I'd just like to point out that we haven't hit peak coal yet. Power generation doesn't really have much to do with oil.
The vast majority of electricity comes from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas. Like say about 95% (feel free to correct me.)
The problem people aren't seeing for the trees involving the high costs of alternative energy sources is that we don;t really have a choice in the matter. As yes, there is a quantifiable amount of global warming going on, and yes it has made massive ecological effects on the entire planet that most of us fat and happy Americans are unaware of. Regardless of the causes. Please don't try and refute this, as the evidence I can't mount up will smack you down harder than the Democrats going after Rove.
A couple things about solar energy and plastics.
1) There have been rather recent major advancements in solar energy that most people don't know about. Mainly photovoltaic inks. Here's a you tube link that probably blows it out of proportion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ltETpyBK0and a wiki link to the company making them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NanosolarIn reality, this is a cost effective method of generating solar energy. But still more expensive than just burning whatever we have.
2) Bio-plastics are a reality, in fact, you've probably ate off of some as they are being used in food containers (not all of them mind you). They run into the problems of all bio technology, we need to farm the plants to make them. I'm confident that genetic engineering will make us a grass that we can harvest quite easily (imagine paying kids to mow your'e lawn with the clippings... though probably not).
Oh, the main reasons that we don't have an all nuclear power supply in the us? Oil lobbists. In fact, I'm gonna go ahead and blame lobbyists for all of the major political problems here in the US. Lobbyists and the general stupidity of out populace.
Other cool stuff blocked mostly through lobbyist pressures?
Miracle Fruit -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_FruitUHC
and Al Gore getting the presidency in 2000.