Change Your Behavior and Save Some Green

There have been a couple posts lately about the high cost of travel so bear with me as I weigh in. My plan had been to hold off writing my personal reflections on the topic until I'd actually paid more than $4 a gallon, this eventuality happened a little sooner than I'd expected.

One of my favorite sites for information about energy is The Oil Drum, which discusses energy in the context of the idea of peak oil. This post from last week on the price at which behavior changes definitely has me thinking. How much will the price of fuel have to be for people to dramatically change driving habits and start telecommuting more?

Before the summer price surge, I'd already done the mental math to determine I use about a gallon of gas in my relatively short commute, depending on the side trips I take on the way home. I'm now figuring out the best weekend errand routes to avoid backtracking (and I've noticed fewer cars on the road). I'm trying to work from home at least one day a week, admittedly more to get another hour and a half work done than to save money, but that will be a couple hundred dollars saved this year. Not to mention the environmental benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Last week I also saw the headline "Ready for $262 a barrel oil?" on CNN/Money. I was surprised to see the article is 2 1/2 years old. The story cites a number of dramatic events, including oil embargos and civil war in Nigeria, which would drive the price of oil up over $100 a barrel within a few months. While it took a little longer, we managed to get there through the basics of supply and demand.

What will the price for a gallon of gas be this time next year -- still $4 -- or more than $5 a gallon? Consumers are starting to choose to fuel efficiency, so that will ease demand, but people still drive plenty of trucks and SUVs. The dollar is doing better, so the price of oil has receded slightly.

Ultimately people will need to change behavior just to keep the price from rising, because of the current supply and demand dynamic. Telecommuting and using collaboration technology, including web conferencing and shared workspaces have to be part of the equation if we want to mitigate the impact of rising energy costs on economic growth.

Michael Caton, Collaboration Evangelist, WebEx