Five Energy Myths

Robert Bryce discusses five energy myths in an article from the Washington Post, and his points are dead-on (read this RedState post for two other points about energy independence).

The main point is that globalization is so widespread that energy independence is impossible because even if we don't buy fuel directly from certian countries, we buy goods from countries which buy fuel from countries we dislike. I think this is a decent argument as far as it goes, but it still seems like a good idea to me to seek as much energy independence as possible.

In Glenn Beck's An Inconvenient Book, he has a section discussing energy independence and its importance for America. The book is sort of a mishmash of conservative and liberals ideas (he's a skeptic of global warming but supports certain environmentalist goals) and can seem disjointed at times during the reading, but I thought his section on the importance of energy independence to be one of the best (the best concerned laser and bonnet movies, a section which was absolutely laugh-out-loud funny). Specifically, if we want security, we need to find ways to become less dependent on foreign oil. Otherwise, we will fight more wars for oil (it's inevitable) and our economy and lifestyle could disintegrate (Beck argues that we could be headed for another Great Depression).

In the RedState post, Pejman Yousefzadeh argues for more nuclear power plants to help deal with our energy consumption, and I tend to agree with him. After all, if France believes in nuclear energy, it seems quite ludicrous that America's paranoia about Love Canal should trump logic.

We need more energy to keep our economy going. If, as many liberals say, we are running out of oil, then we need to find replacements. Now.