The United States has the solution to its dangerous and costly dependence on foreign oil: Electrify the transportation and heating sectors. Doing so would practically eliminate our need to import 70 percent of the oil without which our economy cannot now function. But first we need a new superpower electricity grid. The current grid, which was cobbled together by local and regional utilities from Thomas Edison’s day, is perilously close to capacity and cannot handle any significant amount of increased power generated by wind or solar sources, says Peter Huber, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

In a study released yesterday at the National Press Club and entitled “The Million-Volt Answer to Oil,” Huber argues that America can boost its electricity production by 50 percent by building a new high-voltage overlay to the existing grid. The new superpower electricity grid would be able to do what the old one cannot – transmit large quantities of electricity long distances to urban centers that need the juice. Just one high-tech, high-voltage wire, which Huber calls “stunningly efficient,” can transmit a million volts of power, enough to propel three jumbo jets. The cost of this new superpower electricity grid – $75 billion – would add just a third of a penny per kilowatt hour to consumers’ bills. That would be more than offset by efficiency savings, since power plants now sit idle half the time because they can’t transmit electricity to where it’s needed most.