“Peak Oil”, economically, doesn’t even make sense.
If demand exceeds supply, prices go up, reducing demand, and increasing the incentive to find more (increase supply).
Oil may have “peaked” its production AT THE CURRENT PRICE, but there exists NO absolute “peak”.
“Peak Oil” supposes a fixed amount of oil, which negates your statement.
However there are plenty of studies that disprove “peak oil supply” and highlight that oil is most likely a regenerative resource and not a finite source from dinosaur carcasses.
Agreed. Price is the thing. I recall a talk way back in '79 by an oil guy saying that if oil ever reached the price per gallon of diet coke, people would be down in Texas and Oklahoma digging it out with a spoon. Figuratively speaking, that's happening now with oil shales and tar sands.
I ain't an expert and I don't play one on tv. However, it does seem to be clear that corn ethanol is economically competitive vs. $40 oil. Tar sands and oil shales will come into the game at that point also. Given $100 oil, the range of potential alternatives grows rapidly. We're very early in the game and various successor fuels are at various stages in the development process. But if I had to bet, I'd wager that oil isn't viable long-term at $100. Given the huge quantities involved, it will take decades to build out the replacement capacity, but this will come.
Short term, I expect that before long many of us will be burning E-85 in flex fuel plug-in hybrids.