[Angua]

Originally Posted by punky

Not quite as simple as that. The US uses a lot of oil, but so does China. Pretty soon China will dwarf the US in all forms of energy usage and pollution.

Anyway, oil dependence is a double edge sword. The middle east is so rich and prosperous because the world (not just the US) needs oil. In most cases, its that country's only export. Without oil, and richer countries having to buy it from smaller, poorer ones, there would be a lot more poverty related problems in the world like access to food, water and healthcare. Oil dependence has helped eleviate problems in these countries (including Africa), they still have problems, but think how much worse they would be if noone bought their oil? Western countries tend to be prosperous without oil. Most of the middle east and Africa's only source of outside funding comes from oil sales.

When/if we make the switch to Hydrogen, what is going to happen to those countries?

It also behoves them to use their current wealth to generate alternative incomes sooner rather than later.