One of the problems with the energy conversation -- both in its global warming and cost-of-gas guises --is that it's shot through with futurism. Everyone really likes to talk about the awesome world of renewable energy when the sun will light up solar panels which will in turn power our cars, when bacteria will transform human waste into sweet light crude, when hydrogen will create so much cheap energy that we'll all be softly phosphorescent. We want, in other words, to invent our way out. But that's probably not how it'll happen. Rather, adaptation to a world in which energy is expensive will play a far larger role. Some of that adaptation will involve technological innovation. But much of it will be simple efficience (like, yes, tire gauges) and changes in development. That latter is a particularly important part of the puzzle, and in fact, this whole post is a sort of long way of linking to Ron Brownstein's excellent column arguing that "energy policy and development policy must converge if the U.S. is to meaningfully confront the intertwined challenges of climate change and dependence on foreign oil." We built this country around cheap gas. Now we're going to have to figure out how to build in such a way that we can economically survive expensive gas.
