Sustainable Energy

First off, skip the global warming arguments. The good science is still out on that question. Let's instead focus on the more intelligent arguments, cleaner energy and sustainable energy. Cleaner because, global warming or not, polluting less is just a good thing, in and of itself. Sustainable because, while we probably have another couple of hundred years worth of oil left in the world, we ONLY have a couple of hundred years worth of oil left. Preserving it for possible future needs just seems to make sense.
Now, that said, I agree with question being asked here:

What has happened to such far-out and disruptive -- but not necessarily unfeasible -- visions for a renewable-energy future? Right now, hundreds of new coal plants are on drawing boards around the world.

I don't agree that government has the answer. The author mentions the viability of wind power, which I support. However, our biggest (in every sense) big government support, Teddy "The Tick" Kennedy has done everything in his power to wack a modest wind power initiative here in MA. Unlike a lot of the commenters to the article that suggest that big business is the problem, in this example at least, it's government that's the problem.
I suspect that the best solutions for energy are going to prove to be coming from the private sector if only we can get government taxes & regulations out of the way. More nuclear power as well as wind. Solar... that's still pie in the sky stuff, but what the hey, toss it into the mix. One of the only things that Carter did in office was to cut taxes on alternate energy. More of that and maybe other tax breaks based on energy saving products, etc. Make the stuff viable to business and the consumer and it will get used.
Read the comments. They're more informative than the article.