Is the Cost of Gas High Enough?
July 2, 2008 by Dr. Roger Parrott
I’m starting to see gas stations in Jackson pushing up close toward $4 a gallon, and I’m sure we’ll break that threshold soon. That is hitting everyone’s pocketbook. But is it hitting us hard enough to force the world to get serious about renewable fuel alternatives?
If most families drive 12,000 miles a year, and cars average about 20 mpg, that means we use 600 gallons of gas in a year. With the price about double what we were comfortable paying for many years, that is adding $1,200 a year to our family’s bottom line , which is $23 a week.
Is the additional cost of $23 a week enough to give America the resolve to develop alternative energy sources? Probably not. But if gas for our cars today is not costly enough, this gas crisis will be extremely costly in the long run if we don’t find alternatives to the oil that has fueled our economy for the past century.