“From a terrestrial standpoint, the biggest problem we need to solve on Earth this century is sustainable production and consumption of energy,” Musk said during the show. “This really is quite a serious problem. People really should take this quite seriously.”
“We will eventually run out of oil,” Musk said. “If we don’t find a solution to burning oil or transport and we then run out of oil, the economy will collapse and civilisation will come to an end.”
Musk from 5:00
As if he isn't aware of LENR...he should contact his business fellow Tom Darden 
Nonsense.
With Integral Fast Reactor technology 
there is enough energy for a very long time, perhaps 10,000++ years, and more if you include the natural production of uranium and thorium in sea water. By then we should have worked fusion out (hot and cold). Sure there are some issues with safety and proliferation from IFR technology which will need to be solved, but the main point is we are not going to run out of energy for a long time.
Issues likely to cause major problems for society are far more likely to come from over-population, conflict, climate induced ecosystem collapse, solar flare induced collapse of electrical/IT systems, infectious diseases, something that we never even thought of, or most likely a combination of a few of these.
Come to think of it, the biggest problem is our inability to successfully organise ourselves in a co-operative way...
Come to think of it, the biggest problem is our inability to successfully organise ourselves in a co-operative way...
Right, I couldn't have said this in a better way.
But second to this... actually, Musk is completely right.
And when he talked about Energy as the biggest problem, he probably had a slightly different understanding of it in mind as you have.
Having enough energy to provide the energy for our current needs and also the needs of a more populated planet is one thing.
What he probably thought of is: If you could find a source which provides an energy abundance almost for free. You could realize a lot of concepts which can't be realized right now because of a huge energy demand.
Best example:
Sea water desalination at african coast lines and water distribution systems, to mention the most important concepts.
Of course energy is the biggest problem. The problem, that will not be solved by dreaming, and breaking wind.
Mankind survived without petroleum products for a very long time - and population expanded as did commerce. Other lubricants existed and continue to do so. Alternative energy sources also existed and new twists on old ones seem inevitable. Commerce chooses energy sources opportunistically - as do people. If the total available energy to mankind dropped we would adapt. Such adaptation might actually prove beneficial. Imagine people living within walking distance of work. Imagine your food growing nearby.
To paint a picture of doom caused by lack of petroleum products strikes me as quite short-sighted. It is an opportunity. An opportunity for change. Change for the better if we choose to make it so.
The ability to cross the oceans and traverse the continents for recreation or profit will outlive oil because humans adapt. That is what we do.
Any downtime, any respite from plastic can be used to clean things up or to await Nature doing the cleaning. As it always does.
Energy can't really be "produced" so sustainable production is nonsense. It can only be transformed from one form to another.
Anyway, speaking of transforming energy: from light to electric power. The problem is energy storage and theft not transformation. Out on the ranch we have a neighbor First Solar. They just hooked up a 1.7 million solar panel project to the grid a few days ago. First Solar just came out with a panel that is %18.9 efficient (roughly 20%). Since the sun provides us with 1400 watts per square meter that would be roughly 300 watts from a panel 1 sq. meter in size. On the ranch Los Angeles County regional planning allows home owners to have 1 shipping container. Let's install solar panels on it and a Tesla battery inside and see how it competes with Rossi's promises. That is roughly 3x13 meters surface area on the roof = 39 square meters. 300 days of sunshine per year. 6 hours of sunshine per day (that's how they calculate it because the angle does not always fall perpendicular). Get your calculator out and you can have 70 KWH per day. Thieves will usually take your solar panels within 1-2 weeks. It's like a jewelry store with no security guard up there on your shipping container. First Solar has 24/7 security, you don't. Find a way around theft and you have 2x the power available to you that the house will consume. The average US household uses 32 KWH per day you have 70 at your disposal. With energy storage you will have plenty left over for those 65 days when it is cloudy or rains. So you see the problem is not transforming energy it is storing it and theft.
