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Whiff Of Cheap Gasoline Tempts Us To Be Wasteful

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2008

Who hasn't driven by a gas station lately and seen prices hovering around $2 a gallon and not felt positively giddy? It's as if motorists have awakened from a bad dream where the price of a gallon of gas was almost twice that and our car-loving culture and fragile household budgets were being strangled.

But before you dance a jig at the gas pump and then motor off into the sunset, stop yourself.

Gas is cheaper - not cheap - for now. It is no time to abandon those good habits most of us developed when we got sticker shock at the pump.

If you started driving less to conserve fuel, keep doing that. If you found out you could ride the bus to work or carpool with a friend, keep it up. If you ditched that gas-guzzling, oversized SUV for some snazzy little hybrid, don't feel foolish.

These good gas prices are not going to last for long. And the only way to protect yourself from future price surges is to use less.

Gas prices are down because the worldwide trading price of a barrel of oil is down on fears a global recession will slow demand. The global credit crunch means that China and India's booming demand for oil to fuel their factories, build infrastructure and introduce millions of people to the joys of automobile ownership are no longer chugging along at an unbridled clip.

When the world uses less oil, the price goes down. And when demand goes up and reserves dwindle, prices will go back up again.

And don't think that's not going to happen.

OPEC, the group of oil-producing nations, is discussing reducing production in an attempt to stop prices from falling. Political turmoil in key oil-producing countries - like Nigeria and Venezuela - has not gone away and will continue to influence trading in crude oil futures.

The International Energy Agency has predicted that in the long-term, oil prices are going up and predicts the average U.S. price of a gallon of gas will be about $2.37 next year. Americans must consider their oil consumption habits in the long-term - not just this week or next year- and face the reality that demand in places like China and India will surge again.

Remember, Big Oil is not your friend. And neither is OPEC. Consumers can only hope that, in the price run-up, oil producers learned that there is a limit to how high prices can go before they cause worldwide economic damage.

While they may not care that fuel costs are taking a big bite out of your household budget, they should realize it does not serve their interests to allow fuel prices to add to the weakening of the global economy.

Americans needed a loud wake-up call on fuel conservation, and we got it with high gas prices.

We were using too much and had too little will - especially in sprawling communities like Tampa - to think about investing more in mass transit. Finally, there has been substantial discussion and actual progress in seeking alternative energy and transportation systems. That should not go away now.

High gas prices helped consumers think differently about how they use the finite resource of fossil fuels.

So enjoy the $2-a-gallon gas - while it lasts - but remember what $4 gas taught us.

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