1/15/09 End of an Era

An optimist will look at a dire situation and put a positive spin on it, someway, somehow. Perhaps Americans should look at the nation's fuel struggles through optimist's eyes. The oil industry is discovering that the American public adjusted their lifestyles and learned how to not use as much gasoline and instead opt for alternative forms of transportation. Even the recent lowering of fuel prices does not have Americans reverting to their former excessive gasoline usage. Airlines who suffered greatly with the oil price spikes in 2008 are taking that experience and using it as the shove they needed for seeking alternative fuels. In fact, Continental Airlines became the first U.S. carrier to have a demonstration flight powered in part with alternative fuel derived from algae. The biofuel performed exceedingly well and no modifications to the plane's engines were performed. It may be sooner than we thought that America can be freed from its dependence on the oil industry. Like the railroad barons of the past, oil barons may very soon find themselves put out of commission.