Had we not had the SUV craze of the 90's, and had CAFE standards been toughened up to require 40 mpg average on cars, we might not being seeing many of the recent developments. There's a fair bit of irony there. Had we (the entire world, not just the U.S.) been better about saving resources and protecting the environment, we would not have had such large increases in energy costs. Without expensive energy, money poured into alternative energy research would look wasteful to private investors and vote-conscious short-term-thinking politicians. Odd that.