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I agree...
Efficiency alone won't eliminate our reliance on fossil fuels. However, what no one seems to ever discuss is that there is a point we can probably return to where the earth's ability to absorb and process the pollution caused by fossil fuel use is in balance with our use. Cost effective efficiency improvements to our current buildings look like they can cut our consumption on those areas on the order of 40% or more ( in my own church congregation's building we've cut heating fuel usage by about 1/2 and electrical consumption about 70% with conventional techniques and equipment with 1 to 5 years simple payback improvements) Choosing more efficient systems for new construction than the cheapest and fastest, like forced air systems, will also help move us in the right direction.
Moving the U.S fleet to diesel and limiting over the rad trucks I suspect would reduce fuel usage by at least 1/3.
Efficiency buys us time to develop and market real solutions, not just pop "green" solutions which I have seen proven to be more energy intensive than well applied conventional systems.
In addition, many efficiency improvements will greatly reduce the needs for alternative energy supplies, making those eventual changes much less costly, and therefore, much more likely to be adopted sooner (at least by those that are thinking clearly, instead of immersed in a haze of marketing)
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