What about bio-fuels? I saw something a couple years back about a guy who would go around and collect used cooking oil from fast food restaurants (for free) and turn it into diesel. He said the best part was that his exhaust smelled like french fries lol
Surely there are people who can make this happen
I don't think being an energy independent nation has a one-size-fits-all solution. We have oil, natural gas, coal, solar, wind, nuclear, etc. Use what oil, coal, and natural gas we have now and start building the infrastructure for solar, wind, etc.
But I don't think that we, as a species, can ever be 100% green. Even if you have solar panels, windmills, etc. all of these were made in some kind of factory. If you have appliances, cars, cell phones, etc. you're definitely not helping the environment (myself included). We need to stop over-politicizing this issue and get the ball rolling or we'll end up in the dark