America is endowed with the largest coal reserves in the world, and recoverable reserves are estimated to be about 270 billion tons. In 2005 the U.S. produced 1.13 billion tons of coal, second only to China. Based on the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) 270 billion ton reserve estimate, America has more than 200 years of coal at the current production rate. Even if production were to be doubled, the recoverable reserve base estimated by EIA would last for more than a century. Potential coal reserves are even larger: The demonstrated reserve base is 495 billion tons, identified resources are 1,730 billion tons, and total resources are 4 trillion tons, far more than any other country.

The "Coal Resource Assessment" section of the American Energy Security Study offers evidence that the widely referenced EIA reserve estimates understated America’s true coal potential. Decision makers frequently refer to the EIA 270 billion ton recoverable reserve estimate as being America’s coal endowment but the EIA total coal resource estimate for the U.S. is nearly 4 trillion tons and the Demonstrated Reserve Base (DRB) is nearly 500 billion tons. Clearly the U.S. endowment of coal is enormous. In fact there is evidence that the 500 billion ton DRB better approximates the quantity of U.S. coal resources that will ultimately be recovered when advancements in technology, coal field growth (as restricted and poorly explored measures are added to the DRB), new discoveries, and other dynamics are taken into account.

Enhanced oil recovery technology (EOR) can significantly increase production from existing U.S. oil reservoirs and has been practiced in the U.S. since the 1950s. The process that has the largest potential is miscible flooding wherein carbon dioxide (CO2) is injected into an oil reservoir, providing additional pressure and solvency to move residual oil. U.S. oil resources are very large: discovered and documented resources amount to 582 billion bbls, 482 billion of light oil and about 100 billion of heavy oil. Approximately 208 billion bbls have been developed leaving 374 billion bbls still in place, and of these 374 billion bbls of oil-in-place at least 100 billion bbls are estimated to be producible via EOR.

Biomass comprises the largest single source of renewable carbon on the planet, and starch from corn and other grains is one type of biomass that currently forms the basis for a large and growing renewable fuel industry. Commercial ethanol and biodiesel liquid fuels production is well established in the U.S., and new pyrolysis and thermal depolymerization techniques also are being developed to cost-effectively produce hydrocarbon fuels from cellulosic resources. The U.S. could sustainably produce over 1.3 billion tons of biomass per year by 2030, and this is sufficient feedstock to produce about 1/3 of U.S transportation fuels – about five million bpd.

The transportation sector currently accounts for two-thirds of the oil consumed in the U.S. – nearly 15 million bpd, and EIA projects that U.S. liquid fuel consumption by the transportation sector will increase to about 20 million bpd by 2030. The transportation energy efficiency and conservation resource potential is substantial, and even relatively small annual increases in transportation fuel efficiency over the next two decades could result in very large liquid fuel savings by 2030 – as much as three million bpd. This would help to substantially reduce U.S. oil imports.