Reply #53: I don't think we're close because I count on oil companies' greed [View All]

[democracyindanger]

We're probably definitely on the downward slope of supply, but if it was going to happen in the next ten years, oil companies would be feverishly working to develop new energy sources, like hydrogen. There's no way corporations would just be sitting around, waiting to lose a gigantic chunk of their business.

Take Philip Morris, for example. They saw the writing on the wall, and started diversifying in non-tobacco industries. They even changed their name. There's no way Chevron, BP et al. would just shrug and say, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

The first real sign of the end of petroleum will be when the oil companies start laying out the infrastructure for a hydrogen or natural gas fuel economy. To the average person, that means your local gas stations start being refitted. Auto manufacturers will also be introducing cars to run on the new fuels in a widespread manner, not the here-and-there way they're doing it now. And let's be honest, Europe, Japan and maybe even China will convert before us.

Corporations will suck every last penny they can out of oil, but they'll also make sure they don't lose their power when the oil ends.