Rising gas prices might convince Americans to stop buying SUVs, and give the clean energy sector a boost.
Crude oil rose $1.61 to $55.60 per barrel in recent trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Goldman Sachs estimates the average oil price will be $135.12 per barrel by 2008, which would put U.S. retail gasoline prices at $4.30 per gallon, about double the national average of $2.15 reported this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
If at-the-pump prices top $4 per gallon, Americans might stop buying gas guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and instead seek fuel efficient alternatives, the Goldman Sachs report said.
In the meantime, the market is seeing immediate effects as investors assess the impact of oil prices across all sectors, including technology.
The price of oil actually has limited impact on IT technology, said Martin Reynolds, a Gartner fellow specializing in emerging technologies.
When the low-value producers go out of business, that affects the overall economy, he said.
Overall economic dampening is probably the biggest influence of oil prices on the high-tech industry.
Higher costs of transportation for components�"as well as increased prices for shipping materials, such as plastic wrapping, that are made from oil and gas feed stocks"could also squeeze manufacturers with slim profit markets.
And oil price increases are tied to higher natural gas and electricity prices, too, Mr. Elliott said.
Lighter-weight materials, more advanced engine-control systems, low-resistance tires "these things are going to trickle down from premium lines to the secondary market, and are going to become standard on fleet vehicles, Mr. Elliott said.
But he noted hydrogen technology might actually be dampened by high natural gas prices, because natural gas is used to make hydrogen.