Reading the Nov ‘09 issue of Scientific American in post-Thanksgiving tryptophane torpor yields these developments in Spatial Medicine:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=powering-a-green-planet
We could, with the all-important element of political will added, produce enough power simply from ‘income energy’ - wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro - by 2030 to power the entire planet without touching oil, natural gas, or uranium further after that. And we’re talking plenty of power, not a drastic change in lifestyle. It would require a WWII-like dedication - the one that brought out Rosie the riveter and a retooling of the factories that now produce gas-guzzlers to produce wind-turbines and electric cars, or the Eisenhower-Nixon initiative to build our interstate highway system, but it is well within our reach.
All our glaciers - polar and alpine - are disappearing at ever accelerating rates. We burn oil at 4% efficiency, taking the rest as waste heat and pollution. Natural gas is better, and uranium better still in efficiency, but they carry their own not insignificant problems. Our stewardship of the planet, o ye of the right wing, cannot be making our Biblical Jehovah happy. It can be done - read it here - it can be done.