You Miss the Most Important Thing
@theotherwill,
You miss the most important part. The 'Alternative Solutions' are just not cost competitive with what we are currently using. Cost is in the final analysis what will really win.
Read the Article. While obviously written by an Obama Booster, it still recognizes that 'renewables' are still more than an order of magnitude more expensive than the old carbon ones. Until this is no longer true, the changes you want just won't happen.
One possibility is to build a bunch of nuclear reactors, and use the power from then to concentrate carbon dioxide from the air, and then add water and energy, and make methanol. The Methanol can then be modified into a suitable fuel source.
This has the advantage of at least working, and being scalable. We also have the advantage with this of already knowing the environmental impacts.
Solar Electric and Wind energy production also have major environmental impacts. Most people just don't know what they are yet.
But, whatever we choose, burning food as the US and Europe currently do is not a good solution. Particularly when independent audits have for many years found that they production of these 'Biofuels' use more fossil fuels than the fuels they replace.
