Iraq Helping the US Turn Green - 11/29/07

Meghan Carroll
Beyond Fossil Fuel Columnist

Now when this war started I never imagined we would still be there today in the year 2007 almost 2008.  That is a long time.  This was supposed to a quick fix and then our boys would be home.  But even with the deaths and all of our soldiers risking their lives there is something good coming out of this war.  It is causing us to try to find an answer to alternative fuel. 

If this war had ended years ago we may have experienced low gas prices and no reason to look for another answer.  The war is causing the prices to remain high and in the end causing us to look elsewhere.  Right now it is just as expensive to use alternative fuels.  Consumers do not find it feasible to invest into a hybrid car that is only saving us a couple of hundred dollars a year when we paid thousands more for the car.  Oil prices are continuing to rise and if they keep raising to these new levels this is going to help balance the cost of a hybrid versus the cost of gasoline.  Unfortunately this is the way to a new beginning.  I don’t believe anyone would have thought that the war could have led to another answer to help global warming.  Think back before 2003 and what the cost of gasoline was.  Now just think what our gas guzzling country would be doing if prices were low again.  There would be no reason to drive a hybrid other than to just care about the environment.  So there is an upside to this war.  Hopefully we will figure out an answer before we lose too many more soldiers.  There are plenty of investors out there willing to invest in greener companies.  The power is in the oil however.  What if oil prices drop to a number consumers do not mind paying?  This is the question that is holding a great number of companies back.  This just goes to show that by starting an energy crisis we might just have to solve it!

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