Plenty of studies show we can run the economy on clean energy and shut down our coal, oil, nuclear and gas plants in the lifetime of the existing stock.
Any policy to reduce heat-trapping pollution will inevitably target the main sources of Americans' energy: the coal burned by power plants for electricity and the oil that is refined to run automobiles.
Corn is indeed a renewable resource, but it has a far lower yield relative to the energy used to produce it than either biodiesel (such as soybean oil) or ethanol from other plants.
The idea of obtaining more energy from off-shore and Arctic oil and gas deposits and accelerating the construction of a new generation of nuclear plants will continue to receive at least presidential lip service.