One take-away statistic from the documentary is that the French get 80% of their energy from nuclear power plants. The French also successfully powered all their trains and all urban buses with electricity.
I believe that Nuclear Energy is the ONLY available and usable candidate to replace fossil energy. If the French can do this and succeed, the USA can tackle the much larger task in our country and succeed. My modest proposal:
1) Replace all fossil power plants with nuclear plants, using inherently safe 4th generation designs. Build these nukes at the same sites that currently have fossil fuel plants, and use the same power grid infrastructure. Again taking lessons from French success, standardize the design of the reactors and transition from enriched uranium single-pass fuel to breeder designs - with appropriate federal oversight. Target: the same 80% as France.
2) Scale the present 3% renewable energy up to 20% to fill the gap. This is a very very aggressive goal that requires a 600% to 700% increase in renewable sources. Actually since we can't install a lot more hydro-power, it is really probably 10X to 15X the present amount of renewable solar/wind energy. This I expect will be HARDER than the nuclear goal.
3) Use the remaining natural gas, conventional oil, tight oil, and coal-to-liquid fuels to A) grow food and B) for personal transportation. Tax ICE and hybrid vehicles at 25% of purchase price every year for the life of the vehicle, regardless of use. Tax liquid fuels for ICE and hybrid vehicles at 100% of fuel cost. Allow unlimited use of all-electric vehicles without federal taxation. Standardize on electric vehicles that support tow-behind range extenders for rural areas. Limit the use of range extenders to 2 weeks per year per driver.
4) Electrify the superhighway system for the use of heavy trucks, and private EV chargers. Electrify all train tracks. Forbid the use of ICE heavy trucks and trains within 20 years.
5) Allow use of coal furnaces for steel manufacturing and other industrial processes, consistent with EPA standards. Forbid the generation of grid power by coal. Phase out oil and natural gas peaking power plants over time, using a combination of distributed solar and enhanced efficiency space heating and cooling. Place extensive and expensive power saving and energy-saving standards for all new construction. However, allow off-grid housing to exist without taxation.
6) Forbid the import or export of carbon-releasing fossil fuels from our country by the 10th year. Forbid the use of carbon fuels for space heating - no wood or pellets or biomass burning, all such material should be mulched.
My prediction: Nobody in Federal government will propose such an aggressive plan as mine, or any variation that has a chance to succeed. The time frame is 10-20 years, based on the World Peak Oil milestone in 2005.
Because the sky is in fact about to fall when the oil runs out.