Hot damn!  Never thought I’d see the day again…

When I first got my license (2001), gas prices would fluctuate around $1.25 in my area of New Jersey. Slowly, they climbed until they eclipsed the $2.00 mark.

Over the last year or two of skyrocketing gas prices, they steadily rose into the $3.00′s, and for a brief period prices flirted with the $4.00 mark. I may have paid $4.00 once or twice, but they capped around $3.75 to $4.00 per gallon.

It seemed that prices would never drop – at least not back to what they had been. I thought the bubble would burst, and they’d slowly dip back to $2.75 or $3.00, but I thought the days of sub-$2.00 gas were gone forever.

But yesterday I stopped at the local Hess Station. $1.79! Woot! I filled my tank up (about 2/3′s empty, ~10 gallons) and it cost me less than $20. First time that’s happened in years.

What Happens to “Going Green”?

The New York Times columnist Allison Arieff pointed out that the recent price drops may not be the best thing for the environment.

With gas prices ballooning, people were essentially forced into adapting more economical ways of living. Conservation wasn’t a political statement, it was an economic necessity. What happens now to the vaunted wind farms, the hybrid cars, and people actually caring about the environment?

Well, hopefully the issue doesn’t get swept entirely under the rug.

But while some people may not care about the environment until it hurts their wallet, some of us are prevented from being more “green” because of the wallet. The downward spiraling economy doesn’t help that, either.

For example, I’m still driving my old Chevvy Cavalier that I got in college in ’03. It’s puttin’ away, and it gets a respectable 25 mpg or so. It’s no gas guzzler, but I wouldn’t mind investing in a hybrid that nets 30-40 mpg on my highway commute.

But I just can’t afford it at the moment. Between the cost of a mortgage, the payment on my wife’s car, and stagnating salaries (we’re in an as-yet unsuccessful contract-negotiation year at school), I don’t have the extra cash to throw at a hybrid.

I barely have enough cash to buy a new car without slowly sinking into debt.

But at least with gas prices coming down, I’ve got a bit more cash to spend. If they stay below $2.00 per gallon (unlikely?), I’ll save about $20 a week while school is in session – $6-700 per year.

Arieff may be right that sinking gas prices may make some people forget about the environment, but for some of us that extra cashflow may just open up the green necessary to invest in going green.