More 5 watt bulbs in 100 watt sockets

A NYtimes headline today-

Pair of Bills From GOP, Dems Seek to Spur Oil and Gas Drilling

“Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) at a hearing this morning on the pace and impact of permitting in the Gulf said he would base his legislation on the testimony of local regulators, officials, industry and businesses in states along the Gulf Coast.

“I intend to introduce legislation to put the Gulf of Mexico back to work, and I intend to advance that legislation through this committee,” Hastings said. “The Obama administration seems unmoved by thousands of lost jobs, rapidly rising gasoline prices and the threat these high prices pose to our economy. But this committee will not sit idly by.”

This is so simple. Oil is a commodity. It’s price is set globally by supply and demand. If demand goes down the price goes down. If demand goes up, the price goes up. If the supply is higher than demand, the price goes down. If supply is lower than demand, the price goes up. The latter is what we have now. Demand is higher than supply. To lower prices, either increase supply, or lower demand.

The problem is, putting aside the fact that the oil companies pumping our oil from the ground are foriegn or offshored to avoid paying taxes and will sell to anyone on the planet for the same price (that’s the commodity thing) the United States does not have enough reserves, proven or unproven, to significantly affect the global price by increasing supply.

According to some recent Wikileaks releases, maybe Saudi Arabia doesn’t even have that power anymore. Since the 70’s, OPEC has consistently (and admittedly) increased supply to lower prices to discourage investment in substitutes- renewable energy, with the intention of burning investors. That means peak oil has come and gone.

Even though the US does not have the ability to increase supply, it does have the capacity to affect demand, and in a big way since we are a major consumer. If we reduce demand by switching to alternatives, not only will the price go down, but we won’t care if it goes up again! And it will.