Energy Literacy Advocates (ELA) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public education organization working to improve the energy literacy of all sectors of our democracy.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

As oil prices continue their market fluctuations, Saudi oil-minister Ali al-Naimi highlighted $75 as the best price for oil. According to al-Naimi, $75 earns oil producers enough profits to keep up supply, while being just high enough to encourage continued alternative fuel development and investment.

Whether $75 represents the perfect median price is debatable, but the 1970s demonstrate that once pain at the pump dissipates, consumers return back to the norm. While the price Americans pay for gasoline has returned once again to "acceptable" levels, the question for us is whether or not we've learned our lesson. Will inexpensive fuel derail continued investment in alternatives, or have we put the blinders back on? If the blinders are back on, history warns that our inflexible demand for oil will be tested again.

For more on al-Naimi in the New York Times, click here.

Labels: energy sources, oil price, oil supply, oil supply/demand, peak oil, renewables

posted by Amanda Voss at 12:11 PM

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