MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - APRIL 15: A Google employee sends a computer e-mail near one of the many electric cars owned and leased by the company on April 15, 2008 in Mountain View, California. The electric hybrid cars are charged from rooftop solar panels. The Google campus has numerous green buildings designed for minimum power usage that helps reduce the company's carbon footprint. The campus has one of the largest corporate solar installations in the world which produces 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1000 homes. 9,212 solar photovoltaic panels cover rooftops of 6 buildings and 2 carports. The electricity produced offsets nearly 30% of peak electricity consumption for those buildings. The system, switched on in mid-2007, will pay for itself in approximately 7.5 years. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
Oil is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, providing nearly 40 percent of our primary energy needs, more than any other fuel, and powering 92 percent of our transportation sector. Alternatives like electric vehicles for light-duty applications and natural gas vehicles for heavy-duty trucks represent the best solutions for breaking oil’s stranglehold over the transportation sector. By moving to electrification and natural gas, no single fuel source—or producer—would be able to hold our transportation system and our economy hostage.