Keen Usa

When the founding fathers of America declared its independence, they could not imagine that, 232 years later, the United States would be dependent on outside before oil flowed from a well in Titusville, marking the beginning of the global oil economy.

How long America depends on foreign oil?

The U.S. is literally sitting on a massive source of energy because a quarter of world coal reserves are located within the borders of the country.

The U.S. generated 3940 hours terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2004, more than half of electricity from coal power plants.

Obama is not even the first president to promise that America will not rely more on the Middle East for oil. President George W. Bush said the U.S. was "addicted to oil", which threatens to undermine future economic growth, in his State of the Union address.

Former President Bush said: "I hope to go beyond a petroleum-based economy and make our dependence on oil from the Middle East a thing of the past".

Although the barracks Obama said, "The days of Washington drags its feet over and it will be the policy of my administration to reverse our dependence on foreign oil while building a new energy economy will create millions of jobs."

In a move seen to bring a glimmer of hope for Americans on the oil issue, speaking from the White House, the president announced Monday that he was directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider an application by California and 13 other states to set stricter limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from cars and trucks, paving the way for stricter standards for fuel economy at the national level.

Obama has an ambition to head the Department of Transport to issue guidelines that will ensure the vehicle fleet of the United States reached an average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 at the latest, therefore, the guidelines will signal Obama to take on the American auto industry disastrous, which is bleeding money at the same time it contributes heavily to climate change and the country's dependence on foreign oil.

What America must do to obtain its oil?

- The government must become independent of oil. That means giving drivers a choice between oil and other fuels.

- Ending the oil addiction will require political leadership, the changes necessary to end dependence on oil are extensive. Several current proposals are far too small. For the big changes needed to resolve this problem, presidential leadership is essential.

- A penetrating analysis of policy and technology alternatives; Plug-In-Cars, biofuels, energy efficiency, coal, actually no effect on the transport fleet in the short term or immediate, unless more electric vehicles were invented .

Although the White House sees ethanol meeting up to 30% of fuel consumption of the nation, he admits it will take about 15 years to get the cars in the nation to new technologies.

Projected U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that this figure will exceed 5,840 TWh by 2030, with coal continues to be the dominant player. But coal is the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.

To address the environmental impact of coal combustion, the president has earmarked an additional $ 281m (£ 158m) for research on clean coal technology. With all this in mind it remains to be seen whether America will find its own oil.