Peak oil and the electric car.
With oil now at $120 per barrel and US gas prices currently averageing $3.62, I can’t help but wonder how much the recent surge in petroleum prices is reflecting how near we are to Hubbert’s peak, the point at which decreasing oil reserves overwhelm our increasing technological ability to pump more oil. Because petroleum is not an infinite resource, it is inevitable that we will hit this peak - the real question is when. By at least one account we reached that peak at the end of 2005. If we haven’t yet reached it, we likely will within the coming decade. It will be to our benefit to evaluate a post-oil economy now. For starters it wouldn’t hurt to bring back the electric car. It really is too bad that the electric car was abandoned so quickly. We would be better off to bring it back immediately, rather than letting the upcoming increase in pain associated with a decreasing supply of oil dictate its reintroduction.
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James Conder teaches "Science in the Media" at Washington University. His research specializes in tectonic and mantle processes at island arc volcanic chains and other marine plate boundaries. 
