I think we're a far way away from real energy problems, right now we're just facing problems due to short sighted governments and temporary supply/demand issues ...
As oil becomes more expensive it becomes profitable to extract (synthetic) oil from more expensive energy deposits. Right now it is profitable to produce synthetic oil from coal and oil sands (like those readily found in Athabasca), and soon enough shale oil (as is found in the green river formation) will also become profitable.
On top of that, much of our electricity generation is currently from coal, oil and natural gas but (as the price of oil remains high) this will likely switch towards alternative energy sources like Nuclear, wind, and hydroelectric which will free up coal, oil and natural gas for uses which can not easily switch to alternative energy sources (like Plains and automobiles).
