The major difference between the UK and US fuel prices are taxes, they've always been higher than we are. Something to think about; Europeans as a whole have paid higher fuel prices than we have for decades, they were at, say $4.50, long before we were, and it didn't ruin their economy. Ours has done better because the extra dollars we had available were put to good use in the private sector rather than underutilized by government bureaucracies.

Another lesson is that higher fuel prices won't lead to drastic changes in energy sourceing, until they get REALLY high, probably something like $15-20 dollars in todays value. Doubt that? Look at the situation where the prices have been higher. They still use essentially the same fuel mix we do. Sure, in Europe they have small vehicle size, and higher average fleet fuel economy, and employ more diesels, but not significantly different that us. The diesel picture will change now that government mandating (there it is again) of lower sulphur levels has accelerated the cost of diesel beyond that of gasoline.

The basic problem today is too many people believe there is some miracle behind a curtain somewhere that will magically pop out and end the era of petroleum. There are lots of theories about what it will be; solar, biofuels, wind, whatever. But the root problem is they all cost WAAAAYYYYY more in energy unit cost..........petroleum is mega cheap by comparison. And misinformation, or should I say incomplete information abounds. We've already seen that our government mandates on biofuels have impacted food pricing.................making significant amounts of motor fuel out of food should have been seen as a foolish idea just on it's face. Both wind and solar people make claims that they are now much more price competitive...........what they fail to mention is that in order to get to that closer position they are calculating in federal subsidies they get. Neat deal for the consumer, you get to pay out of two pockets instead of one, and since the subsidy comes from tax payments it's not linked in your mind to the unit cost of fuel/energy. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

The term for "running out of oil" is "peak oil". The theory being that we've hit the peak on available supply and we're on the down hill slope on available reserves. BTW, someone, somewhere has been predicting peak oil each year for the past 100 years, often with very authoritative looking/sounding analysis. Somehow though, with improve geological search techniques, improved drilling and pumping techniques, and higher capital investments (what the oil guys do with thoses so called "windfall profits") more previously undiscovered/unaccessible sources of crude keep turning up. Then there's the whole tar sands, shale, coal liquification thing that could contribute several TRILLION more gallons potentially. And all that produces a product that we can distribute through existing infrastructure (try and do that with hydrogen and you'll see why that's a major pipe dream).


Either petroleum needs to get SO expensive that it catches up with the alternatives (something you won't like very much once you realize the true cost), or we get serious about producing more oil, which our current congress, and if polling is correct the next one only moreso, won't do. That's a really good plan............let the rest of the world enjoy comparatively cheap energy while we hamstring ourselves and reduce our economy to match the third world.............that's one way to level the playing field.