There’s not much cost or energy savings that I can see happening soon, unless they pass some sort of cap and trade that would make electricity generated from fossil fuels a lot more expensive (which is naturally what they want to do). I could probably spend about 30K to 40K $$ and cut my electric bill in half (all electric house) but the payback would probably take around 15 years.
A fellow Freeper yesterday educated me on some new research happening at the university of arlington whereby they are able to convert lignite coal into crude oil. According to them, they can bring the price of oil back down to around $30/barrel with their new process. What’s more, they suggest that they may also be able to convert the shale and tar sands which are uber plentiful into crude oil which can then be refined into typical petroleums. here’s a link to an article about it: http://www.uta.edu/ucomm/researchmagazine/2009/departments/bytes/energy.php I have my fingers crossed.