With these, China can, I think, reduce their reliance on coal.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0033729/

So, here are some things to think about:

1. The US is by far the most energy inefficient country on Earth, particularly in the use of oil.  Merely bringing the US into line with per capita oil consumption in the European Union (not exactly a starvation diet) would result in a major fall in US oil consumption and change the global production/depletion equation considerably.  It is therefore unsound to generalise from US experience to the world.

2. There's no way that renewable sources will give us as much energy as now provided by fossil fuels and, as many people here have observed, peak uranium is not that far off either (and a damn good thing, too, in my book).  On the other hand, what should be looked at for the long term is the eventual total sustainable global per capita production of renewable energy.  Other sources (e.g. oil, coal, etc) should be seen as a transition bank.  The sooner we get working on building the renewable energy economy, the less pain there will be in the transition.

3. It might just be that we'll have to go back to the per capita energy consumption of (say) the 1920s if we are to live in a sustainable society.  That may provide some difficulties, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.  Further, it will not simply be a matter of winding back the clock.  It should also be considered that many industrial processes are far more efficient & less polluting (per unit of production) than they were back then.  And, finally, many inventions and medical discoveries have been made since then, and many of them will be sustainable in a low energy future.

4. People who talk about a population explosion and geometric increases in the world population are out of date.  Here in Australia, it is commonly discussed in the media that population growth is slowing around the world and the global population will max out at around 9 billion in about 2050.  In industrialised countries, the ones that consume most energy & other resources, the process is more advanced.  The population of Japan is peaking this year, most EU countries will peak very soon if they haven't already, and Russia is in free fall.  Even in the poorest Third World countries, the birth rate is steadily trending down and has been for decades.  Yes, the sheer size of the human population is a problem and it's going to get worse before it gets better, but get better it will.

5. Current socio-economic & geographical development patterns in the US are a product of the existing political structure.  Even from here in Australia, I can tell that the US political establishment (i.e. the existing system of two parties, both of which are deeply linked to the major corporations) is "on the nose", as we say here, with the vast bulk of the population.  Bush, for example, only got re-elected because his opponent stood for nothing.  When the world wakes up to Peak Oil (which it will, sooner or later - facts are stubborn things), the political credibility of the entire establishment, and not just that of Bush & his Big Oil buddies, will be abolished - totally.  A new political force will arise, putting forward a program to deal with the crisis, and the Republicrats (not my invention, but I like the word) will be history.  I can't name that force from this distance, but with the old establishment swept out of the way, many currently "impossible" things will be possible and some reality-based adaptation to Peak Oil & Global Warming will be begun.

6. In the rest of the world, or at least most of it, Peak Oil will have a less drastic effect than in the US.  We aren't so deeply entrenched in the car culture, the corporations have somewhat less influence, and we don't suffer from the particular patterns of racism that create inner urban ghettoes and generate "white flight" to often gated communities in the suburbs & exurbs (there's plenty of racism outside the US, but the patterns are different - check out the Paris riots in November last year).

7. Food production is often cited as a problem by the "dieoff" brigade.  This assumes that agriculture everywhere is the same as in the US.  It isn't.  In other countries, agriculture is a lot less energy intensive.  Further, there are many Third World countries where food production has dropped markedly because of imports of subsidised US products.  Mexico is one.  If the US has to cut production greatly because of energy shortages, it will turn from a food exporter to a food importer - but there are many countries which could fill the gap.  Finally, in many Third World countries, much land is now given over to non-food crops for export to industrialised countries.  If the markets for the non-food crops disappear, this land will be put back to use growing food.

8. The world will survive Peak Oil.  The human race will, as well.  If we wake up to ourselves in time, we will still have a pretty good life.  Peak Oil will help us wake up and the other fossil fuels will provide the transition bank to manage the change.