Will it take a gas shortage to finally wake people up?

Question

In 1974 there was a gas shortage. I remember my father having to wait in line to buy gas. Most gas stations had a limit on how much you could buy. After a while they would serve people depending on the last digit or their license plate. Odd numbers would fill up on odd dates nd even would fill up on even days. People were siphoning gas from other cars, carrying gas cans filled with gasoline in their trunks. Just spending an extra 30 or 40 bucks on a credit card does not really make people as angry as they should be.

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

Well, this is a good question, of course. I am almost a decade older than you, so I remember these times well including the 1979 gas crisis as well.

These all stemmed from "The Energy Crisis" which originally occurred due to the OPEC (Arab oil) embargo due to US support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973. Not only would these lead to gas lines and rationing in 1974, but "The Christmas Without Lights" in 1973.

This was a time when the US was still a large oil producer, but we were a net importer of oil which was coming primarily from the Middle East.

It __WAS__ a wake-up call then. And, as a result, many proactive things happened in the 1970s:
1. The national speed limit of 55 miles/hour was instituted.
2. Per the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, the Environmental Protection Agency started giving cars EPA mileage ratings so consumers would know which cars were gas-efficient. The act also created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
3. The auto industry started making small cars. Meanwhile, Japanese auto sales took off in the USA. Gas guzzlers were on the decline.
4. From 1977 until 2015 when the GOP wanted it overturned, there was a ban on exporting crude oil from the US.
5. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) was created in 1975. The old Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) did both research and regulated the nuclear industry. The AEC was split into ERDA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Federal Energy Administration (FEA) was created in 1974 for managing fuel allocation, pricing regulation, and energy data collection and analysis. Later, in 1977 during the Carter Administration, ERDA was merged with the FEA to form the new Department of Energy.
6. In the summer of 1979, to illustrate commitment to solar and other renewable energies, the Carter Administration had 32 solar panels installed for hot water heating.

Yeah, those were heady days... While "stagflation" and general malaise were throughout much of the decade, the future of green tech and renewables was looking very good! The US was getting its shit together both environmentally and energy-wise which would have been good for consumers, the environment, and national security.

And that's one reason why I went into physics: to be part of that revolution to make America and the world better and safer.

But then GOP Ronald Reagan became president and this all came to a crashing halt to appease the GOP donors in Big Oil who saw renewable energy - the enemy of fossil fuels (their lifeblood) - as a threat to their existence.
For example, Reagan tried, unsuccessfully, to eliminate the Department of Energy.
The national 55 MPH limit was repealed.
He removed those White House solar panels. (*)
Support and investment in renewable energy dried up. America was the leader in solar power technology, but Japan and Germany took over.

I was apolitical when I was 18, but I learned a valuable lesson in the 1980s.
I learned from their actions that the GOP is about greed and what's-in-it-for-me-now. They tout "patriotism" and "morality", but they live the opposite! They have little interest in future generations or the real long-term health and welfare of their country and world.

We have recovered nicely with all the investment in renewables since. The undeniable aspects (and simple physics) of global warming have made "market forces" finally get engaged as did some advancements in technology and vision by those young and who had means (such as Musk). Still, we are about 25 years behind where we should have been thanks to the GOP.

So, I am hopeful that this new crisis will be the nail in the coffin for fossil fuels and that Americans and the world will move forward.

===========
This 2010 article from Scientific American gives a sense of those times.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carter-white-house-solar-panel-array/
In particular:
"
By 1986, the Reagan administration had gutted the research and development budgets for renewable energy at the then-fledgling U. S. Department of Energy (DoE) and eliminated tax breaks for the deployment of wind turbines and solar technologies—recommitting the nation to reliance on cheap but polluting fossil fuels, often from foreign suppliers.

And in 1986 the Reagan administration quietly dismantled the White House solar panel installation while resurfacing the roof. "Hey! That system is working. Why don't you keep it?" recalls mechanical engineer Fred Morse, now of Abengoa Solar, who helped install the original solar panels as director of the solar energy program during the Carter years and then watched as they were dismantled during his tenure in the same job under Reagan. "Hey! This whole [renewable] R&D program is working, why don't you keep it?"
...
"It was the oil shock that pretty much caused the government to take a very serious look at its domestic solar resource," recalls Abengoa's Morse, who has spent decades aiding and abetting the still fledgling solar thermal industry both in government and out. "The motivation was energy independence," a motive that remains recognizable in political rhetoric today because, as Carter himself put it, the sun cannot be embargoed, referring to the 1973–74 Arab oil embargo. "We have this big solar resource, we should use it," Morse explains.

Carter was the first president to take that idea seriously, warming the reviewing stand for his inauguration on January 20, 1977 with the sun's heat harvested by roughly 1,000 square meters of solar thermal panels, according to Morse. "President Carter saw [solar] as a really valid energy resource, and he understood it. I mean, it is a domestic resource and it is huge," Morse recalls, although he admits the inaugural solar system left some chilly. "It was the symbolism of the president wanting to bring solar energy immediately into his administration."

That symbolism became more concrete in the form of a vastly increased budget for energy technology research and development (pdf)—levels still unmatched by succeeding administrations—and tax credits for installing wind turbines or solar power that caused a first boom in renewable energy installation. In a sense alternative energy was finally getting the same government support used to develop and maintain other energy technologies, such as oil drilling or nuclear power. "It did not take long for the U. S. government to realize that energy was a great national interest and subsidize it," Morse notes.

Kaneki05 · Accepted Answer

Don't effect me so I don't care and wake people up to what?
That stuff goes up price then the cost of living does but the government always manages to way the scales either by some form of tax cut, wage increase or whatever else so it more or less stay's the same. And if it don't well the country will collapse but that ain't happing to England or USA or most places for anytime soon.

sage2021 · Accepted Answer

I remember that gas shortage back in 1974. My Mom couldn't get gas to drive to work, and had to give her job! We only had a few gas stations so that didn't help. I was 18 and was living with her. We had to split up because we couldn't afford to live in that nice apartment anymore. I went to stay at my boyfriend's house until I got on my feet. My Mom had no money but eventually got help from the State. It changed our lives forever! I hope the long lines don't start up again. It could happen. Shoot anything could happen in this day and time. I can't remember what caused the '74 gas shortage?

Aerissa_Jade · Accepted Answer

This is why I find it so ironic that Biden is telling people to stop working remotely and go back into the office, Biden says drive more like uh... does he not realize that will mean people have to start driving a lot more, buying gas and polluting again.

I thought Democrats were about cutting pollution.

I'm hoping there won't be a gas shortage, as it seems wasteful to have cars in long lines to fill up too.

MTC29 · Answer

You hit the nail on the head, @exitseven the price didn't matter as much as availability of fuel. I saw firsthand the 1974 oil shock as well as the 1979 oil shock. Yes, motorists bitched about prices, but sitting in long lines for gas was considered to be far worse than simply paying for high priced fuel and then going about your business.

Time is money: I can't sit in line for two hours for gas- just let me pay $8 per gallon and then be on my way.

dustybiker · Answer

It isn’t about shortages this time. It’s about greed. People who take a situation and use it to their advantage.

DizzyDesii · Answer

I feel the raise in prices was just a way to tell people to limit their travels. Its odd cause my fam never wants to travel out of state but now that gas has gone up, they’re asking me to take them places. Lmao they ass gone have to wait 😂

888theGreat · Answer

Biden will use price controls on gas to get votes for Democrats. He will use price controls and say they can't charge more than $3 a gallon. Of course in two week stations will not have any gas , but if he releases more oil reserves this might last 2 weeks and get him some votes for his party in November.

He will use price controls for baby formula too , and then it will be hard to find again.

Anonymous · Answer

That's because we've become a society that has normalized debt. The avg. American is 90k in debt. Can't afford it? Just put it on your credit card and pay for it later when you can afford it. It's not a problem till someone says you have to pay it. And if you can't pay it then. Simply declare bankruptcy and start over.

Anpu23 · Answer

Wake up to what, the fact that Trump killed the economy by putting out all of those stimulus payments? This is economics 101 more money = higher prices...

Fukaroo · Answer

I'm awake! The world is in a terrible place right now. Unfortunately, I only see things getting worse for the foreseeable future.

Jamie05rhs · Answer

Oh, I'm definitely angry. Do you want to see me angry? Just because I control my emotions doesn't mean I don't have them.

msc545 · Answer

How does getting angry help things?

ragooo8 · Answer

Just another example of Biden's failed presidency

Waldoe · Answer

I don't drive

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