Nice big picture article on peak oil issues.
Whether the oil situation becomes critical in the near or far future, the fact that the supply of crude is a finite resource and will become more scarce and expensive in the future behoves us to plan ahead for the day when energy isn’t as cheap and readily available as it is today.
The sooner we start moving in that direction, the more painless the transition will be. We should start making the tough decisions today rather than have it forced onto us in the future, when the impacts are likely to be felt harder and there is less time to adapt.
As an example, if oil supplies were to be severely disrupted tomorrow, all inter-city transport in Malaysia would grind to a halt due to the lack of any viable alternatives to petrol and diesel.
Contrast this with Europe and Japan where alternative transport (mainly electric) are well-developed. Another area is the use of petrol versus diesel. Petrol engines have only LNG as an alternative fuel source, involving a costly retrofit and a bulky added tank.
Diesel on the other hand has a broader range of substitutes that can be made from food waste to palm oil (even algae). Diesel has another advantage, it is almost twice as energy efficient as petrol.