Energy Independence: What's The Best Solution?

I just reviewed Mitt Romney’s energy plan, found here… http://www.mittromney.com/issues/energy and there is a lot to unpack. It appears that Romney’s energy policy falls into three camps.

First, increase and fast-trak the building of new Nuclear Power Plants; next would be increased production of fossil fuels; and lastly it appears that green energy solutions would become defunded, or more specifically, companies which provide venues for implementation of “green” energy alternatives would not be subsidized.

It is the increased production of fossil fuels in Mitt’s energy plan which has my attention. Specifically in its relationship to statements made by Mitt regarding our ability to achieve energy independence by 2020. I haven’t really heard much regarding how many years of oil we have in our reserves, however, I have heard some people say that we have 100 years worth of natural gas underground. Am I to believe that tapping these vast quantities of reserves combined with building new Nuclear Power Plants is the golden path to energy independence for a hundred years?

I have my doubts. Here is why:

No matter the size of the oil or gas fields, extraction of the resources in those fields is not predicated on American’s daily energy consumption. Production (extraction), by those who do this sort of thing, is based on the business model of how fast they can get that resource out of the ground, processed into fuel and sold.

There is no law, no rule and no regulation in place which prohibits “them” from selling these fossil fuel products on the global market as fast as “they” can. So there goes the idea of a hundred years of energy reserves out the door. Without any regulation stipulating otherwise, not only will these fuels be processed and sold on the global market as fast as possible, but as I see it, the production of this fuel will have zero impact on reducing the price of fuel here in the USA.

Is there any question that whatever the price a gallon of fuel can fetch overseas, we will end up paying the same price to keep that gallon here?  

So maybe, however improbable, we achieve energy independence for a while because laws get put in place to keep those fossil fuels in country... how long will it last?

I have always pictured the world’s supply of oil as a glass of soda we are drinking. If you continue to drink from that glass, eventually it is empty. Eventually, you’ll need some other mechanism or resource to supply energy. From that perspective, it seems shortsighted to defund support for those fledgling green alternatives we will most likely need when oil and gas have vanished.

What are your thoughts on this?