Rodney

I've said this before and I'll say it again: there are plenty of other energy technologies out there that are either:

1) ready for prime time but cost too much because they're not produced in high-enough volume to benefit from economies of scale or the kind of continuous process improvement you get in a high-production industry. Solar cells are there, so are solar collectors of other kinds, and certain battery technologies. There are also extreme energy saving technologies out there that still cost a lot, like LED lightbulbs that can light a house for 1/10th the energy cost of today's bulbs.

2) Not quite ready for prime time, but would be if somebody threw some serious $$$ at them, a la a Manhattan-style energy product or DARPA giving away a lot of cash: molecular depolymerization for making oil (literally) out of crap, several competing fuel cell technologies, more wind energy, generators powered by ocean waves, and about five others I can think of.

If the shit hit the fan, money would be tossed at these options like rice at a wedding. Nobody's bothering right now because oil is cheap. That will change. The only variable is when, and how fast. Worst case, we'd have a few tough years while we converted to new technologies and new rules for using energy. (There'd be some losers, but also some winners -- might be a good time to get into retrofitting houses for solar). But we'd get there.