If Oil Tumbles Lower, Will It Take Green Energy with It?

This is not a bottle of Talisker.
Image via WikipediaToday is Monday, September 29, 2008, a day that will live, well, infamy is not harsh enough for it...the bottom fell out and the Dow dropped to 10,365.45, -777.68 (or -6.98 percent.)

Meanwhile, November crude fell $10.52, or 9.84 percent, to settle at $96.37 a barrel, trading from $95.04 to $106.91.

Could we be heading for $80/barrel? And, if so, what then?

Will it take renewable energy with it?

Or will there be enough of a bounce from renewable energy tax credits to keep up momentum? (That is, if Congress gets back to the energy tax credits Bill again this session! See "Lame Duck and Cover" below.)

Will $80/barrel oil cause a splurge that sends demand sky high and the price back up with it?

And what happens to the new green economy now?

These are just a few of the questions with which I am wrestling this afternoon.

And now to pour that glass of Talisker.

(Note: The photo above is decidedly not a bottle of Talisker.)