[Mike F]

I haven't read the article because it's summer and it's just too damn hot to read right now.

But to those making arguments along the lines of alternatives becoming more economical, other sources being invented, etc. you also have to understand that net energy output (amount of energy a source produces minus the amount of energy it takes to obtain that source) is also a huge factor.

Oil from traditional sources has an incredibly high net energy output because you basically just have to drill a hole into the ground and it will shoot out, and it's very easy to transport. Oil from tar sands, on the other hand, take huge amounts of energy to separate into a usable form and is much more difficult to transport because it doesn't flow as well. Therefore, even if it is now economical to extract a barrell of oil from the tar sands, you're getting a lot less net energy from that barrell.

Unfortunately, the same is true for solar energy, wind energy, nuclear energy, etc. If need be we could probably build enough of these sources to generate the same energy as we get from traditional oil, but because it would take so much energy to produce them we'd still be much worse off.