[RightWhale]

We have until 2017 at the latest and that is if everything breaks in our favor. There is nothing that can be done to stop this. We are going off the cliff as early as 2007 no matter what. It's 30 years too late to do anything about it. We can't even afford to build enough windmills and solar panels now, and that will be impossible at any price in 10 years.

[FireTrack]

You had me thinking about this all evening... If memory serves me, POV mileage increases aren't going to help that much since the largest consumer of fossil fuels is industry (I could be wrong here).

Also, one of America's greatest Achilles heels is our transportation systems. We're about 30 days away from famine if something happens to our trucking industry for example.

Lastly, industry is one area were government control is easier to implement. J.C. had all new power plants required to burn coal during his administration. One was built in our area and though we're plagued with high mercury levels in our local lakes (not sure that burning coal is the cause), we have a steady mid priced supply of electricity made from coal shipped from Montana. BTW, here in Louisiana, most of our natural gas is piped to the northeast. :-)

Anyway, based on the above assumptions, I believe we need to concentrate on the industrial sector in our efforts to great long term energy stability.