Measures such as reducing the speed limit to 55 miles per hour on major highways could save the United States between 1 and 2 million barrels of oil per day, Nadeau said.
"It's so easy, but by not doing these simple things we cause untold damages politically and economically around the world," Nadeau said.
The price of oil reached $50 per barrel in July 2004, Nadeau said. While the global recession has since lowered demand for oil below supply levels thereby lowering the price demand will once more exceed supply as the economy rebounds, he said.
Nadeau also cited the high cost of fuel as a key cause of the current global recession.
"The cost [of oil] spiked and people couldn't pay their mortgages and for fuel, and it exposed weaknesses in the economy," Nadeau said.
Nadeau drew a parallel between recent economic uncertainty and the 1980 spike in oil prices that preceded a severe recession and the loss of 12.7 million U.S. jobs.
"It is unbelievable how people don't see the connection between the price of energy and the ability of the economy to provide goods and services," he said.
Nadeau's research focuses mainly on the Golden Zone, which is approximately 2 kilometers thick, in which the temperature is between 60 and 120 degrees Celsius. Approximately 85 percent of the world's oil and gas is found in this zone, he said.
Drilling becomes more dangerous in the high-pressure, high-temperature zone located below the Golden Zone, Nadeau said.
The Macondo well the site of the deadly April 10 British Petroleum explosion was drilled right on the border of this high-pressure, high-temperature zone, Nadeau said. Such an event demonstrates the inherent dangers of drilling under extremely high temperatures, he added.
While drilling in this zone is relatively common, it is much more expensive and produces less fuel than drilling at higher levels, Nadeau said.
As an example, Nadeau explained how 40 percent of oil wells in the North Sea are drilled below the Golden Zone, although these wells only account for 10 percent of the region's oil production. These inefficient wells are also 10 times more expensive to maintain than are the Golden Zone wells, he said.
In Bombay, 90 percent of exploration wells which are drilled primarily for information-gathering purposes are drilled deeper than 90 percent of the actual oil reserves, an illustration of inefficiency in the world's oil procurement practices, Nadeau said.
While efficient drilling methods are important, oil producers and policy makers must also work to conserve the oil in the Golden Zone for future generations since oil is currently being consumed at an unsustainable rate, Nadeau said.
"If you waste your energy today, you burn your bridge to tomorrow," he said.
