Yes. I certainly have a sense that we are squandering energy resources that will run out. Yes, hydrocarbons have led to great development, as well as big problems. But it is not managed at all, there is not the sense that it will end, and that we should use this temporary energy wealth, that has been, and still is, fortuiously available to us to ensure a better future. Instead it is all 'markets' all the time. With a sort of "wheee, we don't really know how everything works, but we sure know how to make profits, so let's keep going and be sure to never look at available data long enough to attempt any kind of medium- or long-term projections or planning".

Even the Bible knows that when one is blessed with seven years of plenty one ought prepare for the following seven of want. Demand cannot endlessly drive supply...

The biofuels bit... It was very predictable, the consequences to forests and food supply, predicted here at ET, in fact, as well as other places. But it is hard to head off those enthusiastic profiteers...

Hmmm, market mechanisms, supply, demand... When something is more scarce the price will go up, which will encourage more investment, which will cause larger supply, to meet demand. This equation ignores the energy aspects, that if your lack is one of energy, then a willingness to pay a higher price is not enough, because the energy to build increased production capacity might not be there, or the sources might not give a large enough return on investment. (In energy, not money...) And all the enthusiasm for further development, seen through the willingness to invest money, cannot help with the energy calculations. Enthusiasm does not appear in thermo. More is not always available... Optimism doesn't cause everything to come out alright...

It seems to me that economics predicts that with some optimism, enthusiasm, and lots of demand, we'll be sure to get the supply. That there are no non-human constraints at all... Only political difficulties, no material ones... But with 'iron laws' of economics hard-wired to 'reality' rather than imposed... I don't get it...