Cheap gas prices mean more pollution for Labor Day weekend

Cheap gas is great for travelers, great for commerce, and certainly brings a smile to anyone who pays for it regularly. But is it good for the environment? Probably not. In the last couple of years gas prices have fluctuated up and down, and though it might hurt your wallet more at the pump to pay more for gas, it also stimulates more sustainable habits and technology innovation.

So in the short term, the U.S. economy can certainly use encouragement, but hopefully cheap gas prices don’t also make drivers forget some of the side effects it causes too. The national average for gas is about $2.68 per gallon and that’s “. . . about 6 cents a gallon less than a month ago and 7 cents less than it was on the Friday before the July Fourth weekend”.

More people drive farther in the summer than winter months, and now that summer is winding down oil companies are looking to sell the remainder of their stockpiles. Americans overall are still spending less on energy than they were prior to the recession and that’s also impacting price as increases in demand remain sketchy.

Although it certainly doesn’t have as much of an impact as the macro trends mentioned above, drivers are also seeing other options with electric and hybrid cars like the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan LEAF, and the Toyota Prius. As technology continues to deliver more efficiency into the driving ecosystem, demand for gas will hopefully trend downward as well.

Considering BP’s recent oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico we certainly have the impetus to find other means of fulfilling our energy needs. A means that isn’t so finite, and so costly to our environment. And even though Americans may see a temporary reprieve at the gas pump this weekend, demand for heating oil will certainly drive it back up this winter.