Can shale save the world? Should it?

Writing for the London Times, Christopher Booker proposes that shale can be a source of power that solves the energy problems of our time--and into the future. Near the end of an interesting piece, he decries the dogma that demands adherents of alternative energy to rally against fossil fuels. But, dogma spelt backwards = am god ... the prevalent attitude of those who decry anything but fossil fuels.

IMO, we need a diversity of solutions to generate power that is translatable into a universal energy that can be applied to virtually a maximum number of products. I claim no special expertise, so may be off base in thinking that electricity is the universal energy.

A lot of resistance to exploring alt-energies comes from vested interests of manufacturers of various products (like gas fired cars). If everything ran on electricity, then the issue would be--how do we generate that? For some areas, sun. For others, wind or wave. Others--perhaps shale.

It is the dogmatic rejection of ideas that gets me. Ideas are the most important fuel we have!