Energy plays a central role in the U.S. economy, from transportation and manufacturing to agriculture, housing and beyond. The mix of power sources and uses are in constant flux, however, as indicated by a 2012 report from the Congressional Research Service, “U.S. Energy: Overview and Key Statistics.”
At the beginning of 2015 the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States stood at about $2.20, approximately $1.10 less than it had been a year earlier. In markets such as the Gulf Coast and the Midwest, it had fallen below $2 a gallon.
A home solar panel system is a consumer product like few others. Because the alternative choice — electricity from the grid — is almost universally available, relatively inexpensive and has no up-front cost, potential buyers of solar systems require other incentives. These can range from government rebates to credit for energy sold back to the grid to the warm feeling one gets for doing a good deed — in this case, for the environment.
In the study of economic development, there is a general consensus that public infrastructure investments supporting private sector-led economic activities are essential for growth. However, questions remain about how countries with newly found natural resources such as oil might best spend revenues on infrastructure and avoid the “resource curse” — the tendency of economies focused on such resources to see slower, and narrower, growth.
