Hybrid Cars

So not having all the facts, I say this with a grain of salt. I'm not convinced that the "greenhouse gas" argument in general has any merit. As an engineer, I have seen no compelling evidence to suggest that globally (energy) pollution has an impact. That being said, that argument is for scientists, politicians and (apparently) actors to decide. For that reason I'm skeptical of how "inappropriate" producing energy from hydrocarbons really is.

What seems obvious is that pollution has a real lifestyle impact in cities(smog). For this reason, power plants (and plug in cars)become a rather attractive option for mobile power needs. Reducing energy byproducts in heavily populated areas is a realistic short term goal and an attractive one at that.

As to ethanol as an energy source, it may not be feasible to provide 100% of our energy this way, but as it is, America subsidizes farmers to NOT utilize farm land to control the price of produce in America (so farmers don't go poor). This leads me to believe that much of gasoline could be mixed with ethanol to produce a "more environmentally friendly" fuel source.

As to nuclear, It's a no-brainer; nuclear power plants in America release less radiation per kW-hr in an uncontrolled manner than almost coal power plants (yes coal power plants release trace radiation into the atmosphere).

I do agree most however, that not using energy is the best solution. You will likely never get rid of industrial energy use and the home will always require a certain amount of energy to run, but for our personal pocketbooks if for nothing else, it makes a lot of sense to use "people power" and also to build a "greener house". It is true that PVcells on your roof do not make economic sense, but things like investing in double paned glass and flourescent light bulbs do.

Don't forget that energy crises are largely driven by things that have nothing to do with energy. In California, it was discovered that their energy crisis was manufactured by enron. Today it could be argued that the crisis is driven by Western nations pressuring NIC's like china and India to quell their explosive economic growth.

The facts certainly aren't in, and I agree that there are no "silver bullets" but from an economic and from a social standpoint- everyone could use a little more walking and biking, and everyone could be