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The Cost of High Energy Prices

High gas prices in the United States have turned the treasured tradition of the summer family road trip into an incredibly expensive affair. Even if the family preferred to fly instead of drive, high price-per-barrel numbers (due to the tensions in the Middle East and what some warn as dwindling supplies) have increased the prices of plane tickets as well. When will the insanity stop? Some regions of America are now faced with gas prices many cents about $3-a-gallon, an unprecedented increase that doesn?t seem set to fall anytime soon what with the war between Israel and Iran proxy Hizballah in Lebanon.

In addition to the high energy prices, during a sweltering summer it is also very hard for air conditioners to handle the heat without giving out. People are using their air conditioners more often than they have usually needed to, and this is increasing the amount of their energy bills and taxing the ability of utilities providers to provide electricity to all of the customers who need it: a case in point would be the borough of Queens in New York City, where hundreds of thousands have gone without power because high temperatures lead to increased usage, and overwhelmed the power grid of the Con Edison power supplier.

Peace in the Middle East might do something to ease gas prices, but even a cease-fire would only bring energy prices down over the short term. Over the long term, the U.S. government should look to drilling for oil in places that many abhor even thinking about drilling in ? such as the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in the American state of Alaska. The United States relies heavily on foreign oil supplies, and when your primary oil suppliers are Arab dictatorships and a combative Venezuelan troublemaker, the importance of increasing energy self-reliance should be incredibly apparent.