This article was written by two members of the conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute and originally published in my favorite newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, back in January of 2005. It may seem a little bit dated in these ever changing times, but is probably more relevant today than it was then.
In early 2005, oil prices had just reached the $50 a barrel mark -- now they have settled back to about $70 a barrel from highs over $73. (However, on news of terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al Zarqawi's death today (here and here), Crude-oil futures slid $1.42 to $69.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.) Seemingly everyone has gas prices and thoughts of a looming "energy crisis" at the front of their minds.
I tend to believe in the authors' position that there is plenty of energy left in the world, and it is getting easier to extract all the time. As many problems as some people say that technology creates, it always seems to come up with just as many solutions. Humanity (especially the Western world) will not take a giant step backward into the (literally) dark ages, so consumption and therefore extraction of energy will continue into the distant future.
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