We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change.

But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.

The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.

. . . Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.

This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans — in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-gore/a-generational-challenge_b_113359.html

The root calculation for sustainable energy and living is how many acres of land are necessary to support each person. This includes living and working space, food growing area including grazing land, timberland and mining area for building materials, and collection area for portable energy (batteries, oil, whatever). Only so many kilowatts can be collected from an acre in a year, however advanced the technology.

So the true limit is Malthusian: How many people can be supported when we run out of fossil fuels?

Develop strains of genetically modified plans which produce oils or xylenes. Set up greenhouse in the western desert areas that use solar powered equipment to seperate CO2 from the air and enrich the CO2 in the greenhouses.

ANd then we need to take a serious look at reducing world population growith.