Summer gas prices poised to go down further

The economic slowdown in both Europe and China means you’re already paying less when you go to fill up at the pump. Yet there’s even more good news about energy costs coming thanks to increased oil exploration and production right here in the United States.

Did you know that there are people in North Dakota sleeping in their vehicles — and it’s for a good reason? It’s all because there’s a massive oil rush in the heartland and there’s not enough housing for all the oil workers, truck drivers and everybody else involved in the industry. In fact, North Dakota has now surpassed Alaska in oil production. (Texas remains the top oil-producing state in America.)

Both the U.S. and Canada are using new methods of production to generate huge amounts of oil that then gets turned into refined gasoline. Horizontal drilling and fracking are just two methods that have revived what were considered tapped out oil and natural gas fields in North America. That’s lead to the massive increase in the supply of both energies. And the best part of all? A lot of those energy jobs that existed overseas now will be right here in North America.

Meanwhile, the other part of our nation’s energy picture is conservation, which is what’s sometimes called “the fifth fuel.” Our demand for gasoline in the U.S. has been dropping as our vehicles get more fuel efficient. As we us less gas to travel the same amount of miles, we’re reducing our demand at the same time we’re producing more domestic supply.

I advise anyone who will listen to me to buy a fuel-efficient vehicle when it comes time to replace a ride in their life. The one thing you don’t want to do is let today’s decreasing gas prices lull you into a false sense of complacency.