Change is sweeping through the Arab world, and it will be a decade or more before any of us really knows for sure how that will change our world.
But that doesn’t mean that we won’t start seeing some results right away. One is likely to hit us this summer in the form of higher gas prices. Another will hit next winter as higher prices for home heating oil.
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Both are driven by the price of oil in world markets, and uncertainty in one oil-producing nation, like Libya, affects the price of oil everywhere, even if it was drilled in turmoil-free Canada.
Mainers know what that means. We struggled through $4-a-gallon gasoline and $5-a-gallon home heating oil in 2007, before the worldwide collapse of financial markets killed demand and brought prices down.
As the economy has started to recover, prices have inched up and would have continued to rise even if there was not uncertainty among oil producers. But what is going on now is almost certain to speed up that process.
Consumers will have to spend money to pay for gas and heating oil that they would have spent somewhere else. That money will be shipped out of our state and will do nothing to stimulate our economy.
But Mainers also know what they have to do to respond. Just as they did four years ago, they will look for ways to save money on transportation, such as the Maine Turnpike Authority’s Zoom Bus, that runs between Biddeford and Portland, and the state’s GO MAINE service, which helps match commuters with carpool partners.
It also guarantees registered participants a free ride home (by taxi or rental car) if they have an emergency during the work day. Details are available at the website gomaine.org.
Reducing demand for heating oil can be achieved by retrofitting older homes. Information about how to get an energy audit, and how to receive help making improvements, is available from Efficiency Maine, a quasi-governmental agency funded by federal grants and a surcharge on electric bills (its website is www.efficiencymaine.com).
It’s not too early for Mainers to start making plans to reduce their demand for foreign oil.
And it’s not too early for the Legislature to look at energy and land use policies in the context of an unstable world, with the higher oil prices that come with it.
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