I disagree. Science has already found plenty of viable alternatives, or at least the pathways to those alternatives. More federal funding and less fraudulent government regulation will help speed that process up considerably.
It is large corporations that have a vested interest in keeping oil supreme that are the major barriers to clean, sustainable energy. Their major problem with clean, renewable energy is that the more widespread it becomes, the less profitable it becomes. Let's say solar panel technology finally reaches a point where it is capable of sustaining us (this is a looonnggg ways off, but let's just be hypothetical). There's plenty to be made short-term from the installation and conversion of new technology, but for the long term, there is nothing to be made. The minute the last solar panel is installed. . . poof goes the market. Poof goes one of the backbones of the world economy. That's great for the vast majority of the world's population, who struggle to secure energy, but it's bad for the people who control that market. Non-renewable = potential for infinite growth (at least until we run out of oil). Renewable = no long term growth.