The Implementation Of The U.S. Energy Independence Strategy And Its Impact

Since the beginning of the shale gas revolution, the US energy independence hasbecome one of the hottest topics which attracted the attention of the whole world.Throughout the entire American history, energy independence strategy has beenproposed long-standing and developed in the past40years, and it has had abreakthrough in the21st Century. As a source of energy production and consumptionpower, the United States of America maintains the global energy technology leader andpioneer status and plays a pivotal role in the establishment and maintenance of theglobal energy security system through the implementation of energy independencestrategy, which provides a solid guarantee for economic development and nationalsecurity of the United States of America. In the future for a long period, the UnitedStates will continue to lead the setup of the world’s energy. Therefore, analyzing theUS energy independence strategy has great strategic significance for the energystrategy and the energy security of China. This paper analyzed the implementation ofthe US energy independence strategy and its great influence on the US and the wholeworld.The paper was divided into five parts.The first chapter of the paper (introductionpart) stated the background and significance of the research, which summarized theachievements of the relative research in academic circles at home and abroad, and gavea brief introduction about the train of thought and research methods.The second chapter introduced the general historical evolution of the UnitedStates of America energy independence strategy. This chapter divided the US energyindependence strategy into three stages according to the time sequence: the energyindependence strategy was proposed and developed in the20stCentury; Bush government improved and perfected energy independence strategy and developed allits aspects; Obama government made energy policy to solve the economic crisis. Thenthis chapter mainly analyzed the characteristics and different focuses of each stage.The third chapter studied the implementation of the US energy independentstrategy. Firstly, it introduced the American shale gas revolution, including the basicsituation of the US shale gas, the history of shale gas resources development,technology breakthrough and the great achievements of shale gas revolution.Then itanalyzed the conditions of the success of shale gas revolution in the United States,summing up four important factors which impact shale gas revolution: first, the UnitedStates has the geographical advantages by nature to develop the shale gas; second,technical progress is the breakthrough of shale gas revolution; third, the United Stateshas good market environment for large-scale commercial development of shale gas;fourth, the government provided many preferential policies.Secondly,the authoranalyzed the importance of petroleum, and pointed out that American governmentdecreased oil imports from the Middle East and increased oil supply from domesticand neighboring countries to reduce the negative influence of the Middle East andenhance the security of energy. Then it further analyzed demand-size managementfrom four aspects: the vehicle energy conservation, energy efficiency of buildings andappliances, the construction of smart grid, to limit carbon emissions. Finally, the authorintroduced the development of American natural gas, solar energy, biomass and otherclean alternative energy.The fourth chapter analyzed the influence of the US energy independence forAmerican energy security, economic recovery, the world energy setup and geopoliticalpolitics. Its impact on the United States was epitomized in these aspects: reducing thedependence on foreign energy and protecting American energy security effectively;promoting the US re-industrialization, increasing employment opportunities andgovernment revenue; helping to reduce the trade deficit of America and consolidate thestatus of the dollar. From the view of the world, the US energy independent wouldstrengthen the North American regional energy supply, and the North American began to become an important sector in the world energy setup; it also had a huge impact onthe Middle East, and America would gradually get rid of the Middle East "energychains",at the same time, the Middle East may become more turbulent in the future,and the Middle East oil consumption would be further eastward; the tend of USenergy independent would also gradually weaken Russia’s influence in theinternational energy market.The fifth chapter summarized the content of this article, and further pointed outthe essential meaning of the US energy independent. At the same time, this characteranalyzed the geopolitical impacts on China as well as countermeasures of China.