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Well I am an engineer and it will not be in your lifetime that you see something like your talking about. Fossil fuels have an energy density that is hard to match for the cost. Yes you can create other fuels from plants and alike but that ***takes*** energy to produce it. That energy cost money. Crude you pump from the ground and will burn as is. Solar even at 100% efficiency is not going to do it. It might help charge a battery but it is not reliable and has such a low energy density it will be impossible to power much of anything. Next generation Fuel cells/hybrids I think will be a stepping stone to some kind of fully electric vehicle with a rapid charge system. I have no idea what they are going to do for boats, as I doubt a fuel cell will get you to the canyons at 30 knots.
Longer term (about 100 +years from now) we will not burn fossil fuels. We will have some kind of atomic plant that has no waste problem. This will produce unlimited nearly free electric power for all. Something akin to the voice communications system we have evolving today. I honestly believe this is the ultimate solution. I don't want to get into all the reasons why but I am nearly sure of it.
You can forget about windmills, solar panels, canola oil, wave energy and cow farts to power this nation, even at 100% eff you would have to cover the entire country to provide adequate power for the masses. We will blaze the trail in atomic technology. I wish I would be alive to see it...maybe my grandkids will be. Until then I think we need to build a load of refineries and pump Alaska and put some pressure on the mid east ***WHILE*** put some money into research for atomic alternatives. We have 100's of years of fuel on this earth that will hold us until then. I am not worried.
As far as super carburetors that general motors or some oil company bought the patents then sat on them...I do not believe it. There is only so much energy in a gallon of gas. It takes a certain amount of energy to accelerate a vehicle with a given mass to some velocity. Today most engines could only get a few more percent of efficiency, there is no "super carburetor" that is going to produce 10X the mileage...a physical impossibility. Yes you can make a super lightweight car that get 300 miles to the gallon but don't expect to turn on the AC while driving 60 and the ride might be a bit stiff. Again it is all about how much energy is in a given amount of fuel, the engine just converts this energy with some mechanical efficiency loss, There are no huge gains possible in a given vehicle, you have to go smaller and lighter to really gain much. Power Boats are in for a real problem in my view.
The price of gas at the pump near my house today was 3.44
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