This summer Al Gore desperately tried to stay relevant by claiming the U.S. could produce all its energy needs from wind, sun and other ‘clean’ sources (not nuclear, though, Gore hates nuclear) within 10 years. Gore insisted this was technologically possible if only “a new political environment” could be adopted in Washington. Well this Novemeber Gore got his “new political environment.” And yet the U.S. government’s National Intelligence Council issued a report yesterday concluding:

[A]ll current technologies are inadequate for replacing the traditional energy architecture on the scale needed, and new energy technologies probably will not be commercially viable and widespread by 2025. The pace of technological innovation will be key. Even with a favorable policy and funding environment for biofuels, clean coal, or hydrogen, the transition to new fuels will be slow. Major technologies historically have had an “adoption lag.” In the energy sector, a recent study found that it takes an average of 25 years for a new production technology to become widely adopted.