not taking sides for nuclear necessarily, but a recent Scientific
American article discussed the new generation of fast neutron reactors which - are far more efficient (as they use up much more, something like 98percent of the fuel) and the waste is only radioactive for something like 500 years and no danger of making weapons from the waste.)

I highly recommend, Paul Roberts End Of Oil which discusses very well
all the issues surrounding energy today, including global warming,
the politics of oil and the petro-states, alternatives including one often overlooked alternative - namely conservation.

WHen VP Dick CHeney gave (the Toronto) speech early on in the Bush administration,
and said that the US is in the midst of an energy crisis, that alternative energy and conservation had their place but Americans needed a secure supply, most energy experts were surprised at how little this administration understood about energy.
Cheney talked about California, and didnt understand that Californians
solved the problem of rolling blackouts, overnight by cutting back.
(A problem that was partially created by his friends at Enron)

And when looked at from a purely business standpoint of 'efficiency' and getting more bang for the buck, conservation makes better business sense (such as using lights that are energy efficient, or efficient furnaces etc..)

Now, after Bushs state of the union speech - when he said America is addicted to Oil and suggesting other alternatives such as alcohol additives be pursued, they are only beginning to see that trying to secure that supply through Iraq (and breaking OPEC) in the process is just not working.

In an ironic twist, it may be that a steady $70/barrel, thanks to Iraq, may push the alternatives ahead. Wind is definitely becoming very competitive to other power generation - all we need is some kind of carbon tax, or cap& trade system that will add a cost to using hydrocarbon based energy..
But it wont be this administration.

Each week when I read the business paper here in Vancouver, theres some alternative, be it bio-fuel from woodwaste and farmwaste, or
micro-hydro, or wind or solar power, coming online.

as for cars- plug-in hybrids that you can re-charge over night or at work -