To my knowledge, not counting diesel, the closest thing Americans have to a consumer-ready alternative is the Gas/Electric hybrid cars developed by Honda, Toyota and Ford (and others in the near future).

Around Cleveland, the only thing I've seen are a handful of the transit buses, which run on ?propane?.

AdigitalMan,
1. Building more refineries, whether for light or heavy crude, would certainly help matters.
2. There are plenty of other energy production methods, many of them renewable, which could help matters. Solar, water, wind, geothermal, fission, eventually fusion.
Granted, these are not viable for automobiles, but increasing dependance on them would allow the world to shift away from using gas, oil or coal for electrical production. Such a shift would allow for greater supply in non-electric applications.