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It is important to consider the supply of fossil fuels and the ways that energy can be conserved. The price of crude oil was very uniform for most of the 20th Century.   From 1950 onwards the price of crude oil was very stable as it was set by the Railroad Commission of Texas (Texas Railroad Commission).  This state agency regulated the oil and gas industry and also set the price of oil.  In the 1960’s the US economy was in severe difficulty and in the end President Nixon took the US off the Gold standard and introduced Fiat Currency.  A lot of money was then generated to help stimulate the US economy.

Over the course of the 1960’s the Commission held prices down while the US$ declined in value.  In the end the members of OPEC became disenchanted with being paid in a currency that was declining rapidly in value and they raised the value of their crude.  This then caused a worldwide recession and the US government and the European Commission invested a considerable amount of money researching alternative energy technology.  Just when matters were stabilising the Yom Kippur War forced up the price of crude oil even further.  The benefit of the OPEC Price Rise and the Yom Kippur War was that the rate of increase in crude oil consumption, which had been 7.1% per annum, fell to 3.1% per annum.  Had that not happened the world would already be post peak oil.  In the 1980’s the price of oil fell and all interest in alternative energy technology was lost.