Inventors and entrepreneurs have countless ideas for reducing manufacturing costs, even in the capital-intensive energy industry.

FORBES: Time To Invest In Hardware And Manufacturing Startups

This kind of plan is music to the ears of not just the fossil fuel industry but also to any energy intensive manufacturers.

FORBES: Mitt Romney's Bold Vision For America's Energy Independence

Environmentalists strongly oppose shale-gas extraction due to fears that fracking may contaminate water supplies, the oil-sands industry because it is energy-intensive and dirty, and deep-water drilling because of the risk of oil spills like last year's Gulf of Mexico disaster.

WSJ: Big Oil Companies Are Shifting Their Focus Back to the West

Change tends to come slowly to the energy industry, which is both capital and time-intensive and only three years have passed since the Stimulus.

FORBES: Countering David Frum: Super-Charging Energy Innovation through Public Investment

As oil production falls and oil prices rise, research will become more intensive as industry puts both feet forward to develop the next generation of energy technology.

FORBES: Peak Oil Plan