Clean Energy Policy and National Security

Clean Energy Policy and National Security

Policy Brief 1

The U.S' high oil dependence from unstable areas such as the Middle East makes the U.S economy and its national security vulnerable. Dependence upon foreign oil leads to economical, political, and social instability; Factors that influence America's energy security are “foreign political or military action, acts of terrorism home or abroad, or the world's growing and competing demands for limited oil supplies”

Quantifying the U.S' oil dependence and oil availability

According to Rising Oil Prices and Dependence on Hostile Regimes, the U.S energy consumption by Energy Source in 2009 shows the U.S' big portion of oil dependence for energy needs; 37 percent of oil in the world had been consumed and “approximately 12.6 million barrels of oil per day is imported from foreign sources equating to 60 percent of its total daily requirement.” The imported oil has been used to support the U.S' oil-based transport and agricultural system, and industries.The reason that the U.S' oil dependence high is because the availability of the U.S domestic supply of oil is only 70.9 billion barrels, which is the 5.6 percent of world's oil reserve and its reserve lifetime is 14.8 years, while Middle East has 59.9 percent reserve and its lifetime is 78.6 years.

Negative impact by oil dependence and the opportunity cost

When considering the great amount of oil-oriented infrastructure in the U.S, the U.S consumes “869 million gallons or 20.7 million barrels of petroleum products per day.”There is no doubt that the entire U.S will be paralyzed if the foreign oil supply will stop or slow down in oil production. The uninterrupted flow of oil is required to operate its demand on homeland, industries, markets, military, and its extensive transportation networks.Especially, after the Second World War, the U.S tried to hold of black gold, which is “the cheap and plentiful flow of the world's most important energy resource from the Middle East.”So it goes without saying that the most of the U.S policy and military interventions are to occupy the cheapest energy fortress in the Middle East. The U.S government administrates billion annually to keep up its large military stationing in the regions with antagonistic regimes to the U.S even though the increasing antagonistic movement by the Muslim would put the U.S in jeopardy.

Who are the stakeholders?

As a primary stakeholder, all military groups of people are in the front line. According to Yale Environment 360, the current oil dependence of the U.S military is about “77 percent of its energy needs, including aircraft, ground transportation, ships, and weapons.”Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies points out that a large number of soldiers die protecting fuel convoys to satisfy the inelasticity of the oil demand and the loss is still progressive. Hundreds have died. Thousands more have been wounded.” The second stakeholder is taxpayers in the U.S. As the U.S is the biggest customer on foreign oil, the U.S spends “billions of tax dollars defending ...