But consumer choice is necessarily impacted by price and availability. When oil prices get high, consumption does drop, its happened several times before, and consumers get used to the changes. Its just when energy is cheap and conveniently available everywhere, its naturally leads to greater consumption. That roadtrip for the weekend instead of just staying at home or running a home server instead of just using an external drive seem like nicer options in a cheap market.
Energy IS cheap and available largely because lobbyists for the industry, often against popular opinion and the opinion of the consumers themselves, have rigged laws and regulations in their favor and against regulation and accountability. In a universe where this oil well didn't exist or the oil it produced was significantly more expensive because of safety measures, it is very likely consumers would have cared, at least much, as people would have just gotten used to such a world. The only parties that WOULD care are the oil companies who would see lower revenues and profits, and the government who would see less tax revenues from those profits. And so they work to rig the system to make consumers choose to consume more, not the other way around, which is why leaving the choice to consumers [alone] will never work.