Gal Luft: Key to energy security is fuel competition

Gal Luft, an advisor for the U.S. Energy Security Council, and a member of Fuel Freedom’s board, explains a great deal about energy security in this interview with China Dialogue.

Energy security requires two things, essentially: availability and affordability.

In order for energy to be affordable, there must be competition, so that one form of energy — say, power generated by oil — doesn’t have a monopoly. Here’s an excerpt:

The key for energy security is to have fuels that can compete against each other. In 2008, for the first time in Brazil, less gasoline was sold than ethanol (many cars used in Brazil are multi fuel efficient). The economy is then much more resilient. With competition over price, the pricing will then eventually reach equilibrium. There are many other options to create competition for the running of transportation, such as electric vehicles, bio fuels, CNG. Both China and the US are able to reduce their reliance on oil. China is the largest producer of methanol, while the US is the largest producer of ethanol – this would however, require flexible fuel vehicles.