We have a ready alternate, partly or wholly as a result of the first Manhattan project - nuclear. This isn't directly applicable as a replacement for all the uses of oil, but it is a great start, along with drilling lots of holes.
I very much concur. But almost no one on the Left that is talking “Manhattan Project”, implies nuclear when they’re doing so. They’re talking Faerie Dust Energy - Wind, Solar, Geothermal, Tides, etc. None of these so-called environmentally friendly sources is going to power our society, or even a significant fraction of it, any time soon.
And the Greens and the Left have gotten us so hamstrung with environmental regulation that even these sources aren’t considered environmentally acceptable. Windmills kill too many birds and the NIMBYs can’t even see them on the horizon (re: the Cape Cod windmill farm that was stopped). Even new solar installations have been stopped for a time for environmental reasons:
U.S. temporarily halts new solar projects
BUREAU TO STUDY IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037396/posts
The Greens and the Left (among whom I include some portion of the Rs) are going to stop rational resource development until there is serious pain felt and people start to wake up and apply political pressure. This would all be a lot easier if we could get started now.