Stefanie wrote:

While I applaud Agassi's efforts, I think economics, not environmentalism, is going to be the driving force that eventually motivates the world "end oil."

As the PTB well know, fear is an excellent motivator. The real and disasterous consequences of our many management failures, ocean acidification to name one, should motivate some. While the looming catastrophes may be slow to penetrate the thick skulls of the chronically overpriviged, the greater numbers of the less-well-insulated will present many opportunities for additional management failures.

Nations that consume oil want economic independence from oil producing nations, and individuals want cheap, convenient transportation. I'm not suggesting that environmental concerns won't help to sell the world on oil's eventual replacement, but that's just marketing.

Presumably, nature/reality will assist the marketing effort.

Were a gallon of gas currently selling for US$0.25/gallon, this wouldn't be an issue.

I'm all for replacing gasoline with electricity (all other things being equal), but we'll still need a source for all of this energy. It will never be provided by wind, and assuming that solar energy even has the potential to meet such high demand, the technology isn't yet available. France has the right idea (and how often does one hear that?), producing eighty percent of its electricity by nuclear power. Worldwide, but especially in the United States, people will need to embrace nuclear energy if we intend to end our reliance on oil to any significant degree in the next several decades.

Similar to Moore's Law regarding computer processing power, there is an analogous process in effect regarding solar cell technology. See this TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ray_kurzweil_on_how_technology_will_transform_us.html

Sooner than most imagine solar cells will be dirt cheap. Already, cells have been devised which capture infra-red, rendering feasible the night-time capture of radiant heat.

I assume that the PTB anticipate the trends. Nuclear power is one of their last-gasp, rear-gurard schemes to milk the masses through complex, expensive, centralized production; before the inevitable dispersion of production.

It is in the interests of the many to anticipate and assist the deeper trends while resisting the many rackets, scams, and confidence tricks of the warmongering class.

RE: t r u t h o u t | Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road