Alas...I wish I could share your optimism. But the "clean energy future" idea is, sadly, a delusion. The reasons are complex, but they boil down to one concept: EROEI, which stands for Energy Return on Energy Invested, or net energy. Quite simply, we can never build photovoltaic panels using only solar energy to do so; nor can we build windmills using wind energy alone--or hydroelectric dams out of hydro power alone. And electricity, while remarkably efficient in use, is woefully inefficient in generation.

Unfortunately, the energy sources with, by far, the highest net energy (EROEI) are fossil fuels--oil, gas, and coal. There is no way to build out a clean energy infrastructure without first investing vast quantities of (energetically) cheap net energy (from fossil fuels alone) in mining of raw materials, manufacturing, and transportation of this new infrastructure. Yet these same fossil fuels are already heating our planet beyond its tipping point, threatening the collapse of our biological support system (e.g. agriculture) since no one knows whether the biota we depend on will be able to withstand the rapidly accelerating heating, flooding, freezing, and disruption of the climate regimes within which these crops evolved. Even insect populations--which are absolutely essential for growing vegetables and fruit--are declining drastically all over the planet.

I have nothing against clean energy per se--I even have solar panels on my house. But it is no panacea for the destruction that our fossil-fuel-based global market economy has wrought upon the only living planet we will ever know. Our best bet for survival in the future is relocalization of the economy--growing gardens, growing community, and growing awareness by learning, teaching, healing, and creating. Most of us, sadly, will die sooner than later. But those who are resilient and who have learned how to collaborate with neighbors in survival strategies and in regenerating our devastated landscapes will have the best chance of creating a future.