The real switch will be when we can power cars on fuels NOT derived from fossils, which is a dwindling resource that either funds non-democratic nations and terrorism OR creates environmental problems for us and our children. Plug-in cars (hybrids being the initial transition to full electrics) will be the key to making this work. More of our electricity can then come from domestic sources, such as geothermal, solar, and wind, which would come from local communities, keeping our dollars here rather than abroad. All the hype about nuclear is just that -- hype. The need for uraium (limited supplies), subsidies, waste disposal costs, lack of nuclear engineering talent in the U.S., safety concerns, etc. all make it a non-starter politically for future energy needs. It's a lot less challenging and faster to erect solar panels or wind turbines on a farm than try to build a nuclear power plant that will take 10 years to clear all the planning hurdles. Geothermal can be used for baseload energy to replace coal. America's energy future centers on increasing efficiencies and clean energy! Sticking with 19th and 20th century technologies -- oil, coal, nuclear -- is not the answer.

Coal power is on its way out - the banks don't even want to finance it anymore. Nuclear is also too expensive. The new energy economy (solar, wind and geothermal) is on its way and the sooner we embrace it the better off we will be. It will be a win-win change- keeping jobs and our money in this country when we make the change. We currently are sending out $500 billion per year for oil and this doesn't include the military and security costs of the oil economy. The new energy economy will be an incredible impetus to the economy, producing millions of jobs and cleaning our air at the same time. HJopefully this change will start at full force as soon as the dinosauers are out of the whitehouse.

At the little Go-Mart just up the road from my neighborhood, gasoline was at $3.75 for quite a while, then fell back to $3.69 ... but shortly thereafter shot up to $3.89!!! But is that causing people here in West Virginia to rethink their SUVs, slow down on the highway, invest in a bicycle or even start flapping their legs a little bit more? Uh, when pigs fly.

This devil-may-care attitude toward gasoline, and energy consumption in general, mystifies me. It's almost as though people assume petroleum reserves are self-renewing ... or better yet, that GOD HIMSELF is underground waving his wand and making more oil, probably with the assistance of some sort of Heavenly bees.

But many experts are relatively certain that Middle East oil supplies will gradually begin drying up within the next 20-30 years, if the price of oil isn't a reflection that this is happening already. And yet our species goes on its merry way, ignoring the warning signs, pursuing ever-greater affluence and energy consumption. "Conservation" has become a dirty word, something antithetical to The American Way.

Thanks McGiver- maybe you can teach us how to catch small animals in the backyard in your next letter

If we would develop more alternative energy sources, we could reduce our reliance on oil. How? Oil is used to heat homes in the North East, use electricity produced by Nuclear instead to heat these homes. Natural Gas is used to produce electricity and to heat homes, use nuclear and other alternative forms of energy to do this instead, then use this natural gas to power cars, instead of oil.

If Americans will we can get out from under the thumb of oil producers, but we have to have the will.