Energy Crisis.

The energy crisis came to public attention when an oil embargo by the Arab-controlled Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was imposed from October 1973 to March 1974 to protest U.S. military support of Israel. This was an important shift in world economics and politics, and it caused President Nixon to impose emergency energy-conservation measures. He ordered thermostats lowered to sixty-eight degrees, reduced air travel and highway speed limits, halted coal-to-oil conversions, licensed more nuclear power plants, relaxed environmental regulations, and approved daylight savings time in winter. Carpools and public transportation increased as gas stations closed or limited sales. Business and school schedules were shortened to conserve fuel.

Alternatives.

The energy crisis pointed to Americans' lavish consumption of oil. With only 6 percent of the world population, the United States annually consumed 30 percent of the world's energy, increasingly in foreign oil. One result...