Glenn links to Ronald Bailey's article in Reason Magazine in which he asks the question, "Brother, Can You Spare 22 Terawatts?: Big ideas for the future of energy."

The first sentence should hook you into reading the whole thing: "The flip side of the climate change conundrum is energy."

Where is the energy going to come from to feed the growth of not only the west, but the developing world? Can we trust government to make the right choices, or should government take a less activist role in terms of the technologies selected to produce the energy to meet our needs?

Wow! The Israelis may have a process to convert oil shale into refinable oil at the equivalent of $17 per barrel.

The reaction of the environmentalists:

Amid various presentations on the nature of the fuel resource, problems unique to processing this fuel, emerging technologies, economic issues, etc. was a presentation by an attorney representing the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance that could be summed up in one sentence: "It is really bad - don't do it."

And of the wildlife advocates:

the observation of a Mexican Spotted Owl in a canyon nearby one of the reserves, which therefore qualified the area as a habitat for an endangered species.

The Israelis appear to be a couple of years ahead of the US in this field. Hopefully we will learn enough from their experience to alleviate these concerns by those who want alternatives to foreign oil as long as they're alternatives that are ineffective and don't address the actual need.