IOWA CITY — While there’s plenty of grumbling in Iowa over gasoline prices being well north of $4 a gallon, University of Iowa Professor Tyler Priest, who teaches a course on U.S. energy policy, says a much larger problem is coming into focus.
“Diesel prices have doubled. They’ve risen much faster than gasoline prices because they’re traded globally and the seasonal demand is less easy to predict,” Priest says. “Increases in diesel prices are going to be transmitted throughout the economy more than increasing gasoline prices.”
Priest notes that diesel fuel has much different applications and is used in long-haul trucking, marine shipping, agriculture and industry. AAA says diesel is averaging $5.36 a gallon in Iowa, that’s up more than $2 a gallon from this date a year ago.…