Energy independence reqires more than fiding a substitute for gasoline. Some changes need to start at home. How many use a 20-40 year old truck as a daily driver? How many bike to the store two miles away instead of driving?
We need to examine our lifestyle, and how we make the rest of the world pay to support it. We (as a society) consume more that our share of the worlds resources, and people around the world are suffering under US-supported repressive regimes, and in US-led wars so we can get cheap gas ($3.00/gal is cheap!).
In the real world, things cost more than we pay for them, whether the cost is the life of an Iraqi civilian, the childhood of the 12 year old indosesian making Nike shoes, or the health of the planet and it's inhabitants.
Mr. Meredith is right about solar power, it's a good place to start. I have friends with simple setups that are selling power back into the grid! But there is more to be done; thinking about how much energy your car burns is a good thing to do.
One gallon of ehtanol takes 131,000BTU's to produce, and only has an energy value of 77,000btu. And that energy is going up the smokestack at coal/fossil fuel-powered ethanol plants.
Argue all you want about the virtues of ethanol. It's just a distraction from the bigger picture. A buzz word for the Thief-in-Chief to drop in his speaches while avoiding real issues. Remember hydrogen?