If the USA became more energy independent would individual income per capita increase as in other countries?

Question

If the USA became more energy independent would individual income per capita increase as in other countries?

I was looking at individual income values of other countries and found that per person that income was higher where the countries were more self reliant in regards to energy that usually was not petroleum based such that I was wondering if the same would happen in the US if the country began supporting, developing and pushing such alternative energy sources as geothermal, solar, wind etc.

Answer 1

I think your data is skewed. There are very few countries that do not rely on oil. Iceland is the only one that comes to mind.

The reason we have become dependent on foreign oil is that buying oil from other countries was seen as the cheapest way to get energy. Had we made the investment in alternative energy sources, our per capita income would have been lower, not higher.

Even now, at oil's high prices, solar, biofuel, etc. are still generally more expensive per unit energy. All the solar panels going up across the United States are doing so only because the government is subsidizing them.

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_art...

http://www.xomba.com/government_rebates_...

If oil prices continue to rise, or if technology improves, then alternative energy sources may well become cheaper than petroleum, but it will be a while.

On the other hand, some people have argued that even if it is more expensive in the short run, starting now will give us an advantage later.

And there are certainly specific cases where using alternative energy is cheaper (solar water heaters, etc.)

But there is an alternative approach to becoming more energy independent. If we stopped wasting so much energy, then we would spend less on energy, import less, and so be both more independent and better off on a per capita basis.