Economic Graphs - Recovery amidst rising oil prices

I visited USA Today's Economic Outlook area on their website and produced these graphs which I share courtesy of their site. I like what I'm seeing on the upper graph especially the projected continued US economic growth.  It's the lower graph which charts Crude Oil prices which worries me.  The latest price per barrel of oil is $90/barrel.  The first time we saw that price was in November 2007 according to this graph and the last time was October 2008 right in the middle of the epic US banking system financial crisis.

At least to my eyes the oil price trend will continue to move upward in the coming years returning pressure on consumers and the business world to more whole heartedly  embrace energy efficiency, energy conservation and resource preserving behaviors and operational measures.  Not only because it might be nice for mother earth and feels right but because their bottom line and longer term business success demands it.  Forward looking companies coming out of this recession may want to dust off their carbon footprint reports from 2007 and 2008 and sustainability initiatives because it might just be prudent business to do so and consider taking concrete actions to reduce their vulnerabilities to rising energy and commodity costs.  By reinvigorating your internal green operations teams and greening facilities initiatives and aligning them again with long term business objectives and priorities, you'll be doing your shareholders and stakeholders a great favor!  Maybe you're already doing this which is great.  But if you're not. then food for thought!

Anyway, enjoy the graphics!  They're pretty interesting.  The USA Today link I gave you allows you to toggle between the the 11 key economic factors forming the basis of the top graph.  It's a novel and easy to operate.