your right, we don't have superior substitutes at the current price "oil is it" (if this where not the case then the substitute would already have been substituted I guess!)

The question then becomes: at some higher price point is there a substitute -e.g. ammonia or hydrogen for transport. Of course we then get into issues like timescales for the substitution due to current built stock, etc.

Perhaps we are just heading for a world where we are just using a much greater fraction of our wealth to do a lot less. Alternatively if we can become much more efficient in how we do 'what we do', we might be able to maintain some sense of normalcy in the decades ahead.

Nick.

P.S. Just seen the oil price -dips below $40 seem to be triggering buys...