Even Silicon Valley investors have put well over a $1 billion in new energy technologies.

An important United Nations environmental conference went past 6:00 in the evening when the interpreters' contracted working conditions said they could leave. They left, abandoning the delegates unable to talk to each other in their native languages. The French head of the committee, who had insisted on speaking only in French throughout the week suddenly demonstrated the ability to speak excellent English with English-speaking delegates.

People always underestimate the impact of technology. To give you an example: In the 1970s the frontier for offshore development was 200 meters, today it is 4,000 meters.

The starting point for energy security today as it has always been is diversification of supplies and sources.

It's extraordinary how inventive one can be with ethanol right now.

So the major obstacle to the development of new supplies is not geology but what happens above ground: international affairs, politics, investment and technology.

In a world of increasing interdependence, energy security will depend much on how countries manage their relations with one another. That is why energy security will be one of the main challenges of foreign policy in the years ahead. Oil and gas have always been political commodities.