The Energy Question

"God said let there be light and god saw the light, the light was good" Then man said "Let their be light-bulbs, and it was expensive... 
We live in an electric and power driven world. Nations today focus more of their economic and military might on the acquisition of energy than they do on domestic and beneficial affairs. Take the world of oil for example.Oil alone accounts for a hefty chunk of global energy world wide and continues to soar in price as we near the end of our precious resource. With the United States, the European Union, and now China dividing up the last drops one could make the effective argument that energy is the most important issue in the 21st century. This begs the question however, "If oil and other non renewable resources are causing such strife and wreaking economic havoc why don't we invest in other energy options?" 
The classic answer to this argument is simple, for now oil and coal are cheaper. Its an indisputable fact that money above all else makes the world turn and countries will act in their best economic interest, but is it possible that for the western world at least we have reached a point where the savings no longer justify the means? Western dependency upon oil has done nothing  in the way of positive progress over the last twenty years and has even erupted into violence in the last ten. The West faces a no win scenario with continued dependency on oil. Oil is eventually going to run out  and this will mean a drastic increase in prices with horrific effects on an already fragile economy, secondly the bipolar cold war world will pale in comparison to the division energy will bring, but lastly and  most importantly is the importance of other powers. The power vacuum that was left with the destruction of the Soviet Union has come to an end and the Western world must realize that she is no longer the unrivaled superpower she once was. Rapidly expanding Asian countries such as China and even India have come to the table and with half the global population they will place an unbearable strain on an already pressured resource. 
Earth herself simply cannot handle the stresses we are placing upon the oil and fuel reserves at the present, clearly a change is needed. That is the largest question of all however, what do we replace oil with and why haven't we done so already? Man has the technology to provide cheap, clean, and efficient energy so why don't we? While options such as nuclear power have received bad press as of late with Pacific meltdowns and Chernobyl still in memory others do exist in the arsenal of energy. Solar and Wind energy being at the forefront of these. The potential for these untapped resources are infinite, clean and did i mention RENEWABLE? Think of the good that could be done with an energy independent nation and an economy that could exist free from the shackles of fossil fuel and petroleum products. Instead of entering another period of the dark ages we could focus our resources on the stars and research for the benefit of humanity. I only ask that these options be given their due attention and these resources used for the benefit of humanity. We have the space, and the technology, now we only need the will to do so.