As I've stated previously, short term we've got lots of possible solutions for lessening our dependency on fossil fuels... Biodiesel, Ethanol, Methanol, etc.  But what about long term.  Those are just stop-gap solutions which are incremental research and development.  Where is the paradigm shift away from fossil fuels?  What solutions are going to be the next life changing events like combustion engines were at the beginning of the 20th century?

Well, let's take a step back and look at scientific achievements in the world during the last 100 years.  There have been more scientific breakthroughs in the last 100 years than all of previous history before that.  And if you look at energy research specifically, the last major breakthrough we had was nuclear energy.  The first artificial nuclear reactor was constructed at the University of Chicago in 1942.  So what has been accomplished in the 66 years since then? 

• Nuclear fusion showed promise, and is still not ruled out as a possible source of energy. 
• There have been thousands of reported inventions of Overunity engines, or those that produce more power than they consume, but no one has been able to commercialize on those. 
• Solar energy has grown greatly, and is able to produce power efficiently and cleanly, but the cost of production is still too great to be an inexpensive alternative, and it can't be used effectively year round everywhere.
• Wind power has also grown the accompany Solar.  But again, the cost has been high compared to fossil fuels.
• Hydroelectric is an excellent alternative, but there are only so many places that it can be effectively used.
• Fuel cell research has grown tremendously during the last 10 years, and shows great promise, but again it's not cost effective
• Hydrogen fuel is a great alternative, as it can be readily obtained from an abundant resource... water.  However, an effective means of converting water to hydrogen still needs to be discovered.

There are others I've missed, I'm sure, but the real point I want to make is we are in need of a paradigm shift.  We need to look at ways to obtain energy from the ever abundant source that surrounds us.  Gravity is one good example, always exerting a steady energy.  Magnetics is another, which has been exploited to a small extent in our modern day A/C generators and motors, but there is much more we don't understand about it that may be the answer.

All food for thought... I don't have the answers, yet, but I believe that there are solutions out there that will provide the world with more energy and power than we know what to do with. 

Last update: 07-02-2008 20:48