Published Oct. 1, 2006 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
By Aaron J. Brown
Remember when gas prices were so high last summer? Man, those were rough times. People had to stop letting their Hummers idle overnight. Impulse gum purchases plummeted at area gas stations, so much so that Doublemint had to lay off a Twin.
Around Hibbing last week gas prices hovered around $2.25, nearly 75 cents cheaper than what we paid over the summer. While we’re told that gas prices originally went up because of skyrocketing demand, the reasons for the decline are remarkably vague. In truth, it seems to follow a pattern where the price shoots up, then inexplicably drops by about half the amount of that increase, before shooting up even higher in a few months.
I’m not a market expert or an economist. To be honest, despite hailing from a family of mechanics, I don’t really even know what makes cars work … other than gas. My car runs on gas and so does yours. Fuel oil heats my house. Most of the food I eat is delivered to the stores where I shop by trucks that also run on gas. So I shared our national frustration over the high prices last summer. I do not, however, share the collective sense of relief I keep hearing about the recent price decline. Even if we aren’t being raked over the coals now, we were for several months not that long ago. And we will again face price increases; the only question is when.
Over the past two years we’ve witnessed an enormous shift in oil prices. Industry experts have said that this was necessary given the exponential increase of demand in all corners of the world. I don’t dispute that, but I just can’t believe how a recent 70 cent drop in gas prices has caused everyone to forget that last summer we paid $1.50 more than we did two years before that.
Whether we pay $2.30, $2.50, $3 or $5 for a gallon of gas, we should all have learned that oil is an especially difficult commodity on which to base an economy. The sense of outrage people had over gas prices in July should not give way to complacency in October. We need to reduce our dependence on oil – not just foreign oil, but oil in general. I’m not proposing that we ride bikes and live in communes, eating nuts and playing the sitar. I’m saying lets craft a 20-year national plan to make existing renewable energy technology economically feasible. Hydrogen. Solar power cells. Even ethanol has some promise.
Think that’s too much to bite off? Well, a concerted effort by the scientific and economic communities fueled by leadership from the federal government (namely, the space program) is exactly how home computers came to exist.
The key difference between the advance of computers and the advance of renewable energy technology is that almost everyone benefited from computer technology, from everyday citizens to powerful businesspeople. Advances in renewable energy will also benefit widespread groups of people, but powerful industries stand in the way. Computer technology spread because it created profits; but investment in renewable fuels for vehicles is, in the short term, unprofitable. The free market won’t react until it has to, and you better believe that the people most hurt by waiting will be those driving old Chevy pickups and not those who ride in the back of limousines.
So, enjoy the low gas prices while they last. We all know they’re going to go up again, probably after the election. The real question is what you’re going to say when people tell you that “clean coal” and drilling in Alaska will solve our energy problems. You say what you want, but I say that any energy plan that doesn’t focus on reaching total sustainability and price stability is not a plan, but a stall tactic. They’re waiting to see if we forget how important this is.
Don’t forget.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.