The impact of energy on global security and economy is clear and profound, and this is why in recent years energy security has become a source of concern to most countries. However, energy security means different things to different countries based on their geographic location, their endowment of resources their strategic and economic conditions. In this book, Gal Luft and Anne Korin with the help of twenty leading experts provide an overview of the world's energy system and its vulnerabilities that underlay growing concern over energy security. It hosts a debate about the feasibility of resource conflicts and covers issues such as the threat of terrorism to the global energy system, maritime security, the role of multinationals and non-state actors in energy security, the pathways to energy security through diversification of sources and the development of alternative energy sources. It delves into the various approaches selected producers, consumers and transit states have toward energy security and examines the domestic and foreign policy tradeoffs required to ensure safe and affordable energy supply. The explains the various pathways to energy security and the tradeoffs among them and demonstrates how all these factors can be integrated in a larger foreign and domestic policy framework. It also explores the future of nuclear power, the complex relations between energy security and environmental concerns and the role for decentralized energy as a way to enhance energy security.

Throughout history the pursuit of strategic commodities has governed world affairs. Centuries ago salt enjoyed a monopoly over food preservation, and securing access to the white mineral shaped the great empires' international behavior. Today, it is oil that monopolizes our transportation system giving those who control it inordinate power on the world stage. Breaking the oil cartel and oil's monopoly over transportation fuel is the only way to bring about energy independence, insulate our economy against future oil shocks and win the war on radical Islam, argue two of America's leading energy security advocates Gal Luft and Anne Korin in Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice. Energy independence is not about the amount of oil we use or import; it's about turning oil from a strategic commodity second to none to just another commodity. In an unvarnished and lucid manner Luft and Korin chart a realistic way to do so while addressing the barriers on the road.

America's energy security paradigm has collapsed. For decades, politicians have been barking up the wrong tree when it comes to oil. Over the last seven years, domestic oil production has increased, vehicle fuel efficiency has increased, oil imports have decreased, and yet the amount Americans spend on oil imports - not just per barrel but in total - has skyrocketed. We drill more, we use less, and yet we spend more. In the wake of the Arab Spring, we can expect OPEC to keep turning the screws to drive prices higher. On the bright side, a revolution in extraction technologies has opened the door to unconventional natural gas. There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but only if we wake up, wise up, and send a message to Washington to shift gears from pork laden no-lobbyist-left-behind energy bills to Teddy Roosevelt style trust-busting. In a no-holds barred, fast paced, information packed sequel to Turning Oil into Salt, Gal Luft and Anne Korin spell out the pitfalls of an oil market dominated by a cartel and sketch a clear blueprint for getting America out from under its thumb.