John M. Berry of Bloomberg notes:


Those energy-saving investments, as well as adoption of higher vehicle fleet-mileage standards, were made in the U.S. and elsewhere [during the oil price spike of the 1970s]. As a result, energy and oil use per dollar of gross domestic product fell significantly.

There are signs a similar response is in the works again with gasoline prices at the pump approaching $4 a gallon in the U.S. and much higher in Europe. …

In the long run, price matters a great deal in determining demand for oil. According to estimates from the Energy Information Administration, if world oil prices were to stay at today’s level of about $127 a barrel, oil use in the U.S. might rise little, if at all, over the next 20 years. …

Sales of gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicles and light trucks have declined almost 20 percent in the past 12 months. Legislation passed in December requires automakers by 2020 to produce vehicle fleets that get an average of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per gallon, which will provide a push for electric and hybrid cars and doom SUVs built on heavy truck frames.

Those changes will have a slow, cumulative effect on oil consumption as the fleet of roughly 250 million vehicles in the U.S. ages and is replaced. Meanwhile, there will be some reduction in consumption as the cost of driving causes people to change their habits.