Energy literacy – what you don’t know can hurt you

It seems that everybody’s got an opinion these days about how to fight high gas prices. Punish price gougers. Tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Drill in protected areas in Alaska or off the Atlantic coast.

And then there’s the chain e-mail urging a consumer boycott of one brand of gas station at a time until each company cries “uncle” and agrees to lower its price to, say, $1.59 a gallon.

Normally, Americans don’t give energy a second thought – and it shows. We’d much rather argue about such nonissues as flag burning, gay marriage and when it’s finally time to ban the Spanish language.

But when the price of gas, electricity or heating oil goes up, then we can hardly talk about anything else besides energy. And of course, we all think we’re experts. But, boy, are we wrong.

Augusta Free Press