Just a quickie on energy technology developments...
Energy storage technology—more specifically, for electrical energy—is the bottleneck that never gets sufficient coverage in the renewable fuels discussions, in my judgment.
Why is energy storage so important? Because the wind and the sun provide us with their energy in the wrong places at the wrong times. To make a dent in the energy mix, wind- and sun-powered electricity must be generated when the generating is good, then stored in massive quantities, for subsequent release into the grid when the demand calls for it. One of the more effective ways of doing that today, in topologically-fortunate areas, is using off-hours electricity to pump water uphill into a reservoir, then later using it to generate electricity during high-demand hours. Other storage ideas under development are flywheels, supercapacitors, superbatteries, and underground compressed air caverns.
I keep an eye on energy storage news, and noticed this story yesterday: World's Largest Wind Farm to be Built in Texas. It says the two companies will "explore" using underground storage of compressed air, for later use in gas turbines. My reaction was, gee I hope the exploration is successful; otherwise, the new wind farm could turn out to be little more than another array of "Condor cuisinarts" (...as they were dubbed in California). Let's wish them luck, though; I hope it works.
To me, however, the big breakthrough will be a safe, affordable, gasoline-tank-sized battery or supercapacitor that will hold 300 vehicle-miles worth of electric potential (...as I explained in the sixth energy article). When that becomes available, I'll purchase not only the new vehicle, but also a spare battery, and some roof-mounted solar panels for recharging the spare while the sun shines.
Dream on, Steve.