Seems like good common sense, but I fear unlikely to happen until some economic imperative forces the hand of our "short event horizon" politicians.

Yes. The closest we have come to practicality is the hybrid vehicle, but you can buy a small car for a third of the price which has the same economy using petrol only, without expensive batteries to worry about. The geewhiz of solar, electric and hydrogen is still in the Boys' Own Annual category. The Government's 'big idea' is ethanol which might or might not be safe to use over 10%, and this is less efficient than petrol, merely putting more cost onto the motorist with only a dubious benefit to the environment.

While I agree in the main with Dr Moriarty's view, there is one
additional point worth making. It is important that Australia,
and the rest of the world, continue to undertake research on
alternatives. At present there are many, and most come
well short of being real alternatives- yes it has problems but crude
is really just too good a fuel. To reduce net energy
consumption by becoming more efficient can only work if we also reduce our rate
of population growth. This is unlikely to happen, not soon anyway. What
we save is often taken up by increases in our population. So
we need to do research into not only alternative fuels but altnerative
transport modes as well. Understanding why people travel is also important.
This research must be done now; to this there is no alternative.
Dr Honnery.

Things will only start to happen when economics forces them to happen. The solution will be a number of methods. LPG powered vehicles are a reality now, people are free to convert their cars anytime. The reserves in the NW of Aus are huge. Biodiesel created from canola and more suitable genotypes is another option. Growing more on country which now grows wool, which nobody wants, is another option.

More efficient hybrid vehicles is yet another option, but none of these will happen until it hurts the old back pocket and people are forced to consider them. Oil from algae, using brackish water is yet another option with huge potential.

Rather then take a defeatist attitude, we should see the huge economic opportunities that will created by change!

I don't understand the problem, as oil becomes more scarce and capacity does not grow with demand, price will increase. As price increases, the economic incentive to diversify energy resources will accelerate. There is no need to interfere, the market will naturally adapt.

Basic research takes time, this has been done into alternative energy (solar, wind, bio-energy).
The next step is to make it economically viable with the volume of product required for the market.
This takes infrastructure of a large size and complexity to move the raw material, produce and then deliver the end product.
These major projects takes a lot of money and time. Large infrastructure projects take years before they are complete and return a profit.
The big question is time. How much lead time in making the bio-plant before it becomes online and how much time do we have left before the price of current crue oil becomes a economic empedament (high cost and lack of supply).
Most major infrastructure costs in the past have come from government budgets from our taxes which we all benifit.
We need to invest now in the bio infrastructre, public transport, interstate rail and energy efficency.
Yes the market leads but sometimes it needs to be pushed in the right direction as the lead times are measured in 5-10 year for these projects.
Australia has to make the decisions soon otherwise our standard of living and economic future will be limited.