The only time most people care about ending dependence on foreign oil is when prices get too high, like in 2006 when Bush was talking about ethanol in his SOTU (BTW, Stewart, it had nothing to do with the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq). Anytime someone tries to organize a workable plan, the price of oil falls and we all say “oil alternatives are too expensive, never mind”.

We could follow Brazil’s example and move to ethanol-burning cars. The Brazilians actually had a plan and stuck to it. US cars could mostly be replaced in a generation (about 10 years), but replacing large transportation vehicles would take longer. Trying to produce and transport such a huge amount of ethanol at a reasonable price would also be a major challenge.

Robert Zubrin’s “Energy Victory” details a plan that could work. I’m not an expert on the subject, but it sounds pretty workable.