Video: On Why Becoming More Energy Efficient is Simply Not Good Enough

"Like salt, we need to strip oil of its strategic importance."  

-Gal Luft, Executive Director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and a founder of the Set America Free Coalition

As Luft points out in this brief video the buzzterm 'energy independence' cannot simply be achieved in the U.S. by more domestic drilling for oil in areas such as the ANWR.

The word 'independence' implies choice, and when it comes to an energy source for automobiles the vast majority effectively have zero choice.

For a long time now oil has had a monopoly as THE energy source used in vehicle transportation, and we must find a way to put an end to oil's stranglehold.

Luft's and coauthor Anne Korin's book, titled Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice, argues for the importance of making oil as un-strategic a commodity as salt has become.

Many have forgotten or never learned that wars used to be fought over salt. The 'primordial condiment' as some have called it was one of the most effective ways to preserve food, making it perhaps the world's most strategic commodity.

Nissan Leaf

Today we no longer fight wars over salt because it has been rendered non-strategic. We must do for oil what we did with salt. The good news is that for oil we have right now the technological equivalent of canning and refrigeration, which put an end to the strategic importance of salt. One of the keys to reducing oil's strategic importance is the wide adoption of 100% electric (not hybrid, fully electric) vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf.

Their book can be found in the Good Books and Films section on the right side of this blog.