There's a lot of doomsday talk among the peak oil crowd. I think this is being way overblown, at least in China's case, for the following reasons...This is an argument I heard from an Indian energy analyst on the internet:
We've hit Peak Oil. One argument we always here is whether China can get rich before it gets old. Another equally important argument is can India get rich before energy gets too expensive. Every country on earth is competing for this same energy and it costs the same no matter if you're a rich or a poor country.
- MSR - Molten Salt Reactors (liquid thorium reactors)
- 4th gen breeder reactors
- nuclear fuel reprocessing
- CTL - Coal To Liquid technology
- Shale Gas
I'm not going to get into the details too much because it would be pages long but look up any of these energy sources as they relate to China and you will see that they China is in absolutely no long-term danger of any energy deficit. If we're talking short-term as in less than 10 years, then yes China as well as the rest of the world can possibly have a minor energy crisis. However, if we're talking beyond 2025, China will be sitting pretty energy wise. Look at the benefits of these energy sources, I will only summarize...
- Liquid Thorium Reactors => unlimited cheap electricity
- 4th gen breeder reactors => near unlimited cheap electricity (dangerous process)
- nuclear fuel reprocessing => near unlimited cheap electricity (hazardous process)
- CTL - Coal To Liquid technology => can eliminate oil imports (would take decades to ramp production, dirtier than regular oil)
- Shale Gas => increases natural gas resources over 10-fold (make China natural gas independent)
All of the above are currently at initial to full scale production. I believe most of these doomsday naysayers either have an agenda or are driven by some ideology because their conclusions simply don't make sense, at least in China's case.