Notes from a futurist: as we face challenges, we'll emerge with a better world.

• Author: Frey, Thomas
• Position: Editorial

Even though big oil has taken a beating in the press and an army of innovators is working overtime to develop alternatives, oil remains our most important energy source, the lifeblood of the American economy.

Over the coming years, alternative fuels will expand exponentially, moving into additional areas beyond energy production, into energy transmission and energy storage. Legislators will attempt to legislate change, and innovators will attempt to innovate change.

Familiar alternatives of wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal and hydrogen will continue to jockey for position. But while each is battling for market share, Hyperion's home nuclear reactor concept could emerge quickly from underdog status to give a fresh new face to nuclear power.

The smart electric power grid will dominate early discussions, but look for wireless power concepts to build momentum as the nation wearies of its unsightly transmission lines, regardless of how smart they are.

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Energy storage, on the large city and regional scale, is surprisingly absent from our playbook. State-of-the-art science involves pumping water to a higher altitude lake during off-peak times and letting it drain down through hydroelectric generators during peak times. Look for a new surge of innovation to occur in this area over the coming years.

FEEDING FRENZY

The government stimulus packages will cause a massive feeding frenzy to occur as money gets released in Washington, D.C. Not only will we see lobbyists and politicians jockeying for position to feed their constituencies, but virtually every organization in the world will set in motion some angle to position their grasping hands under the trickling flows of money.

While the allocation of funds will happen quickly, the distribution of money to actual recipients will take years to complete. These vast amounts of cash will infect many with greed, and an outbreak of rationalizations is bound to follow.

The size of available money will also inspire countless conspiracy theories, both real and imagined, along with countless incidents of graft and corruption.

CREATING THE NEW NORMAL

After the stimulus money is spent, perhaps the most daunting task will be to establish a new standard for what it is to be "normal" again. Investors are confused by a directionless Dow Jones that swings erratically 1,000 points from day to day.

Over the years, we have seen a growing number of companies add "infraction fees" to the bills we...