One long term one short term solution:
1)Build refineries. 2) Have a handful of boutique gas mixtures for states to pick from and let's move on.

It is relatively simple to hedge the price of gasoline if you really think it is going to go up. There are dozens of stocks and ETFs that track the price of gasoline fairly well.

I once thought of building a basic hedging strategy for the average american so that anyone could do this. What I found is that, as much as we complain about it, for the average American gas is dirt cheap. Even at 4 or 5 bucks a gallon, we just don't spend that much to make the hedging effort even worth it.

Why not, it was Bush's fault a couple years ago when gas prices spiked wasn't it? Or is it still his fault, like every other one of obama's problems?

Just unplug the whole god damn world and that will solve a lot of problems. It would Slow down pollution, the growing population, and depletion of natural resources. Intact without the unnatural means to aid in food production and distribution populations with even start to Shrink. Game populations will rebound once natural environments reclaim abandoned cities. Humans can go back to leaving as hunter/gathers. And we can all stop worrying about what one group of people do to another group half way around the world.

Blame
 

Thank you.
Bush went into Afghanistan because the people resposible were there. Obama tripled our troops because ???? He said it was the right war?????
We lost much more people in the last 3 years than in the 8 Bush years. Googled it!

Who gets the credit, or should I say the blame for our dead soldiers & the billions spent?????

My point is why shouldn't we blame our leader(s) ?????

Good point.
Since 1800 world population went from 1 billion to 7 billion. In the next 100 years, growth will go above 50 billion +++. All the green, oil & nuclear energy won't make a dent....

Yes, the nickel is recyclable but that is only a percent of the battery. Also, the production and mining of the materials for these newer NiMH batteries is far worse than previous generations. The main benefit, which is why it was pushed so fast, was the removal of the toxic material cadmium from batteries.
Also, the argument they last 8+ years is worthless, since every time you charge a battery still you lose x% off the top. So yes, the battery can last 8 years, but after 5 you only get 40-50% of the battery time which is horrible for the use in automobiles where people want to keep a car for 8-10 years.

Depending on how it is built, there are batteries that are renewable. You are right there are going to be some waste regardless, but it is no different than the production of oil.

The life of hybrid car batteries are way longer than what people perceive. Why do you think most hybrid batteries carry a 6-8 years warranty? I believe Hyundai's latest hybrid battery retain 90% of its original power even after 150K, the same goes to Toyota.