[Hitman]

IMHO anyone who believes in unlimited growth in a limited world should have it checked by a pyschiater. But this has been till today the policy of the anti-malthusian economists, who think that what has worked yet will always do.

Peak oil is not as dramatic as if we would run out suddenly and stop at all -like your average car does when the tank is empty- but instead the decline will first trigger an economic crisis and then the need for mitigation with alternative means. There are plenty of them, like coal to fuel, renewable and of course nuclear, yet starting those all in a scenary of oil prices skyrocketing will not be exactly easy to do. Severe rationing of fuel will occur, and peak oil will more than probably be the the end of the private automobile, because states will obviously dictate that existing fuel supplies are allocated first to public transportation and then to industry. A country can run without families having up to four cars each, but not without industry and agriculture.

Shutting off most of the private vehicles currently rolling on the roads would postpone peak oil for decades ... and that's obviously what will happen, no matter if we want it or not.

But make no mistakes, there is no substitute for oil currently, so we shouldn't expect economic growth or many comfort in the next decades at all.