Thought Experiment: Warfare in a warm, energy-starved world

Continuing the theme of "ultra-heavy Sunday", I'm considering a grim possible future outcome of the energy crisis. This, I admit, is inspired by the Discovery Channel special on global energy consumption: Powering the Future. This is going to be a lazy, "for-fun" analysis - don't expect numbers or a lot of research.

Imagine a world where energy costs have become a high, and possibly primary, cost of input. Imagine further that the economic and environmental stresses have led to shooting wars over remaining energy resources in the Middle East, the Arctic Ocean, the East China Sea, and the Niger delta. The conflict has also made deployment of a number of large-scale solar power arrays (photovoltaic or concentrated solar) and wind farms prohibitive, as their geographic and technical requirements mean they are particularly vulnerable to attack.