What will it take to end oil addiction?
WHAT exactly is it going to take for Americans to say, "No more?"
Gasoline prices are nearly at $3 a gallon. Is that the level — if it becomes permanent — that will change things?
In the 1980s, gasoline prices surged even higher than they are today, when adjusted for inflation. And we still filled up our big American cars at the gas station.
In the 1970s, gasoline prices surged and gas had to be rationed. Remember odd and even fill-up days? That didn't get us onto public transit and out of our gas-guzzlers.
The smaller cars with better mileage and dabbling in alternative energy that these times temporarily produced quickly disappeared. We reverted back to our old gas-guzzling ways.
This time will rising oil prices finally convince Americans to conserve, move toward vehicles that get better gas mileage and get serious about developing alternative energy sources?
Earlier this week, the price for a barrel of oil hit $67. Prices at the pump have jumped 82 cents since January without any sign of letting up soon.
Energy economist Severin Borenstein at the University of California, Berkeley said in the newspaper Wednesday that we had better get used to high oil prices. They're here to stay. "This is not temporary."
It has prompted some people to change their daily commute habits. Carpooling has picked up considerably and the interest in hybrid vehicles seems to have increased — indeed, there are waiting lists for some of them. It
may even drive more people to use mass transit.
And other changes could be coming. Thus far, higher gas prices haven't been passed on to customers by a lot of businesses, but that has to happen. That will affect other areas of our lives, eat into our income.
We hate to nag, but we've editorialized many times through the years about the need to change our commute habits, use more mass transit, drive vehicles with higher gas mileage, conserve more and invest more in the development of alternative forms of energy.
It doesn't help, of course, when Congress passes an energy bill that downplays the search for alternative energy and fails to require auto manufacturers to improve the fuel economy of SUVs and pickups.
We obviously need to build more refineries because we haven't built any since the 1970s, and higher prices may make harder-to-extract domestic oil sources more feasible economically.
The higher oil and gasoline prices get, the more motivated we may become. Oil is a finite resource, and experts tell us the day is coming when oil production peaks and begins to decline.
But has the tipping point arrived? Or can we hold on until oil hits $100 a barrel?
insidebayarea.com |
