On 2008-06-14, Bill Wright wrote:
"David Taylor" wrote in message
...

Yes, eventually replacements (wind/tidal/solar/nuclear/geothermal) will
become cheaper than oil. The question is how fast they will be able to
be introduced, and how fast the price of oil will rise.

The laws of supply and demand will solve everything.

IIRC, Supply and Demand applies to things with elastic demand.

Energy usage has some elastic components, but a lot is required to
keep the world going. Food is certainly a necessity, and if the cost of
food starts to rise, demand will not drop. If sufficient alternate
energy generation can't be brought online quickly enough, the cost of
energy and food will rise to a point where people can't afford to eat.

There is of course some indication that this is already beginning to
happen, although that appears to be related to the availability of land
to grow food on...

--
David Taylor