Energy consciousness
Paolo Scaroni is the CEO of the Italian oil company ENI, one of the 25 largest companies in the world (it sells fuel in Europe under the Agip brand, among many other things). He had this to say about American oil consumption:
If Americans used the same cars as we do in Europe, they would save four million barrels a day, exactly the same as the production of Iran...The dependence on oil imports is based on waste, not on needs.
Our per capita consumption is out of whack with the rest of the world:
He noted that the average American uses 26 barrels a year, the average European uses 12, the average Chinese uses two and the average Indian only one. "Generally speaking, the energy consciousness of Americans is very low. Energy has always been cheap here."
The days of cheap energy are probably over, but it remains to be seen if the American economy and culture can transform into a more efficient mode without crashing first.