The fuel to run internal combustion cars doesn't have to be, either.
Drilling here. Using biodiesel made from garbage and manure instead of food crops...the possibilities are there.
The reality is that even if were to adopt a strategy that placed an emphasis on maximum domestic crude/ethanol/biodiesel production it wouldn’t work.
At peak production in the 70s, we produced about 10 million barrels a day. Our production has declined to 5 million barrels a day. More importantly consumption has increased to 20 million barrels a day. Based on current production, that’s a 75%, or 15 million barrel *a day* deficit. Even if you use US peak production numbers, which are not guaranteed to be attainable, it’s a 50% or a 10 million barrel *a day* deficit.
Perhaps more importantly, we burn around 7.5 billion barrels a year. In the United States, in areas currently open for drilling, there are around 10 billion barrels of known oil reserves and around 85 billion more estimated. In areas “off limits” to drilling there are anywhere from 9 billion (on the low end) to 45 billion on the high end barrels. Most estimates put the number around 18 billion barrels.
So in a best case scenario that’s enough to buy us energy independence for around a decade and a half before American crude is *gone*.
We have an energy problem that crude won’t solve.