Hitting the wall with gas prices

Just this past weekend some friends and I were discussing the bizarre phenomenon whereby gas prices keep rising and consumption and demand have not yet abated. We were debating what dollar figure the price per gallon would have to hit before it started causing people to change their behavior and start consuming less gas.

It looks like we may be there,

U.S. drivers are doing something they haven’t done for nearly two decades — consume less gasoline.

Gas consumption so far this year is down about 0.2 percent compared to last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. The federal agency is predicting that gasoline demand will be down 0.4 percent this summer and 0.3 percent for the year.

That may not sound like much, but it would be the first time since 1991 that there’s been a decline in annual gas consumption. And it would be only the eighth year since 1951 in which demand for gasoline has declined.

This will be interesting to watch. I would imagine that we're not on the precipice of a major change in attitudes and behavior by Americans. We're not about to ditch our cars, tune up our bikes and demand better public rail service. Rather we'll watch the market correct and demand rise a bit to meet the new slightly lower prices.

Still, some good news for Earth Day, no?