Rising oil prices: seeing the bright side

It's becoming more and more difficult to overlook the fact that oil prices are skyrocketing... once again! When I wrote this article, a barrel of oil cost $120 and a single liter of gasoline retailed for $1.34 (in Montreal). That's a 34-percent increase over January 2007, a little more than a year ago. Incredible! And all signs point to higher costs for food, raw material and general goods as a result: any product shipped by truck, train, boat or plane will become more expensive because gas prices are rising. What? Did you honestly believe that transporters and delivery companies would absorb these additional costs without making consumers pay for it? Okay, you can say it: damn these rising oil prices!!!

Positive impacts?
Yet, all hope is not lost. What do you do when you're paying 34 percent more for the same amount of fuel? Well, you start by being smarter on the road. You need to modify your driving habits to save fuel and reduce the costs of using your car. If everyone else did the same, the demand for fuel would be much lower, thereby preventing oil-producing countries from rising their prices. I'll say it again just to be clear: reducing our fuel consumption (the demand for fuel) is the only way to put pressure on oil companies to lower prices.

Scientists agree that outrageous fossil fuel consumption is one of the main causes for global warming. In Quebec alone, transports account for about 40 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. That being said, rising gas prices benefit the environment because we're forced to make sacrifices in order to save fuel, which reduces GHGs.

In addition, a widespread decrease in fuel consumption will dramatically reduce smog in large urban areas and therefore improve air quality. How many people suffer or die from respiratory problems due to urban smog? That's unacceptable.

Burning less fuel
If you travel 24,000 kilometers a year with a vehicle that averages 9 L/100 km, you're spending $2,894 on gas compared to only $2,160 in 2007. Should gas prices again rise to $1.50 per liter, expect to pay $346 more at the pump. Think about all those families who own a big SUV with an average rating of 15 L/100 km. They have to pay $1,224 more than last year -- and an additional $576 should gas prices rise to $1.50 per liter. The answer, obviously, is to find ways to burn less fuel each and every day.