Time to get serious: America has dithered for decades on oil conservation, but market will force action

Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 14--What will it take for President Bush, Congress and ordinary Americans to get serious about using less oil?

The nation has spent nearly two weeks dissecting the president's dramatic State of the Union declaration that he wants to break America's addiction to oil, and the prognosis for meaningful change is gloomy.

First of all, Bush's bold stance for oil-import reductions is an old idea, voiced by President Nixon in 1971 and by President Carter in 1977. Both vowed to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and both urged conservation, yet the percentage of imported oil has risen substantially since the 1970s, and Hummers still are considered a lot sexier than cardigan sweaters.



Further, Bush's attention-getting call to reduce Mideast oil imports by 75 percent in the next 20 years was undercut the day after the State of the Union speech when Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told reporters in a conference call that the president was just being hypothetical. The backtracking is disappointing, but it shouldn't be a surprise.

Last year's long-awaited energy bill did little to move the nation beyond fossil fuels, concentrating most of its subsidies and tax breaks on oil and coal companies. In the State of the Union address, Bush spoke of boosting research on alternatives, such as solar, wind and nuclear energy, as well as hydrogen fuel cells and new formulations of ethanol for cars. But his five-year projections for the federal budget show cuts or only modest funding for alternative-energy research.

Bush and Congress also have failed, year after year, to take the most elemental steps to encourage energy conservation, the surest and simplest way to use less oil. Gas-mileage requirements for cars and trucks are overly modest. Congress' refusal to place gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles, vans and pickup trucks under the same requirements as other cars compounds the waste.

While the economy would benefit if the government supported alternative-energy research more substantially, market forces already are on the job.

Ever-higher oil and gas prices are certain; the only question is how high they'll go and how fast, and the nation's original oil-pusher -- the auto industry -- finally may be responding. The annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January showcased alternative-fuel works-inprogress by all the major automakers.

On display were vehicles powered by ethanol-gasoline blends, low-sulfur diesel, biodiesel compressed natural gas, liquid hydrogen and gaseous hydrogen.

Since the peak of the SUV craze in 2000, sales of the fuel-hog monsters have dropped markedly. In 2005, sales of large SUVs dropped by more than 200,000, a decline of 20.5 percent. Medium-SUV sales dropped by a similar percentage.

At the same time, sales of gas-electric hybrids have taken wing. In 2000, Toyota and Honda combined sold fewer than 10,000 hybrids. In 2005, with many more players in the hybrid market, according to the automotive Web site Edmunds.com, hybrids accounted for more than 175,000 new cars sold.

As gasoline becomes more expensive, consumers are starting to demand alternatives.

Though nobody likes to see prices for oil and gas climb, the increases are a blessing because they drive research, development and demand for such alternatives.

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