>>>What's stopping someone like Bill Gates, Donald Trump (if he is all that) or Ted Turner (as goofy as he is) to finance the research and speed up the process?
>>>It doesn't have to an American. There are multi-billionairs all around the world who have nothing do with the auto industry or GWB. Do they know something we don't?
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>>No. Even I know that regardless of how much money you may have, it's not wise to fight the big oil.
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>Well I think it has more to do with the market demand and technical hurdles still left to conquer. Otherwise, there would be at least a small nich for some smart rich entrepreneur.

There are homes now that use solar and wind power for energy, and in fact, some of them sell energy back to the grid. The problem is that it is far too expensive for most people because nobody is mass producing the technologies. Nor are they doing enough research on it. Yes, small companies do some of it, but their costs are relatively high since they can't turn out product at a rate that reduces costs significantly. This is where the governments should be aiming. Unfortunately, as someone said before, this sort of technology makes the user independent of the supplier, and the large energy producers do not see a great enough ongoing future income to make them want to get into it. Oil is far too lucrative right now and moreso in the foreseeable future. The more supply wanes, the higher the price will be, and for some inexplicable reason, as the cost per barrel goes up, so do the profits. When the oil companies were paying record prices per barrel, they were also recording record profits. It is a strange scenario indeed.