He sees the biggest obstacle stopping us from going to renewables is the mistaken belief that oil prices are temporarily high and will drop. So rather than deal with the problem, we’re going on a witch hunt to see who is keeping prices up.
Even if we started drilling offshore everywhere now, we wouldn’t see the results for ten years. One big problem. All the offshore rigs are already in use. He thinks 5-7 years hard work in renewables like geothermal and wave power could “get us out of a very deep hole” but we need to start now. We also need to, among other things, eliminate long-distance commuting and grow food locally.
Here is a rather long interview with Matt Simmons where he clearly details his ideas.
http://www.worldenergysource.com/newasf/wetv.cfm?vfile=wetv_energycrisis
enjoy.