Luckily the effect is much larger in the opposite direction: weaning oneself off of foreign oil is a huge advantage both economically and militarily.

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nradov an hour ago | parent [-]

Is it though? For developing countries, having a large supply of fossil fuels has always been a huge accelerator for industrialization and overall economic growth even if that fuel has to be imported. There really is no substitute, especially when you consider that it's not used only for transportation and power generation but also for manufacturing as an industrial heat source and chemical feed stock.

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gzread 28 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Solar energy is cheaper than oil right now. On average. Too bad it's highly variable but if you can cope with extreme variability you can get extremely cheap energy.

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pstuart 38 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

China seems to think so. Their efforts to boost their non-carbon energy sources is going at an advanced clip, along with their advances in EVs.

Not saying they're above reproach, but their energy policy certainly trumps ours.

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eldaisfish an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

fossil fuels were a proxy for energy. China continues to show the world that energy independence can come via electricity that you generate within your borders, and that it can be cheaper than importing foreign oil.

	▲	nradov 34 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		China is in no way energy independent. Their fossil fuel imports are extremely high and not decreasing.