The US, or Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela, or Russia could very well be energy independent on fossil fuels alone, even though that won't be wise.

Europe, or China, or India could not though.

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don_esteban 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

China is making great strides in renewables and investing in nuclear (and in electrification of transport). It can be energy independent in not too distant future.

India has geography for solar, and the human/industrial capability for nuclear.

Southern Europe can go solar as well.

Northern Europe has it tougher (except Norway, with its abundant hydro). Nuclear could work. Or long range DC cables from South Europe or North Africa (if ever Europe helps them to put their act together - not easy or fast, but definitely in their best interest).

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ccozan 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is already happening [1]. I think even an UK connection is in works.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain-Morocco_interconnection

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cjblomqvist 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Northern Europe, at least Scandinavia, is already at 90%+ non carbon electricity generation. (88-100%)

Central and Eastern Europe have it tougher.

	▲	don_esteban 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Central/Eastern Europe is rather into nuclear (Austria on renewables) and not too heavy on fossil, exceptions being Poland/Czechs/Germany with too much coal. The Balkans are quite fossil-heavy, but solar should be quite feasible there.

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tootie 18 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

How? Being a net exporter implies we make more than we use. Great. How do we force companies to not export until domestic demand is met? And how do we ensure that doesn't raise prices more than just running the system as-is?

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nine_k 17 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If foreign supply is cut, we (assuming the US) can still do fine, even though is a sub-optimal way. The US crude is heavy, the Middle Eastern crude is light, so oil processing would need to adapt, the efficiency would go down, and prices would go up. But we'd still be up and running independenty.

If foreign oil supply were cut from China or India, they'd be in a much bigger trouble.

	▲	tootie 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		If foreign supply is cut, the price goes up for everybody everywhere. Even net exporters. That's the whole point of this thread. Every drop of oil, gas or coal extracted (and not under sanction) will be sold to the highest bidder anywhere in the world.

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adrianN 17 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Self sufficiency generally comes at a cost. The whole promise of globalization is that it makes things cheaper.