$100 oil might be a blessing

Three-digit oil has finally arrived. Crude oil prices hit $100 a barrel last week for the first time, briefly trading at a peak of $100.09 Thursday.

Some American motorists no doubt would like to respond with a one-digit salute to Big Oil. But we might instead be asking this question: Is $100 oil good for America?

It certainly could be. It would be beneficial if it jars us out of our energy-wasting ways and accelerates our shift to alternative energy technologies and stronger conservation measures. We must become less of a slave to fossil fuels and more energy-efficient in multiple ways, whether it be in driving cars, cooling homes or washing clothes. We also must reduce emissions from energy consumption, whether it be nitrogen oxides that breed harmful ground-level ozone or greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide that are believed to abet global warming.

You can expect oil prices to stay high for a considerable time to come, with negative consequences for American consumers at the gas pump and in the purchase of countless products made from petrochemicals and shipped by 18-wheelers and freight trains that burn diesel.

Nationally, the average price for regular gas is about $3.05 a gallon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts prices will hit an all-time high average of $3.40 this spring, but some analysts forecast prices of $3.50 to $4.

Diesel prices are even higher. Diesel hit a record high of nearly $3.50 a gallon in November and recently has averaged about $3.35 nationally.

Actually, we’ve already seen some good come from the alarming jump in fuel prices during the past year. Congress, acting a decade later than it should have, finally approved a meaningful increase in fuel economy standards, but we won’t see the effects overnight. The legislation will raise fuel economy 40 percent by 2020, to 35 miles per gallon.

By the time 2020 rolls around, however, we might already be enjoying some striking advancements in engine technology that will make 35 mpg look mediocre.

I highly recommend that members of Congress, and Americans in general, read “Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Iain Carson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran, journalists for The Economist magazine. The book, published in 2007, offers a highly readable and illuminating look at the global auto industry and potential vehicle technologies of the future, including plug-in hybrids, electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

“Zoom,” tailored to a broad audience, is written with an especially keen perspective on how energy and environmental concerns will dramatically shape transportation in coming decades. I disagree with those who say the world is about to run out of oil. But much of the cheap, easily recovered and high-quality oil has been produced. That’s especially true in America.

Rising global energy demand and escalating concerns about air pollution and global warming are ample cause for the United States to accelerate energy conservation, development of new vehicle technologies such as plug-in hybrids and reliance on less-polluting technologies such as nuclear power and wind power.

If we’re going to keep burning coal to generate electricity, we must develop much cleaner coal technology. Meanwhile, the arrival of three-digit oil should send Americans a powerful message: Unless you really want to pay $3.50 to $4 a gallon for gas, we must rein in our energy gluttony. Pronto.