Michael T. Klare, The Problem with Cheap Oil
No less important, diminished oil prices discourage investment in complex oil ventures like deep-offshore drilling, as well as investment in the development of alternatives to oil like advanced (non-food) biofuels. Perhaps most disastrously, in a cheap oil moment, investment in non-polluting, non-climate-altering alternatives like solar, wind, and tidal energy is also likely to dwindle. In the longer term, what this means is that, once a global economic ... Full Story »
Posted by Mike LaBonte
I agree with Klare, and I further believe that oil price swings will simply become larger with each cycle, until the low price of a cycle is high enough to make alternatives attractive. Alternatives do not need to replace oil ASAP, they only need to supply the incremental increases.