This is only one solution. To put all your eggs in one basket (oil) you can see the outcome of what is occurring now.

We need to invest not only in oil, but nuclear, wind, solar, coal, wave, geotherman. etc, etc.

There is no reason this country cannot be energy independent.

Brazil did it in 10 years with fields of sugar cane, wind, etc.

But Brazil doesn't have idiots like our elected officials or the typical American who whines and wont elect people who will work on real problems.

...because other countries are not even trying to conserve. China, where we are having the majority of our products manufactured today, is building factories at an alarming pace, and all without regard to pollution or conservation. Just production! And mainly for the American market. If we could require our imports to be manufactured by the same standards we require within our own country it would go a long way to balance the economic status as well as the oil consumption of those countries and thereby effect the international demand for oil.
Most of the developed world wants to tax the U.S. for it.s green house gases, which are yet to be proven, when we are doing more for conservation and clean air than they are. Yes, we're the big user of oil because we were first to develop the "need" in our daily lives. But to condemn us, and relegate us to inconvenient methods of transportation solely on the premise we must do more is preposterous. Yes, our elected officials are headed in the wrong direction, but I can truthfully say I didn't elect them. I'm not even satisfied with the position I hear from either side, but the side in power in Congress is not in touch with our needs or desires. They're only interested in furthering their own agendas.
Even as Columbus OH puts in its 500 miles of bike roads I have to laugh at the thought of using public transportation. I've carpooled in the past, when it was convenient enough and cost effective, but in today's world I don't find the idea of public transportation desirable. Even with discounts and monthly passes the time expended makes the use of public transportation a sad state of affairs. When 20 minutes in the peace of my own vehicle is weighted against being jostled about, having to transfer and then the forced walking in the 1:55 it takes for a one way trip there's a lot more than $4.62 a gallon I'm willing to pay before I succumb to public transportation again. The smells and outward appearance of most of the ridership doesn't endear me to that group either.
Yes, we've developed the need for energy, but a select few that seem to hold all other forms of life higher than our own have been holding back the development of alternative forms of resources with their tainted view of the world. Most of the developed world is using nuclear power, that we originated, and then chide us for not doing enough for greenhouse gases. Even when they were allowed to be built it took at least ten years to get past all the red tape, read that "lawsuits and other forms of obstruction." And then there is doubt if they'll even be able to begin production. All in the name of some obscure insect that we'd otherwise irradicate with our best insecticides. Yes, most of this country's electrical power is generated with coal, the dirtiest form of power generation, when there are known alternatives. Known, and viable! When our elected officials cow-tow to small vocal groups it's just another example of the "politically correct" generation bending over backwards instead of standing firm of the principals that founded this country.