Well, I don't see it that way at all.
Drilling for oil is becoming increasingly complex as we need to drill deeper to reach new reserves. Same with gas too. We are dependent on our fuels, and our fuels are becoming harder and harder to reach. This is why we need to research into alternate (not limited to renewable as some seem to think) energy sources.
The country that discovers how to harness a new source of energy in a practical manner will be a future superpower, trust me. France are on the ball already, they are investing heavily into alternate energy (including fusion), and in the future their investment will pay off big time.
I remember hearing once that for every pound invested in technology R&D by the UK government they typically expect a return of up to seven times their initial investment to be brought back into the economy (which is one of the reasons I’m against raising tuition fees and I think it will have a knock on effect for this). I reckon alternate energy research will be a big hitter, returning far more than the initial investment.
It also wouldn't hurt to conduct research into better energy efficiency too. For example, energy efficiency wasn't thought of when the internet was developed, and hasn't been acted on since. As a result we just pour (and waste) energy on keeping it running, wehn it could be many times more efficient.
And energy saving light bulbs in the UK are about 10p each (admittedly subsidised by the government though).
