[NeilBlanchard]

Germany, Costa Rica, Monaco, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, and Iceland all seem to be able to afford the transition to renewable energy. If the USA stopped spending the 4 billion a year on oil company subsidies, then we could afford to make the transition, too. We spend ~1.5 billion A DAY on foreign oil, so if we conserve, we can save plenty of money, and spend some of that on renewables. As Amory Lovins says (Rocky Mountain Institute) we can spend $100 per barrel to buy oil, or we can spend $18 to *save* a barrel of oil.

That adds up very quickly.