UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – “If they do not receive oil, their factories will come to a halt. This will shake the world!”

OK, perhaps such a doomsday scenario is a little overboard, but Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s April threat to halt Middle East oil exports to the United States is a chilling reminder of the United States’ dependency on foreign energy.

More than 50 percent of our oil and 15 percent of our natural gas, our two primary energy sources, come from overseas.

Not only can alternative energies reduce our dependency on energy imports – and thereby reduce our $120 billion energy-trade deficit – they also promise a cleaner environment, new economic opportunities, fewer terrorist targets and improved domestic and international relations. Wind and solar power, hydrogen fuel cells and biomass (organic waste used to produce liquid fuels and gases) use inputs that are produced in the United States free every day.

By stimulating R&D in alternative technology, the government would be funding a dynamic new sector that promises to create thousands of jobs in research, manufacturing, supply, distribution and installment.

The sustainable nature of these technologies will reduce energy costs for homes, businesses and schools, freeing up money for savings and investment in other sectors of the economy.

One estimate by the Natural Resources Defense Council puts job creation at 773,000 jobs and the money saved by consumers at $1 trillion in the next eight years alone.

The move to alternative technologies would also eliminate primary targets for terrorists: large nuclear and coal-fired power plants. An attack on the former would have horrifying health consequences, and both would devastate the economy.

Most alternative energy, on the other hand, is produced at a much smaller scale, often from individual homes or businesses.

Solar panels, fuel cells and wind turbines can be attached to the home, making it a self-sufficient energy unit not susceptible to power-grid shutdowns.

The decentralized nature of alternative energies will also cut costs in the construction and maintenance of power lines and pipelines and reduce the amount of energy lost moving from where it’s made to where it’s used.

The federal government and American Indians also are at odds over the ample coal and uranium reserves beneath Indian lands. Most American Indian groups have a strong environmental ethic and don’t permit the earth to be cut open.

A widespread use of alternative energies would not only reduce the pressures on American Indians to exploit their land but also offer the economic opportunities they so desperately need.

Reservation lands are typically some of the most open areas of the country, making them prime locations for harnessing solar and wind power for sale to nearby regions.

Since an increase in alternative energy production would mean less reliance on foreign oil, most of which comes from the Middle East, the United States would find itself able to withdraw from the conflict-ridden region. That’s likely to reduce the anti-American sentiment prevalent among Arab nations. This move also would save the United States significant costs in transportation and protection of pipelines and shipping routes in the region, estimated at $20 billion to $60 billion a year.

The main obstacle to the deployment of alternative technology on a large scale is cost: At this stage, production is still expensive.

There is also a lack of infrastructure to support new technologies, such as biomass-fuel pumps at gas stations and hybrid-vehicle repair shops.

Cost shouldn’t be an impasse: Scientists and industry have managed to reduce the cost of wind turbines by 80 percent in the past 20 years.

A combination of production incentives – to increase the supply and thereby lower cost and increase demand – with power purchasing deals and guaranteed loans would give the alternative-technologies sector the boost it needs to get itself going on a larger scale.

As our energy demands follow the projected increase in the coming years, we must meet those needs with sustainable alternatives that will offer benefits across the board.

Corrine Thatcher

is a columnist at the Daily Collegian at Pennsylvania State University. Her column appears courtesy of U-Wire.