After 5 weeks, the BP Gulf of Mexico spill has become the worst man-made disaster in the history of the United States and its affects will likely have a lasting affect for years to come. No doubt, the damage has been severe on the environment and many scientists expect that the situation is worse than currently estimated. As a result of the spill, the Gulf States are likely to experience a further economic downturn as the spill has brought their vibrant seafood industry to a standstill and a six-month moratorium has been put into place on off-shore drilling. This avoidable accident has further exposed the lack of accountability, dishonesty in the corporate world and the need to diversify away from oil.

The BP spill has been deeply saddening and disturbing; hopefully we will recover from it. However, now there is an even greater opportunity for the United States to accelerate the shift away from oil to alternative technologies. If the Gulf States have the foresight to recognize that one of their largest industries is holding them hostage, they might want to diversify away from those businesses and incentivize businesses to create green jobs and manufacturing plants. The United States needs new technology and it needs to be manufactured and installed everywhere, not just in 4-5 progressive states.

In addition to the acceleration in green energy and technology, other industries will see a boom from this as well, which includes insurance brokerage servicers and oilfield service equipment providers. Insurance brokerage servicers are processing companies that process insurance claims and generate a fee off of each claim, if a disaster occurs the insurance brokerage servicers typically raise their fees as they experience a heavy volume of claims. The oilfield service equipment (OFS) industry could stand to gain if new regulations require relief wells to be drilled simultaneously with producing ones and more equipment is needed in order to cover worst-case scenarios.

The increase in insurance costs and the need for more OFS equipment will also drive up the price of oil, which will further accelerate the demand for alternative technologies as the main obstacle for the alternative energy business is the affordability of their product relative to traditional sources. When traditional energy prices rise, more attention is paid to alternative energy as businesses and consumers are given more choices at comparable prices.

There is no thought in my mind that tells me that Americans shouldn’t change their energy consumption habits and behaviors and really take a look at the medium to long term affects of their present decisions and actions. The BP spill is a terrible event that has once again shattered our confidence in corporations and regulators and I hope that this is a wake up call to an opportunity to get serious about our future. Unfortunately, there are no worse circumstances for this opportunity to come about.