Worst Power Plunge

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Worst Power Plunge

Oil Prices

While soaring oil prices earlier in 2008 caused real pain to consumers and companies, they also stimulated unprecedented changes and innovations. People stopped buying gas-guzzling SUVs and flocked to smaller cars, mass transit, and bicycles. Alternative energy like wind, solar, and biofuels got a huge boost, as did energy efficiency measures. But the $100-per-barrel plunge in oil prices (from a high of more than $140 per barrel) threatens those gains. If progress is lost on developing alternatives to oil, the pain will be even greater when the recession ends and demand for energy takes off again.