The elephant I speak of is the almost drug-like addiction most of America has for buying on credit. It is something that the government has succumbed to already. I believe this is one of the most fundamental changes in the pursuit of the American dream over the past hundred years. Somewhere along the way, the value of a hard earned dollar bill has been replaced by the need to spend.

The debate over whether or not biofuels are the next energy source to decrease the dependency on oil has been ongoing for sometime, and with the negative effects seen around the world, the debate will only continue to escalate. One outcome of the report from the World Bank is a little re-examination of the aggressive push into biofuels by the UK governement. Hopefully that will lead to a deeper discussion about promoting electric as the preferred alternative, rather than biofuels, to power vehicles.

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% – far more than previously estimated – according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body. The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.

Global Warming falls into the category of problems that have no immediate pain to the consumer. This is not to say that Global Warming is not the largest social problem facing this and future generations, because it is. The way that businesses and corporations start to address the problem is through the identification of a revenue opportunity in offering alternative energy products and services that address immediate customer pain. That is the capitalist solution to addressing Global Warming.

Resistance to change
A big problem facing alternative energy vendors is the built-in institutional resistance to changing the status quo. There are Billions of dollars being generated with the current energy solutions based on petroleum. Up until recently, a $2 and $3 per gallon price point has not been enough of a reason for consumers to seek alternatives to their current energy consumption. Even the increasing social consciousness brought on by Global Warming has not been enough of a factor to drive change. And in fact, the Global Warming argument puts energy efficiency into more of a vitamin rather than pain killer category. A potential threat to the increasing drive for change to move to more energy efficient products are the oil companies ability to manipulate the price per gallon of gas back down to $3 and even $2 per gallon. If you think this is a case of skepticism, then just remember that capitalism can both drive companies to build alternative energy products and drive the price of gas down to increase demand.

The Fundamental energy question
Have energy costs become enough of a pain that people are willing to change their lifestyles to adopt more energy efficient products and services? There are a lot of venture dollars going into the renewable and green energy segment so the greed factor is forming. But can that be enough of a driving factor without consumers clamoring for energy efficiency? And can all of this be done in a vacuum without considering the built-in institutional resistance to change?