Right!  The U.S. is the #1 energy consumer in the world.  We're #1!   Considering petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric power and nuclear power, we used over 5 times the energy that our population represents in the total world population, by 2003 consumption figures. The vast bulk of the world population uses far less than their population percentage.  For example, China, with a burgeoning economy and a population of 1.3 billion people, represents 20% of the world population, and consumed 11% of the world energy supply in 2003.  We used 9.4 times the energy per person here in the U.S., compared with China.  For poorer countries than China, the imbalance is much greater. Developing countries like China and India are changing the energy landscape.   As they undergo rapid economic growth, they bid up the price of energy.  No matter where the energy is produced (whether the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Canada, the U.S.A.) the energy market is a world market, and energy resources will flow to where the money is.  We can't count on being able to sustain our disproportionate consumption of energy resources.  Large multinational corporations like Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. will sell petroleum to the highest bidders -- there's not even a guarantee of American oil going to American customers!  For this reason, it would be wise for everyone to prepare for the future of high-cost energy.   Take a look at the comparison between some selected countries, and the percentages of the world's energy consumed in 2003:
			2003 Consumption of World Energy Resources in Five Categories: All energy types in Quadrillion BTUs -- numbers in brackets ( ) are percentages of the world totals for that category: Petroleum Natural Gas Coal Nuclear Hydroelectric U.S.A. 39.047 (29) 23.070 (23) 27.758 (28) 7.959 (30) 2.825 (10) China 11.379 (7) 1.370 (1) 29.465 (29) 0.421 (2) 2.852 (10) France 4.252 (3) 1.74 (2) 0.505 (0.5) 4.331 (16) 0.600 (2) Germany 5.532 (3) 3.270 (3) 3.352 (3) 1.580 (6) 0.213 (1) Japan 11.319 (7) 3.200 (3) 4.099 (4) 1.580 (9) 0.213 (4) Russia 5.500 (3) 15.690 (16) 4.607 (4) 1.524 (6) 1.747 (6) U.K. 3.464 (2) 3.580 (4) 1.558 (2) 1.104 (4) 0.046 (0.2) World totals 162.2 99.12 100.736 26.52 27.183
	Population figures for U.S.A., the world and China from U.S. Census Bureau population clock:  http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html, and the CIA World Factbook: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html. Energy consumption figures from the Energy Information Administration, an office of the U.S. Department of Energy:  ww.eia.doe.gov/emeu/internatiional/content.html.