Interesting discussion but all over the map.
1. The low hanging fruit is drilling/mining(new oil fields and oil shale) and nuclear. Start now.
2. Flex fuel is good alternative when the new technologies that convert biomass to biodiesel mature.
3. Corn based ethanol should not be subsidized.
4. Electric cars are good and will be the urban area solution – problem is rare-earth materials requirement that has to be solved(we are running out of rare earth minerals).
5. Yes high gas prices broke the back of the housing market (last straw).
6. Subsidize any non-petroleum solution that is more than 50? efficient (most of the biomass conversion technologies could pass that test when mature).
We want to get out of the oil consumption business but not kill ourselves doing it. We want to explore all the alternatives because there will be niche markets for at least several of them and one of them will be the most cost effective oil replacement. We want to generate as much power from Nuclear because it is the efficiency king at generating the most energy for the energy cost of producing the fuel and can be relied on to produce steady power.
Oil-free future not going to happen tomorrow if we start today. But we should start today.
