--- title: Over a Barrel description: A new age of cheap oil could undo the nascent green revolution canonical: https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/ author: Bryan Walsh article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-07-16T04:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-26T16:23:37.867Z article:section: Science og:title: Over a Barrel og:description: A new age of cheap oil could undo the nascent green revolution og:url: https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2240ea57758a43ee/698a4503b3fce3a4ae0cb539/360_boilprice_0716.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 360 og:image:height: 203 og:image:alt: 360_boilprice_0716.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Over a Barrel twitter:description: A new age of cheap oil could undo the nascent green revolution twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2240ea57758a43ee/698a4503b3fce3a4ae0cb539/360_boilprice_0716.jpg?branch=production&width=360&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) # Over a Barrel > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=f2aabccf-11f5-41af-a0c1-2a7f5c8b59ac&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Bryan Walsh](https://time.com/author/bryan-walsh/) Jul 16, 2012 4:00 AM UTC  There's one major loser from inexpensive oil, especially if it's managed poorly, and thats the environment. There's one major loser from inexpensive oil, especially if it's managed poorly, and thats the environment. Illustration by Alex Nabaum for TIME by [Bryan Walsh](https://time.com/author/bryan-walsh/) Jul 16, 2012 4:00 AM UTC The 2012 election was supposed to be decided by sky-high gas prices. A gallon of regular gas cost more on average during 2011 than it ever had before, and in the first few months of the year, amid growing tensions in the Middle East, there seemed to be no limit to how expensive oil could get. But since Brent crude–a benchmark used by oil markets–reached $128 a barrel in March, oil has been on a long downward slide, falling below $90 a barrel, with investors expecting further declines. All of which means that gas could be closer to $3 a gal. than $4 come election time. Lower oil prices are good news for President Obama and good news in general for the global economy. The U.S. will benefit especially from the fact that much of the new cheap oil production will come from domestic sources, including the shale oil found in booming North Dakota. But there’s one major loser from inexpensive oil, especially if it’s managed poorly–and that’s the environment. The one clear benefit of reaching peak oil–when the world was expected to run out of easily accessible crude–was that it would force the world to find alternatives fast. But if we can count on cheap oil for years and even decades to come, it’s going to be that much tougher to break our addiction to crude. Since the burning of oil is responsible for about 40% of the greenhouse gases that come from fossil fuels–second only to coal–this has serious implications for climate change. NASA climatologist James Hansen may not have been far off when he predicted several years ago that tapping the vast Canadian oil sands–one of the new sources that will likely boost crude production in the years to come–could mean “game over” for the climate. Why are oil prices falling so fast? Much of it is due to worries over a global economic slowdown. Recessions, after all, reduce demand for oil, and reduced demand means lower prices. But some analysts believe we could be on the brink of a major surge in global oil production, which would lower prices tremendously. A new report published by Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs predicts that global oil-output capacity is likely to grow nearly 20% by 2020, to some 110 million barrels a day. “Contrary to what most people believe, oil-supply capacity is growing worldwide at such an unprecedented level that it might outpace consumption,” wrote Leonardo Maugeri, a former oil-industry executive and the author of the Belfer Center report. “This could lead to a glut of overproduction and a steep dip in prices.” More immediately, though, a collapse in the price of oil is bad news for companies working in clean tech–especially transportation technologies. Start-ups like Massachusetts’ A123 Systems, which provides lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, are already struggling to survive the weak economy and could be sunk if gas prices remain below $3.50 a gal. The same goes for plug-in cars like the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf, which have sold more slowly than automakers expected, even with large government subsidies and, until recently, high gas prices. Cheap oil could set the mainstreaming of electric cars back even further. This wouldn’t be the first time cheap oil undercut what seemed like an imminent green revolution. Alternative-energy investment boomed during the 1970s, when Middle East unrest helped lead to high oil prices and long gas lines. Then when the price of oil collapsed in the 1980s, the nascent alternative-energy sector collapsed along with it. It took years for clean tech to recover from that downturn. With climate change already a dangerous reality–2012 is on track to be the hottest year on record–the world may not be able to withstand another missed chance to break away from oil. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/"},"headline":"Over a Barrel","datePublished":"2012-07-16T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-26T16:23:37.867Z","description":"A new age of cheap oil could undo the nascent green revolution","url":"https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2240ea57758a43ee/698a4503b3fce3a4ae0cb539/360_boilprice_0716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bryan Walsh","url":"https://time.com/author/bryan-walsh/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2240ea57758a43ee/698a4503b3fce3a4ae0cb539/360_boilprice_0716.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_boilprice_0716.jpg","caption":"There's one major loser from inexpensive oil, especially if it's managed poorly, and thats the environment.","creditText":"Illustration by Alex Nabaum for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6642103/over-a-barrel/","name":"Over a Barrel"}}]}] ```