[Big Dave]

Renewables that do not consume resources needed for agriculture - arable land and fresh water - quickly boil down to algal biofuel. That would be OK, algal biofuel is merely using the same organisms that converted sunlight to oil in the first place, simply cutting out the slow geological process. But it still needs something that needs something that looks a lot like an oil refinery. US regs make it very difficult to build refineries in the US. You would be more likely to find such operations in the Third World. China is working on it.

Until you do something about excessive regulation, real aternative fuels will probably simply result in the US importing more refined product.