Who's to say we haven't already seen the peak?
Well once there's a visible problem, there's probably going to be an increase in liquid fuel-from-coal. Then, once coal runs out, we're f*cked, and not in any good way.
In terms of transporation fuels, I'm all about ethanol, since it can be obtained from corn, soybeans, woodchips, switchgrass, lignocellulose, farm waste, etc. None of them are really energy or economically favorable right now though. Still there's no way ethanol can meet even a fraction of the total demand.
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