I think you guys have the ethanol/hydrogen issues covered.

But as Tim mentioned there are other factors to the alternative energy crisis.

Living in Kansas has shown me that there are many natural resources not being taken advantage of. Wind farms are being implemented but very minimally so, much open space could be made use of that is just laying in wait currently (cattle pastures and unfarmable areas are good candidates).

There are new studies involving algae that soak up sunlight and store the resulting chemical energy that can then be used as a fuel source, but they are not backed by anyone with the financial power to make them work on the scale we need.

Many people could be installing passive water heaters to minimize natural gas use. They are essentially plastic tubs of water that are heated by the sun so that you don't have to waste as much gas heating it from cold to hot, only from warm to hot.

There is some work going on in passive heating and cooling for houses as well. The principle is that water is circulated through pipes that are buried underground where the temperature is like 60 degrees year-round (hotter than the ambient air in the winter but colder than the ambient air in summer). Then you use the temp. of that water as a starting place for the heating/cooling system of the house thus saving the energy that would have been spent getting the air to that initial ground temp.

I have no idea whether these will turn out to be bogus or not, but they all sound good and solid. Anyone else have knowledge along these lines?