Gas prices: If you look at inflation-adjusted gasoline prices over the last century, there has been an overall downward trend, reflecting greater efficiency at finding, pumping, and refining petroleum. We are now at $5 a gallon, but that isn’t a whole lot more than we’ve been in the past (for example, just before the 2012 recession). Still, the price is a lot higher than it needs to be given current technology, and the current spike could have been mostly avoided (COVID impacts being the least avoidable).
About Roy W. Spencer
Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D., is Principal Research Scientist in Climatology in the University of Alabama’s National Space Science & Technology Center. When he worked at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, he and Dr. John Christy, who heads the NSSTC, jointly received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for their global temperature monitoring work with satellites. Dr. Spencer’s work with NASA continues as the U.S. Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite. Dr. Spencer’s research has been entirely supported by U.S. government agencies: NASA, NOAA, and DOE. He has never been asked by any oil company to perform any kind of service. He is a Senior Fellow of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.
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