| psychicscubadiver said: How would gas/oil prices spike if a part of the population stops using it? You have the same supply at a lower demand. Basic economics says that costs should decrease it that situation. |
Unfortunately nothing in the world today is simply just basic.
The gas/oil companies are not going to sit back and just watch it happen. Every little event that happens in the world today that can be spun as a concern, seems to become a "major concern" to the supply and prices rise quickly because of it. Plus those companies need to continue to show larger and larger profits for their shareholders, and the easiest way to accomplish that is through price increases. That can only go on for so long before people can't simply afford it anymore, and that system then is either forced to reduce prices by reducing other overhead costs, or the businesses eventually go under, or are forced to switch over to supplying the new product that is in demand.
During this "transition" time period, there is no reason for these companies to switch over to renewable services now, because there will be a very large group of people that mostly dont have a choice but to use hydro/gas/oil and so they can take advantage of their situation by simply raising prices. The smart companies are investing in renewables on a utility grid scale right now so in the future they can transition over, but they will still hold the power over those who cannot get off the grid, and they will still have to pay over inflated prices.
