Energy Independence

I was reading through some of the Peak Oil posts and started pondering on the topic of Energy Independence (EI), albeit from a different angle.

Normally, when someone talks about EI, they are speaking from their own particular perspective in the supply/consumption/conservation of energy -- their individual role, or their country as a whole. That's all well and good, but I started wondering about the bigger picture.

What will happen to global society if/when energy is just as free as the air we breath?

What if everyone, everywhere, had free access to whatever energy they need, whenever, and wherever they need it, and only had to answer for how they used it?

Current society and all it's inherently complex interactions is governed, in part, by a limited supply of energy. Energy makes things happen. Without it, society could not flourish, cure disease, feed the poor, or go to war.

For good or ill, we are all slaves to a dependence on energy in one form or another. Will that always be the case? I don't know. But, perhaps it would behoove us to contemplate the matter now.

Thoughts?

interesting. energy as a form of economy is a large part of the modern worlds economies. take out the money generated by energy and what do you have left