Americans don't over consume energy. Facts show that Americans use energy as efficiently as other countries considering the size of the U.S., the energy-intensive industries that flourish here and the American lifestyle. U.S. economic growth depends largely on the availability of low-cost energy to transport goods over long distances and to power American industries such as paper, plastics and aluminum. American cities are far more smog-free than 25 years ago, by the U.S. government's own statistics. Americans don't have to give up driving their cars in order to have a cleaner environment.
Alternative fuels are far from perfect substitutes for oil.
Reducing the amount of oil the nation uses only makes sense if we have another better source of energy to replace it. But that perfect substitute simply does not exist, at least not yet. They generally cost more and have performance limitations. The implications of fossil fuel use for the global climate are, at best, uncertain. Society needs to look for a balance between the potential environmental implications of climate change and the economical growth that fossil fuel use provides.