China's energy consumption is expected to be 69 percent higher in 2010 than in 2002, according to the Federal Energy Information Administration. That growth
rate is 5 times higher than the estimate for the United States and more
than 15 times higher than Europe.

China & peak oil

According to the Daily Reckoning, “There are 5 billion people who are looking forward to the life that Americans currently enjoy. If the Chinese lived as Americans do, they’d consume 100 million barrels of oil a day." The entire world only puts out 84 million barrels of oil.

In other words, expect higher energy and oil prices to continue over the long-term.