Quote Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT View Post
What about offering (more) incentives for producers/consumers of energy-efficient equipment?
Well, alternatively higher energy prices would cause the need for it w/o any incentives. If insulating your house costs you 2000USD, but saves you 3000USD over the cold winter months you will likely go ahead and pay for it, unless you prefer paying to heat the universe. Even taking out huge interest loan will save you money.

People in europe may like to drive 8cyl, 5l monsters, but it's expensive both in gas prices and in terms of space. In the US market every time the gasoline prices increase the demand for SUVs decreases and for sedans increases, just as you would expect. Investing in new technology is expensive, but the big businesses are not poor. As the supply for oil is limited eventually they will do it, when the returns on their investments are high enough. They are anything but dumb. I'm sure there are plenty of high-skilled PhD's that get paid way over the median salary to model these things, so that the management can make profitable decisions.