While America is scrambling to transfer to all-electric cars, the global economy is scrambling to bring down gas prices. All across the continental U.S., gas prices are  going as low as $3.038 and as high as $5.761 on average. Why does this matter? A large portion of the public is saying to go solar and replace the gas industry with the renewable energy industry, but what are the cons of going 100% solar? According to Investopedia, “An August 2020 Gallup poll in the United States… showed that individuals’ views of the economy appear to be inversely correlated to the price of gasoline.” As the prices for gas increase, many people become more pessimistic towards the economy during that time period and more optimistic towards electric energy compared to gas..

The prevention of the Keystone Pipeline has been one reason that the gas prices are so high. The idea of the Keystone Pipeline was to accelerate the production and supply of oil and gas to the United States of America. The Canadian government was in favor of this proposed pipeline; however, with the changing of the U.S. presidents, the U.S. allowed Canada to build it but denied Canada their permit. They then allowed the Keystone Pipeline and finally denied the Keystone Pipeline access to a permit to build in the USA once more. The timeline for this was about 10 to 12 years. According to STI group, a construction and fabrication company, “It is estimated that if running at full capacity, the Keystone could essentially replace the need to import foreign oil,” meaning the price of gas overall would be cheaper throughout the entire United States. The article also states that “since we can also purchase the crude oil more affordably from Canada, it is estimated by some sources that US refineries could save up to $9.1 billion a year on their crude oil bill.” This means that the United States could pay off their overall debts a lot faster.

While on the topic of the Keystone Agreement, The BBC states that “despite the recent push to find renewable sources of energy and move away from fossil fuels, the amount of oil produced in northern Alberta is projected to double by 2030.” When the output from Canada is going to double anyways, why not take advantage of the increased oil output from Canada? There are a few reasons to go both ways. When looking at the cons of boosting oil output from Canada and into America, we see there are environmental issues. Oil Leaks into American and Canadian soil is a hot topic as this idea was proposed in 2010. First Nations of Northern Alberta have even sued the Provincial and Federal Government [of Canada] for the 15 years of environmental damages that the original Keystone Pipeline has done. On the flip side, keeping the progression of the Keystone and Keystone XL pipeline will allow 1.5 times the current flow of oil into the United States of America, for a much lower cost than what Venezuela or Russia are giving us. With this, the price of gas in America will decrease and therefore increase the standard of living, as people will spend less on gas and redirect that money to other things, like mortgages, new cars, electronics, education, among other items.

Is solar power better than gas power? When scratching the surface, the answer is yes. But when exploring deeper into the issue, the discussion becomes more and more complex. Yes, solar power is renewable, and therefore more preferred than gas power, which is made from fossil fuels and therefore less renewable. However, in order to make said solar power, manufacturers would have to use their gas-powered machines. This means that until we can get machines that run 100% on electricity, the United States will be stuck with using gas for a long time.

Students at IHS had different perspectives on gas prices, and gas versus solar power. Freshman Brian Tsai said, “I would say … to produce solar energy, you need solar panels, and to produce solar panels you still need to use all the manufacturing stuff.” This goes back to still needing the gas-powered manufacturing to make the renewable energy’s solar panels. When asked about how many states have less than four dollars per gallon of gas on Sept. 19, Tsai estimated at least 30. When told it was only nine according to Gas Buddy, he asked if we were one of them, and the answer was no. These areas consist of states with the big cities, like Chicago, New York City (NYC), and Las Vegas.

Sophomore Nina Nowak says that “solar energy is better than gas power because it is renewable and because gas has fumes but solar energy does not.” In response to the second question, her initial answer was 10 states, then it jumped up to 15 states. Her reasoning was that she was thinking of the major states, and that there are a lot of smaller states that would consume less gas, and therefore would have lower gas prices.

Junior Angela Su says, “Solar is better. But while it cannot do a lot of things technology wise right now, it could replace gas, but I think we use really rare materials for solar panels.” According to Energy Sage, Solar panels are generally made from an aluminum frame, a thin glass sheet, a 12 Volt (12V) wire; a bus wire (used to connect solar cells running parallel to each other); as well as a junction box, and Polycrystalline solar cells, and finally amorphous silicon. All of these have to be manufactured in factories, both big and small. What is key about this, though, is that over the long term solar panels pay themselves off while gas power just keeps spending.

Senior Shaymus Walkiewicz states, “I appreciate all forms of energy, but prefer renewable [energy] that does not use gas.” To clarify, Walkiewicz mentioned that if there were gas-powered turbines that produced more energy than wind-powered turbines, that would be good but if the gas-powered turbines did not produce more, why use them?

In conclusion, it is both good and bad that America is transferring to a largely electronic economy, as it could potentially mean more production of goods, boosted trade, among other benefits. However, This could also mean that the manufacturing world will transition into an all-electric environment prone to less gas fumes but more reliability on gas-powered manufacturing.