SOUND BITES and sloganeering just won't cut it anymore. Energy security-defined as reliable supplies at reasonable cost obtained in an environmentally sustainable manner-is no longer assured. All the presidential candidates loudly proclaim that they will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and, as a bonus, curb carbon emissions. Yet these same politicians, for the most part, have overlooked a serious problem. In so doing, they risk missing an important opportunity.

We are on the verge of an oil-production crunch-in which the growth in the global demand for oil will outpace supply. This is expected to occur, if present trends continue, after 2012.