We are not running out of oil. We are inundated with the propaganda from the oil industry which simultaneously requires us to believe that there is so little oil left that we must pay dearly for it and that there is so much oil left that we don’t really need to pursue alternative energy sources seriously, but we are not running out of oil. Yet.
We will, some day. We are using a lot of it. But there is a lot left, and a lot is being “discovered” at times convenient to the industry, at such a rate that even though we were literally, absolutely, indubitably, running out of oil in the 1970’s, during the first great oil crisis, we remain inundated with oil, everywhere. The U.S., in fact, imports far less oil now than it did 20 years ago. That would be very, very strange, if we had actually been running out of oil in the 1970’s, or 80’s, or 90’s.
Furthermore, there will not be a monumental crisis when we run out of oil. The fact is that there are numerous potential replacements for oil, all of which already work quite well. Why don’t we use them? Because it is still cheaper to use oil, right now, and more convenient. But if we ever really started running out of oil and the price per barrel began to soar, to $500, $750, $1200, $2000 a barrel, we would move rather quickly to electric or hydrogen cars, and we would begin to build more nuclear reactors, and windmills, and solar panels, which are quickly becoming cheaper and more efficient. There is no great impediment to these technologies right now, except for the cheap cost of oil, and the massive existing infrastructure that supports it.
Oil, of course, is used for many things, besides transportation. There will be hardships and adjustments, but nothing mankind can’t handle with some effort.
Soon or not so soon, we are not going to freeze in the dark. We will use cleaner, more efficient forms of energy. In the end, the world will probably be a better place. Is that a tear I see on your cheek, for the passing of oil?