anymore.”