How can america become energy independent

The best way to insulate drivers from inevitable oil price shocks is to reduce how much oil we use in the first place. American energy dominance likewise does not mean the United States can retreat from global cooperation.

The use of strategic oil reserves, for example, is more effective when done collectively with other nations. The United States created the SPR as part of an agreement among nations in the International Energy Agency to hold strategic oil reserves that could be released in coordination.

Despite Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal it struck with the U. It reimposed sanctions on Iran in an effort to negotiate a better agreement that would both make the deal permanent and address other troublesome Iranian behavior beyond its nuclear program. Yet the Trump administration failed to constructively engage with its European partners and others to provide a pathway to negotiation for Iran.

With little prospect of a negotiated settlement and facing maximum pressure on its economy at home, it would be not surprising if Iran felt it had no choice but to escalate militarily. The president has proven sensitive to oil prices and their domestic effects.

Setting in motion a price increase may therefore be seen by Iranian leaders as the best way of matching the U. As with the attacks on tankers transiting the Persian Gulf earlier this summer, the Iranians have demonstrated that they understand very well the global nature of the oil market.

The United States is once again a world energy superpower. But it is not independent. The oil attacks in Saudi Arabia resulted from a failure of multilateralism and diplomacy. Twitter: JasonBordoff. By seeking to cut Iranian exports to zero, the U. Until recently, exporting U. Last year, U. At the same time, U. Next year, the U. Oil production is expected to increase another 16 percent by , making the U. Energy analysts estimate that the oil boom has created about 1.

Many analysts suggest that U. Almost half of U. Some people believe that a North American energy alliance of the United States, Canada and Mexico would provide better energy security and offer new economic opportunities for all three nations. Canada is anxious to get their crude from the Alberta oil sands to the global market. Energy plays an important role in the national security of any country. While energy independence deals with supply and price stability, energy security also focuses on things like improving infrastructure and delivering energy more efficiently.

It also addresses challenges and threats that help shape energy policy. As energy production continues to grow, both the U. Just about everyone agrees that ending the ban on crude exports would turn our trade deficit around and put our economy back on its feet.

The steadily shrinking gap can be traced back to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the late s. Which brings us to the most significant point: Price, alongside market signals and technology, are the principal drivers toward energy independence, not the government.

Auctioning off 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling in March;. Ordering the Treasury Department to "eliminate barriers to the financing of highly efficient overseas coal energy plants"; and,. What isn't clear is whether those steps will have much of an effect on Trump's promise. Certainly not one that is visible yet -- and won't be for at least five to 10 years, experts told us.

Opening up areas for oil and gas exploration and development, for example, requires a multi-year planning process, lease sales, and most importantly, large investments by companies. In order to drill, companies must find these expensive ventures more profitable than existing opportunities, like onshore horizontal drilling and fracking. The Keystone XL pipeline, on the other hand, has not yet been built, and with alternative albeit less efficient transport options, experts pointed out that it wouldn't necessarily impact whether the energy resources are developed.

Even if the United States were to balance exports and imports, it is a long ways away from total disengagement from the global market or zero imports , which most experts defined as true energy independence. That, experts said, is neither viable nor desirable. The United States has comparative advantages in producing certain energy sources, like light oil, while other countries are better at producing other sources, like heavy crudes, which means that staying integrated in the global trading scheme lowers prices for American consumers at the pumps -- and creates business for American oil refiners.

Whether turning the United States into a net energy exporter or cutting off imports completely, the government takes a back seat to market forces. And it will likely take years before the export-import balance sees the subtle fruit of Trump's labor.

But that doesn't take away from his considerable efforts to facilitate fossil fuel extraction, production and exports. Phone interview with Severin Borenstein, business and public policy professor at University of California, Berkeley, Dec. Donald Trump's energy strategy as president is stacked full of promises aimed at achieving one goal: energy independence. All of the details of Trump's promises are included in his " An America First Energy Plan ," which includes rolling back environmental regulations and increasing drilling on federal land.

He continued: "Imagine a world in which our foes and the oil cartels can no longer use energy as a weapon. Wouldn't that be nice? The United States is closer to independence than dependence, and getting closer every year, but, it's still not independent.

While there's no strict definition for "energy independence," experts said Trump's promise is possible under a loose definition. Trump said energy independence will stop other countries from using oil as a political weapon. Trump has said he will tap into untouched shale, oil and natural gas reserves, reduce regulation and encourage the use of natural gas in order to become energy independent.

Robert Godby, the director of the Center for Energy Economics and Public Policies at the University of Wyoming, said energy independence has multiple definitions. Energy independence in its strongest form can mean the United States produces as much energy as it uses we currently produce a little less than 90 percent of the total energy we use , but Godby said the definition is usually weakened to simply mean creating an environment where prices and supply are stable.

Although we don't know for certain yet what a Trump Administration wants to achieve, it seems most likely Trump's promise falls into the broadest category where the supply and price of energy is stable.

Under these definitions, Godby said Trump could attempt to achieve the goal of producing as much energy as we use by opening up production and reducing regulation. He could also do so if he encouraged the use of renewable energy within the industry, though his policy promises have been mostly silent on renewable policy.

One of the reasons the United States imports a portion of its energy is because of costs. When oil prices fall, U.