On of our biggest problems is not that there is a fuel shortage but rather that almost all vehicles on our roads require fossil fuels. We cannot use other forms of energy such as hydro, wind, solar or nuclear as our vehicles only run on fossil fuels.
The answer is to grow the number of electric/hydrogen vehicles on the roads. This will allow us to use electricity generated from various sources, even fossil fuels if needed. We would no longer be at the hands of groups who want to control a given form of energy, as long as we can generate electricity from an energy source we could use it to power our vehicles.
With this model, we can locate power generation to given areas to control pollution and use more environmental controls on fossil fuels. With our vast supply of coal, perhaps we will have methods to use that as friendly energy source in the future. As long as the vehicles all use electricity, we no longer are limited to the type of energy used nor will it require changes in the future as new forms of energy come into being.
With this model, the electric vehicles would not cause the major pollution problems we now have in our large cities. This should make it healthier to live in large metro areas without the tremendous pollution problems.
What about distribution infrastructure? Well, with hydrogen based vehicles, you would only need to be in a place where their is electricity. Filling stations could be built just about anywhere and produce the hydrogen on the spot without the need for trucks to deliver the resources, thus cutting down traffic on the highways. For battery powered electric vehicles, it may be possible to have battery exchange stations having a special form of battery containers that could swap-out discharged batteries for charged ones thus eliminating the wait time for charging. This would however depend on the auto manufactures to provide a standard method of storing the batteries for fast swapping. Hopefully, in the future there will be new battery technologies making them last longer and quick to charge.
It sounds like a win/win situation. The biggest problem though. is how do we get manufactures to produce the electric or hydrogen vehicles and the public to purchase them?
Well, the first problem is that very wealthy people seem to blame all these problems on “our” addiction to oil and that we have to cut down the demand. The problem is, the very wealth, as they do not feel the pain at the pump, they can easily afford it. Many of the poorer people in this country have already seriously cut down their usage and there are some that take up to a fourth of their pay to just get back and forth to work. So, the real demand will not be cut by high prices as those that are consuming the most in excess are wealthy enough to never to care.
The next issue we have is that the majority of poor and lower middle class people cannot afford new vehicles even if they were available, most in this demographic usually purchase used vehicles which are all fossil fuel based and typically get poor MPG. This problem cannot be solved from the bottom up.
The only answer that makes any sense is to force those with the funds to purchase and drive electric/hydrogen based vehicles and mandate the manufactures produce them. If tomorrow the President of the USA would come out an announce a mandate that within five years time every consumer vehicle sold in this country would be required to be electric/hydrogen, the fossil fuel prices would drop like a stone and manufactures would see a boom they have not seen for ages.
In addition to the mandate on the manufactures, either a new tax or law that requires everyone who has an income of more than $500,000 annually, to primarily use either electric / hydrogen based vehicles (possibly a small allowance of fossil fuels for the purpose of vintage automobiles, but limited to the number of gallons per year – very small amount). This will ensure a fast transfer over to electric / hydrogen models by those who consume the most. Over the following five to seven years, those vehicles will trickle down as used vehicles to the rest of the populace.
In short of the above, the only other solution I can see is nation fuel rationing. Nothing will chance as long as though who have the money can go into a fuel station and fill up their tanks without any care. The poorer people have cut back, it is time for the wealthy to do the same.
No matter what happens, at some time we need to have electric or hydrogen vehicles, having all these fossil fuel vehicles (include the hybrids) makes no since and only forces us to a dependence on fossil fuels.