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Rather than drill, baby, drill, our mantra should be conserve, baby, conserve. I found this interesting paragraph in Physics for Future Presidents, The Science Behind the Headlines by Richard A. Muller. He has a new book out, Energy for Future Presidents, in which he admits that global warming is mostly human caused. This is significant because he was a sceptic and because his work was partially funded by the Koch brothers. I am very much looking forward to reading that book.

“Past conservation efforts have been far more successful than many people appreciate. That’s because they have been so comfortable that people didn’t notice. Rosenfeld points out that it was conservation that liberated us from the control of the oil cartel in the 1970s. When the oil embargo began, the 4% yearly improvement in conservation in the United States allowed our economy to grow with no increase in energy use. But the members of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, suffered from their reduced income brought about by the embargo. OPEC was more addicted to US dollars than the United States was to foreign oil. A little bit of extra conservation on our part drove down their income and forced them to increase production. That is a very important point for future presidents to know. OPEC was defeated by US conservation efforts, largely during a period when the general public was unaware that conservation progress was taking place.”

Please see Energy Independence