Thanks again TG.. you are too kind! That video was really cool, and I too am very excited about and (long-term) hopeful for alternative energy. But we’ve got a very long way to go there. Last year, (per the BP Statistical Review, as helpful summarized by Gregor Macdonald here: http://gregor.us/solar/global-energy-use-by-source-in-2010/ ) alternative energy accounted for 1.3% of global energy use. That was up 36% from the prior year, which is great… but it was up from an incredibly small share to begin with, and remains quite small. Even if a profitable alt energy source could be developed, it would take quite some time to develop it to get to the SCALE at which it is producing a significant enough amount of global power usage that it is significantly impacting demand for fossil fuels. In the meantime, global oil production has been flat for 5-6 years as global demand has remained in a steady uptrend outside the 08-09 recession.

So I share your optimism on the future of alt energy but the key word there is “future.” In the meantime we are facing a situation of constrained supply and growing demand for oil… imho, this (along with the nominal tailwind provided by currency debasement) provides fundamental justification for high (compared to what we’re used to) oil prices.