Alternative energy

The president talked about it in the second debate. Nobody should be allowed to say anything about the subject until they read these three classic posts... Energy Scale, Conservation, Feasibility.

In order for "alternate energy" to become feasible, it has to satisfy all of the following criteria: 

1. It has to be huge (in terms of both energy and power)
2. It has to be reliable (not intermittent or unschedulable)
3. It has to be concentrated (not diffuse)
4. It has to be possible to utilize it efficiently
5. The capital investment and operating cost to utilize it has to be comparable to existing energy sources (per gigawatt, and per terajoule). 

The only sources of energy available to us now that satisfy all five are petroleum, coal, hydro, and nuclear.

Instead, those in charge will continue to beat dead horses.