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One hundred dollar fill-ups at the pump are here and America's gas pains are reaching the desperation point. Hybrid vehicles, those using an internal combustion engine mated with an electrical storage system for better fuel economy, are in short supply and command a premium price.

Plug-in hybrids, that could provide a completely electrical ride for 40 miles, satisfying 78 percent of the average daily U.S. commute, are being developed by some of the major automakers. Unfortunately, they still appear to be a few years away from the showroom floor.

Hydrogen transportation may be even farther down the road, although viable vehicles such as city buses are being tested for reliability now. The engineering challenges are complex and using energy in some form is still required in the hydrogen fuel cell process to provide the vehicle's onboard juice.

Coal and natural gas could be used as well as renewable sources from wind and solar sources. With hydrogen cell vehicles there are no tailpipe emissions. Some believe home heating may be the more efficient use of hydrogen technology rather than personal transportation.

It may surprise some Americans to learn that the electrical vehicle we wish we could buy now is not a new idea to the auto industry. In fact, the internal combustion engine we've grown up with was just one of three significant schools of automotive engineering thought. The first electric car was designed by William Morrison of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1891 (Men, Money and Motors, T. MacManus, Harper Bros. 1929). For whatever reason, maybe because they represented the older generation, Henry Ford didn't dig electric cars.

While working at the Detroit Edison Company (yes, that Edison) in 1899, he was designing a gasoline-fueled internal combustion engine. Ford's boss offered him a promotion if he'd focus on electric vehicles instead. Henry resigned and after some setbacks hit pay dirt. Ford's success would change the world, but that legacy is one reason we're paying north of three bucks a gallon at the pump today. To be fair, electric vehicles had the same issues back then that modern engineers face today. Batteries small enough to provide a reasonable driving range have not been perfected. The ones that have are outrageously expensive. On the other hand, electric vehicles are clean and quiet. Air pollution from coal-fired power plants that generate electricity can be controlled at the source, making the vehicle itself emission-free.

Early on, steam-power was the third front in the engineering war over which technology would dominate the industry. Speed and absence of vibration were steam's external combustion engine virtues. The drawback was taking more than a minute to warm up before being able to drive away. Mostly it's a forgotten technology, but something reminiscent of today's pain revived the idea, even if it never reached full-scale production.

During the Arabian oil embargo of 1973, Saab engineered a prototype steam-powered car. It used an electronically-controlled, lightweight, multi-parallel circuit generator about the size of a car battery that could generate 160 horse power. Quick start-up was achieved by storing compressed air which powered the car until sufficient steam-pressure was built up. Those whacky Swedes.

What killed both steam and electric vehicles back in the day was invention of the electric starter for gasoline engines. Before that you had to use a hand crank to fire that baby up. In cold weather when the crankcase oil was thick this could be nearly impossible for anyone not having considerable upper body strength. Occasionally starting could be dangerous, with many an arm broken when the engine back-fired and spun the crank around like a shot. What a different world it might be today if electrical vehicles circa 1910 had left internal combustion buggies in the ditch instead of the other way around. The Middle East would have had no significance in modern history, instead of dominating our attention as it does today. There would not have been the decades-long transfer of American wealth to OPEC and the other oil producing nations. Thousands of people may have lived longer lives because of less air pollution. Texas' main export would have been cattle, not black gold.

But we will find alternative fuels and technologies to meet all our energy needs in the future. It's a matter of national economic imperative. Probably, it will be a combination of old and new that our children and their children will use. Although many are now questioning the wisdom of making fuel ethanol from food grains, research is underway to produce it from any old rotten plant material. This month General Motors Corp. announced a strategic partnership with Boston-based Mascoma Corporation to develop new fuel production technologies. Mascoma has pioneered a single step cellulose to ethanol method dubbed consolidated bio-processing. Basically, they've created secret micro-organisms and enzymes that can feed on any plant mass and turn it into alcohol.

In a press release, Mascoma CEO Bruce Jamerson said, "Our job is to take what happens in nature over hundreds of years and bring it down to a matter of days. Our transformational technology will allow us to combine affordable non-grain biomass with low-cost conversion techniques to make ethanol more quickly, efficiently and economically than other biochemical methods."

Don't start saving your lawn clippings yet. But maybe someday, we'll be filling up with high test gasoline made from wood chips, dead leaves and the spinach Junior refused to eat.

Perhaps most important of all, conservation of whatever energy we use can be the cheapest and easiest way to save money and power for the future. Currently, most of us in this part of the world still burn gasoline to work, shop and play.

Here are ways to save: Plan ahead with a list of places you must travel to. Go to the one farthest away first. A thoroughly warmed-up engine uses fuel more efficiently. In west Norman, Wal-Mart and Lowes are side by side. If you have purchases in each, walk across the street, don't drive 50 yards to the other's parking lot.