{description}An April 2008 New York Times article pictured a Palo Alto Shell station with the shocking price of .01 9/10 a gallon for regular gas. Just a few years earlier, average prices were in the -3 range, and a price was considered shocking. Yet by the time you read this article, a gallon may not seem so bad.  When will the price increases end—if ever? As oil prices climb well past 0 a barrel (and a gallon), a number of basic questions about our society’s energy habits are becoming increasingly important. What is causing the price increase? How much oil will we be able to extract? How do alternative energy sources compare in terms of the energy they can provide, and what hurdles lie in their implementation? Stanford researchers in diverse fields such as earth sciences, economics, physics, and law are working on answers to these important questions.{/description}