Ya'll have been telling us it is "just around the corner" since before I was born, but the practicality that has made it impossible that entire time is now making it an increasingly urgent need. Glancing around the net the last couple days I noticed both tidal and wave energy are beginning to make promising progress, but is hard to deny the appeal of tremendous amounts of energy with no byproduct except the most inert atom in the universe.

That thermodynamics is a bear; when you think about it, virtually every conflict since the second species' birth can be attributed to the Second Law. If cows did not need energy grass would sleep a lot better at night (so to speak.)