More and more energy executives believe the U.S. can attain energy independence within the next 15 years, eliminating the nation's dependency on foreign energy sources, according to the results of an annual survey by the KPMG Global Energy Institute.
KPMG's survey, which polled more than 100 senior executives in the U.S. representing global energy companies, found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of energy executives believe the U.S. can attain energy independence by 2030 or sooner – up 10 percentage points from KPMG's 2013 survey. Of those 73%, 17% believe the U.S. could fully meet current energy demand with only U.S.-based sources by 2020.
Other than the continued development of conventional and unconventional domestic energy reserves, the KPMG survey found that 37% of executives cite the development of energy transportation infrastructure such as pipelines and transmission lines as the most important action they believe the U.S. should take to attain energy independence. However, 23% also cite greater use of renewable energy sources, and 20% point to greater use of alternative fuels for transportation, including natural gas, electricity and biodiesel.
