[spinestein]

[...age of oil would not end simply because supplies might run out. After all, he quipped, the Stone Age did not come to a close because the world was short of stones. What brought the Stone Age to an end was a cultural and political sea change that, in turn, inspired a technological revolution that developed alternatives to stone.]


Correct. Fossil fuels will never again be cheaper than they are now but must become progressively more expensive, as the supply is nonrenewable and the demand for energy can only increase exponentially. At some point in the next few decades, alternatives will make more economic sense for everyday mass energy use, and gasoline will be a luxury fuel, like when "Grampa Steve" takes his antique 2006 Dodge Viper out for a spin. :^)

[humint]

Correct. Fossil fuels will never again be cheaper than they are now but must become progressively more expensive, as the supply is nonrenewable and the demand for energy can only increase exponentially. At some point in the next few decades, alternatives will make more economic sense for everyday mass energy use, and gasoline will be a luxury fuel, like when "Grampa Steve" takes his antique 2006 Dodge Viper out for a spin.

The impact of energy on our economy has an evolutionary effect. The specialization that certain fuels allow becomes like pillars propping up our economy. When the supply of those fuels is threatened… recall the extinction of the dinosaurs? Entire swaths of our economy will become extinct, virtually over night. The folks whom are eager to say alternatives are the answer, are rarely engineers. If they are, they should be aware of the kind of the incredible lifestyle changes their alternative will require. I’m an engineer and when I talk lifestyle changes I’m referring to the kind of changes people do not make unless they are forced to make them. Necessity is the mother of invention. Necessity is measured in blood and starving children. This most recent generation of Americans is numb to such things…