Alternatives yes, because this is only going to get worse and at some point even a good willed Russia will not be able to help us, her own people will come first, naturally. I think the whole thing is flawed, Russian 'settlers' now are being treated like crap, similar to whites in Zimbabwe after they lost power. Russia is intensely paranoid about how people view it, and the US deploying a strategic shield as far as Russian borders is just insulting and has little strategic value other than to make Russia feel insecure. The incept of the Western World was not handled brilliantly by either their own or the rest of us, of course you blame the outsiders and settle your scores internally. Families in Russia are related to people in the sattelite states and are worried about their well being. This makes for a defensive attitude that leads to aggression. It's a sad situation, no one is listening to Russia, personally I'd admit them into NATO on good terms.

Europe has the potential to make it without gas and petrol - we live "small" here , so I guess it would not be impossible. However I believe that the transition would take 10-15 years and Apollo space program - like resources! mt country Romania will invest about 2 billion in Wind energy ( the windfarm will be 3x times larger than the largest windfarm of 2008) - it is a step, but I guess Europe as a whole would need at least 1000 billions for self-sufficiency ..

so my expectation would be that EU will focus on hydro, wind and atomic energy , also to find a way to store energy from electricity in a more efficient way (like creating fuels from electrolytes, then recharge the elecrolyte instead recharging the batteries) or even nano-technology to create super-capacitors..

Originally posted by sty
However I believe that the transition would take 10-15 years and Apollo space program - like resources!

War gets more investment as well.....

mt country Romania will invest about 2 billion in Wind energy ( the windfarm will be 3x times larger than the largest windfarm of 2008) - it is a step, but I guess Europe as a whole would need at least 1000 billions for self-sufficiency ..

Nah, they just need renewables cheaper than oil. We've got two market matters on our side, increasing demand and reducing supply.

so my expectation would be that EU will focus on hydro, wind and atomic energy , also to find a way to store energy from electricity in a more efficient way (like creating fuels from electrolytes, then recharge the elecrolyte instead recharging the batteries) or even nano-technology to create super-capacitors..

It's a sorry equation of doing something like the charge of the light bregade to achieve absolutely nothing until both renewable technology jumps and/or oil just leaps in price.

lol, maybe Russia is saving the planet in the end! with less options for energy we will have to take into consideration every idea - even the crazy ones - on how to gain energy -independance...