International Energy Agency foresees an energy-independent US within 10 years

Joshua Delaughter

Each year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) prepares a World Energy Outlook report that peeks ahead to 2035. The organization tries to predict the trends in energy generation and use that will get us there. The reports are a mix of extrapolating current trends and predicting future ones. Although they often miss the mark, they also often provide a provocative look at the big picture of the energy economy, pointing out things that can be easy to miss when the focus tends to be on the day-to-day fluctuations in prices.

This year's was no exception. One of the key conclusions is that the US could reach energy self-sufficiency by 2020. That doesn't mean we'll stop importing oil; rather, we'll be exporting so much coal and natural gas that it will offset our oil imports. Those imports will also be kept in check by a combination of increased fuel efficiency and expanded extraction within the US.

The overall conclusion of the report is that the world will remain addicted to fossil fuels for the indefinite future. This is in part because of subsidies. Around the globe, governments are subsidizing their use to the tune of over half a trillion dollars. That's over six times the subsidies given to renewable energy, and up 30 percent from the year before.

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