Alternative energy sources have an important niche. Every watt that comes from a windmill or solar panel is a watt we don't have to get from a major power plant. But it's still a niche, and right now, it's surviving mostly on subsidies.

There's a hydrogen fuel cell test bus running around here that costs thirty times the cost per mile of a diesel. To be fair, no prototype is ever going to be as cheap as something in long-time production, even with a good idea, but you can see that it's an uphill battle.

I think solar in particular hasn't reached anywhere near its full potential, but we have to realize that there's no way we're going to run a major technological civilization off the sun and wind.

For example, I wish people were sitting down and working to get nuclear power systems up and running safely. Right now, the general view seems to be to pretend the option doesn't really exist.