The foundation believes that high
oil prices are a result of a systematic
monopoly. Contrary to a more traditional monopoly, where one company has a large enough market share to control prices, the oil-market is believed to be a monopolistic market because oil is the primary, and in most cases the only, fuel for transportation. These monopolistic forces create a situation where oil expenditures in the U.S. top $780 billion per year, more than twenty times the amount spent on coal. According to the Foundation, outdated regulations prevent drivers from making simple modifications to their engines that would enable their cars to run on alternatives fuels, hence threatening oil's monopoly over the transportation fuel market. Updating these regulations to allow for current vehicles to modify their engines would allow for a near-term, widespread expansion of fuel choice for drivers.
Ethanol,
methanol,
natural gas and
electric cars are seen as viable replacement fuels to compete against oil in an open market. No one fuel is explicitly favored over the others but most people believe methanol made from
natural gas holds the most promise to break oil's monopoly. ==References==