You might have heard that the price of oil is near $100 U.S. dollars. The price of light, sweet crude closed at $96.32 on Friday, November 9th. The commodity is near a historic high that is arguably somewhere around an inflation adjusted $101 per barrel. In addition to being a record number a lot of people say that $100 is also a psychological barrier. I agree.

I have heard economists state that they think the price of oil will retreat into the $60 to $70 dollar range by the middle of next year. I’m not so sure of that. What I am sure of is the fact that the performance of the U.S. economy is very much tied to our energy consumption habits. And as people in the U.S. continue to rely on sources of energy that need to be imported we become more and more vulnerable to forces that we can’t control. Be sure that those forces, in places like Russia or the Middle East will control that vulnerability.

Is it any wonder that while the price of oil is near historic highs that the value of the U.S. dollar is at historic lows? I don’t think so. Action needs to be taken soon.

The U.S. as a country is in a big mess. We’ve been in messes before and there is a way out. Our country desperately needs to leverage our technological know how to unlock the power of clean energy. Clean sources of energy pose great problems in terms of supply volume and reliability. But this is a country of problem solvers. And if we can put time, money and brain power into solving these problems then this whole situation could be turned around in just a few short years from now.

Investment in clean energy technologies will reduce dependence on foreign oil. This in turn will be a contributing factor in driving down prices and eliminating the leverage that Middle Eastern countries have on our policies. The increased investment will create many jobs at home and usher in a new era of technology exports. Both of these situations will greatly stimulate our economy. Our skies and waterways will be cleaner too. Investment in clean technologies means a huge win for our country in a lot of ways.

I think that there are a lot of complex reasons why we haven’t moved further ahead in developing and deploying answers to the problems of unlocking the power of clean energy. For sure we have made progress. But this thing needs to get kicked into a different gear.

If the current situation does not kick investment and innovation into gear than nothing will. I’m willing to be that things will kick into gear soon enough. The U.S. and the rest of the world will be in a much better position because of it.