[quote=Aecetia]If the price continues to rise until the profitability is sufficient to stimulate the necessary technological breakthroughs then alternative energy will become common and affordable in the post petroleum world.[/quote]
Europe and Japan have been having high gas price for a long long time. I don’t see that spurring any drastic technology to move away from oil. However, I do see them driving much much smaller cars than we do on average. So, if we see $7 gas, we might see a lot more tiny cars/moped/motorcycle/bicycle on the street. We would also see people living much closer to where they work. Which would then help spur public transportation. I see these things happening much more quickly and easily than coming up with a brand new type of fuel/technology.

Technology in cars doesn’t change that quickly. Car companies comes out with new generation every 4-5 years minimum. Then there need to have proper time to investigate in how these new technology would behave in an accident condition. Then, if we’re talking about a new type of fuel, we need many years to setup a new infrastructure to deliver these fuel.

Take the hybrid for example, the first Prius came on the market in 2001. Which means it was on the drawing board at least 4-5 years before that. Might be more with the Prius, since it was the first generation. You’re talking about over 10 years for the hybrid to have the kind of penetration it has now. Which is not very much.