The hunt for a cheap energy replacement for oil is now on about the level of a woolly mammoth hunt for stone age men or a whale hunt for eskimos 400 years ago, or the manhattan project of the 1940's. All the big boys and their research assistants are engaged. Some serious reputations will be made and there is a palpable sense that the beast is nearby.
Having been involved in the new energy field now for several years, a few things are obvious. Many flashes in the pan that go no where. Dissipation of resources, many promising leads going no where, lost in the shouting crowd for investor monies. Many dead ends like the hydrogen economy(where does the energy come from in the FIRST place to produce H2?). Deadly fission plants, the core of the iranian problem. Big oil of course throws every obstacle in our way, no business ever funds its competitor and so politicians run off at the mouth about freedom from foreign oil but, since they are OWNED by big oil, you'll NEVER see them helping. Like Jesus said : lawyers, liers, pharisees : you load burdens on other men's backs but won't lift a finger to help. But consider this : a fantastic new energy source arrives, do you give it to EVERYONE? Idiots, children, terrorists; what will they, in their ignorance or malice, do with it? Or AG? Picture BILLIONS of poor, starving third worlders landing on YOUR lawn, stripping everything you own BARE, with this magic flying carpet(technology)you gave them? Do you see then how TOO MUCH energy is as bad as too little? It leads quickly to the extermination of the human race, not its salvation...