http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/15/u-s-military-warns-of-oil-production-shortage-by-2015/ Don't laugh. The link there says the US military of all people decided to study this and came out with a report. Pretty darn scary. :eek:
This is still basically a myth. We are sitting on so much natural gas, whose total keeps climbing rapidly, that as oil goes up, people will pile into natural gas for energy/power, to power cars, for heat. It is very cheap at the moment. And there is abundant LNG, hydrates on the continental shelves in huge abundance. Not to mention over 100 years worth of coal. They will find ways to gasify it, convert it, pump the CO2 underground or under the deep ocean. And natural gas makes less CO2 compared to oil, so everyone would be pimping natural gas. And if oil climbs too much, people will also start hooking up more alternatives, will cry for nuclear, will buy efficient cars, insulation, windows and a lot of other things. I wouldn't get too excited. When prices went up before, they plunged again as people avoided pickup trucks and piled into small cars. And this is now engrained in the memory. Price is king.