29 years ago, then President, Jimmy Carter, told Americans the energy crisis was:

“a clear and present danger to our nation” and drew out a plan to address it.

Listen here to today’s story:

He was so ahead of his time.

Analysts see a new plateau in fuel prices, with possible spikes. CNBC ran a series suggesting that current prices did not include a premium for hurricanes or other disasters.

Some analysts project gasoline prices of $7 to $10/gallon.

Thoughtful economic observers like James Hamilton attempt to separate the secular trend from speculation.

Meanwhile, many businesses are operating without much information, even when fuel costs represent one of their biggest threats.

Auto companies, airlines, and fleet managers are all scrambling to evaluate the threat. Is this really a surprise? The demand for fuel from developing countries is clear, US demand has remained relatively inelastic (so far) and supplies are not responding. It is time for a plan.

It’s official. The Wall Street Journal (not some environmental tree-hugging pub) today has an article stating that producers could hit the ceiling on the number of barrels of oil that that can be pumped in a day by 2012. This would be roughly 100 million barrels, current production is something like 85 million barrels. Nice analysis and graphs on the Oil Drum.

Will this satisfy demand? Not a chance.

Not all see this as gloom, though:

Many leaders of the industry still dismiss the idea that there is reason to worry. “I am no subscriber to the theory that oil supplies have already peaked,” said BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, earlier this month in a speech in Houston.

Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson has said that if companies had better access to the world’s oil reserves, production would increase and prices would go down. “Sufficient hydrocarbon resources exist to play their role in meeting this growing global demand, if industry is allowed to access them,” he said in a speech this month. If access were granted, Exxon Mobil believes the industry would be able to raise fuel production to meet demand in 2030 of 116 million barrels a day.

Calling Matthew Simmons!

American Honda, Ford and GM have developed a hydrogen fuel-cell powered car (for limited test use). This would be a lease. Car companies won’t say how much they actually cost, but they want them back.

Southern California is the place. Automakers hope to gather data to study the commercialization of the lithium-ion batteries, and the behavior of plug-in drivers.

Go green!!

GM is beating Toyota in global sales by a nose. For the first 9 months of the year, Toyota reported global sales of 7.05 million vehicles, up 7% from last year. GM reported sales of 7.06 million. That was up only 2% from a year ago, but up is good.

Guess where the strong sales gains were. Hint: It’s a country with a Great Wall.

The GM/Toyota race is not over, of course. GM will have to do more to hold on to its skinny lead.