What would it take to eliminate imported oil?

I was talking with my neighbor about potential increases in gas tax and her initial reaction was a strong “oh no!  That would be horrible for the economy.”  I pointed out that we’re importing 70% of our oil (ref: T. Boone Pickens & Hot, Flat & Crowded) and that means huge amounts of our currency is leaving the US and going to hostile countries.  I was impressed with how much that single point resonated with her.  Just that one item and her attitude completely changed into maybe gas taxes that discouraged use and kept $$ in the US would be a good thing for the economy.

So I started thinking about what life with 80% less* gas would look like for typical American consumers.  We would have to:

• Work from home 4 days a week (1 vs 5 = 80% saved)
• Carpool with 4 other people (1 vs 5 = 80% saved)
• Go shopping twice a month instead of twice a week (2 vs 8 = 75% saved)
• Car pool 5 kids per car to soccer games / scout trips / etc (3 cars instead of 15 = 66% saved)
• Kids ride the school bus (fuzzier math, 1 bus = 30 cars but 20% efficient is 1/30/20% = 1/6 = 83% saved)
• Bike or walk to coffee shop
• Combine 10 shopping trips into a single trip
• Drive or train for vacation instead of fly
• Take a train instead of fly for next business trip
• Use public transit to attend sports events

So of these changes could be made pretty easy if we slowed down our lifestyle, but telecommuting 80% would be a major change!  One benefit, less traffic!

* I picked 80% gas because some users cannot reduce this radically (like farming) so everyone else has to make up the difference!  80% or a 1/5 is also handy for math.