Alternative energy thinking.(prices going high, energy shortages)(Editorial)

The physicist Albert Einstein once said, "The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." That trenchant observation is extraordinarily relevant to our present day world energy "crisis."

Our usual experience with crises is more often the variety that's intense but relatively fleeting, such as the long-forgotten Cuban Missile "crisis." But, the energy crisis has become such a routine fact of life, we don't even call it a crisis anymore.

Face it, higher energy prices are here to stay.

These days, we all look at prices when we go to the pump. Maybe we should do something like the flags on gas stations during the 1970's oil embargo. Green can be flagged when prices come down a little, red flagged when prices are going up sharply and yellow when prices are stable.

The bite that energy takes from our budgets has stirred additional interest in socalled alternative energy. People are making their own "biodiesel" with used fryer fat from the local diner. Interest in residential heat pumps and fuel cells is escalating.

In Washington, alternative energy is again on the A list.

The trouble is that the thinking promoting alternatives as an energy solution is close ...