You'd think we could make freight cars smart enough to jog along the tracks on their own. Dynamic routing, like Internet packets, to avoid congestion.

Really, though, the issue is energy. In a universe consisting of nothing BUT energy, one would think the solution to an energy problem would be obvious and immediate. But we have grown accustomed to taking advantage of an extraordinarily high degree of energy density, one which allows us to store a potential of around 2400 Mjoules of energy in a 20-gallon box and use it to drive 400 or more miles at high speed. The density of energy (if you accept the biomass version of oil generation) was acheived over millions of years of molecular decompositon and densification under pressure.

While some people insist "peak oil" is behind us, others are sure new resources will continue to provide the planet's current supply rate for some time. The politics and economics of oil supply are insane at present, laced with greed, immoderate profiteering, racial hatreds, political stupidity, etc.

In terms of raw energy, there's enough light falling (and heat) on Death Valley itself alone, to provide the energy needs of the US. But it's not dense, it's not portable, and there are no distribution channels that can carry it across the nation. These are "superable" obstacles, of course, if coordinated willpower can be brought to bear. It will not be brought to bear by anyone whose survival is deeply vested in oil profits, though.

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