[FireTrack]

You had me thinking about this all evening... If memory serves me, POV mileage increases aren't going to help that much since the largest consumer of fossil fuels is industry (I could be wrong here).

Also, one of America's greatest Achilles heels is our transportation systems. We're about 30 days away from famine if something happens to our trucking industry for example.

Lastly, industry is one area were government control is easier to implement. J.C. had all new power plants required to burn coal during his administration. One was built in our area and though we're plagued with high mercury levels in our local lakes (not sure that burning coal is the cause), we have a steady mid priced supply of electricity made from coal shipped from Montana. BTW, here in Louisiana, most of our natural gas is piped to the northeast. :-)

Anyway, based on the above assumptions, I believe we need to concentrate on the industrial sector in our efforts to great long term energy stability.

[RightWhale]

Industry would have major problems, e. g., aluminum smelting, but the agriculture sector is also heavily dependent on fuel. The big industrialized farms would be hurting. If you do a search on peak oil you may find some links of interest. Campbell's lecture is very interesting. Maybe this is all 'the sky is falling' stuff, but there could be a problem coming down the pike.