Hi John, we will always have a dependence on oil, in fact most of renewable energy technologies are reliant on oil for their production, manufacturing and in the case of large wind turbines, they consume a healthy amount of oil themselves. It is odd that most people are not aware how much oil and petroleum products are required to build a single wind turbine and maintain it, several hundred gallons per year, crankcase, bearings, and transmission. Not to mention the epoxy and resins that make up the blades.

We cannot make solar panels without oil, or geothermal systems, or wind turbines..even electrical grid transformers are full of oil.

As was the case during the computer revolution when people claimed how many trees would be saved as society will no longer consume so much paper...hmmm

Coal is the big problem, the focus should be on getting off the coal train, and more responsible oil resource management, including recycling.

We are dependent on petroleum products to build the renewable energy future. Its roots are deep in all forms of products, and the production of them, we are not going to change that.

The keyboard I am typing on is a petroleum product..let us focus on coal while we dread the boneheaded disaster in the gulf, we still need oil in our lives and will for a very very long time.
Happy Independence Day all