America has spent so many years spending tax payer's dollars to fight wars for non-renewable unsustainable fossil fuels. It's not coincidence where the US's "enemies" happen to be. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iraq's Sadam Huesein (Persian Gulf War & Operation Iraqi Liberation), and Afghanistan's Osama Bin Laden (War on Terror) all just happen to be be from the most oil rich regions of the world.
I believe solar energy is the next wave. Every 15 minutes, the sun's energy gives off enough energy to power the Earth for a year, but we don't know how to harness it. More importantly, the sun is responsible for all life and most forms of energy (even fossil fuels). Without the sun, there would be no plants, therefore there would be no herbivores, therefore there would be no carnivores, therefore there would be no us. I recently found out that 60-80% of energy is lost from power plants as it travels through power lines from the suburbs to the city.
When it costs oil (production costs + shipping costs) to make more oil, that can't be sustainable. The price is guaranteed to rise rapidly with a business model like that. That leads me to believe that the future of energy will be solar and localized. Homes will have solar panels on roofs to produce their own energy. The reason we have yet to shift toward this model is because whereas man can conquer land for fossil fuels, man cannot own a piece of the sun. Somehow, people have claimed rights to natural resources like water (hence bottled water), but the sun will be a challenge.
Image Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/colombia/oilb.html
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