I don’t purchase fuel very often any more but even I have noticed that the cost of a gallon has fallen significantly in recent weeks from the craziness of the summer. I have long since abandoned the idea that the general public looks at the world the same way that I do and I wonder the impact of this on the biofuel industry.
I know that people are generally lazy in nature and by and large financially motivated. Clearly this drop in fuel price is going to allow people that were once very motivated to seek alternative energy sources quietly put it back on the shelf for another day. I know that we will lose some people but is that really a bad thing? I heard stories of bidding wars for WVO collection in Florida that topped $2.50/gallon. I read many forum post advising isolation and secrecy rather than open community involvement. Clearly, a little reduced demand couldn’t hurt. I am not saying that I have no financial motivation, but reducing that aspect in our industry, I believe, will help keep it more of a community. A community where new members are greeted with enthusiasm and welcome rather than guarded resentment. The reduced market pressures will give us all more time to refine and develop technologies for the industry and establish our place in the community.
Finally, as surely as the US economy will recover so will energy demand and the necessity for alternative and biofuels. We should all consider this drop in fuel cost to be a welcome but temporary situation. It is our responsibility not to squander this relief. In the not too distant future the phrase “Peak Oil” will be as familiar as “Global Warming”
