I wouldn't call it the "oil age" but more like the "industrial age" and many already suggest that we are now moving more into the "information age" with the Internet, etc, which has been changing all prior socio-economic models...

But the problem will always be energy and energy conversion since that is at the core of everything. What is artificial is the concept of price/cost/profit. This is exactly where the corruption comes in and what directly affects one's common reality life style!

When you say that the age of "cheap" energy is gone is only because you have a certain expectation of "value" which is being manipulated! Specially since you also say that "there was a concerted effort by some OPEC producers to keep the price low to prevent development of alternative sources"!!!

Meaning also that the concept of free trade is not free trade at all due to this type of "value" manipulation! After all is said and done, societies are pawns in the middle of all of this manipulation...

-wirelessguru1