Lower U.S. energy costs and create energy jobs

With prices of crude oil at $92 a barrel in late October 2007, homeowners and others who pay for heat faced the prospect of sharply increasing home energy costs.

In fact, according to an estimate from the Energy Information Administration, which provides official energy statistics from the United State Government -- an estimate made on Oct. 9, 2007, when the price of a barrel of oil was expected to drop from what was thought to have been a "peak" of about $80 -- the cost of home heating oil was to rise by 22 percent.

Whatever the final figures, one thing was clear -- the cost of energy was going up.