Reply #3: I think it's reasonable to assume they want cheaper oil prices. [View All]

[TheWraith]

While high energy cost does encourage use of other energy sources, I'm fairly certain that that doesn't outweigh the drag it creates on the economy. If the price of everything increases, and the economy decreases, it means that there's less economic reinvestment, and that's bad for clean energy. It takes money to shift away from oil and coal, and so long as they don't know if they're going to have a job in three months, people aren't going to buy a new electric car.

I also feel I should note that oil is, in reality, only one part of the problem of dirty energy. Coal remains cheap, emits as much CO2 as our oil usage does, and has even more contaminant byproducts creating smog and air pollution.