To meet the energy challenge requires the most important energy of all - human creativity. That's the real prize.

We experienced similiar fears in the 1880s, at the end of World War I and II. And we ran out in the 1970s.

The North Sea was supposed to run out in the 1980s. Then in the 1990s. And now production is still on-line.

Clearly, the Chinese need the resources, but I don't think they want to clash with the industrial world which happens to be the market for their goods.

In the mid-1980s, operating problems took [nuclear] plants off-line so often that, on an annual basis, they operated at only about 55 percent of their rated total generating capacity. Today, as a result of several decades of experience and an intense focus on performance ... nuclear plants in the United States operate at over 90 percent of capacity. That improvement in operating efficiently is so significant in its impact that it can almost be seen as a new source in electric power itself.

Cycles of shortage and surplus characterize the entire history of oil.

But that's not enough: To maintain energy security, one needs a supply system that provides a buffer against shocks. It needs large, flexible markets. And it's important to acknowledge the fact that the entire energy supply chain needs to be protected.