That goal may be beyond America's reach, however. To achieve such reductions in CO 2 emissions, the economy would have to be drastically restructured and the American lifestyle forever altered. Although the administration has remained silent on the price tag, some clues do exist. According to the Department of Energy's Argonne Laboratory, electricity prices will have to increase by 50 percent, while coal prices will more than double. Natural gas and fuel oil prices will increase by 70 to 80 percent.
Energy is consumed during the production of anything that can be bought or sold.
The human cost will be measured in many fewer dollars available for education, health care, food, heating, cooling and other basic needs. The nation has experienced energy price shocks before. Many ultimately succumbed to the heat. According to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, the most important factor in preventing such deaths is access to air conditioning. In fact, the EPA found that air conditioning saved 3,500 lives from 1964 to 1988.