One thing is certain. The state needs to cut costs and energy consumption. The unanswered question is how fuel costs will affect local governments, particularly school districts that rely on buses for student transportation, activity travel and field trips. Will school districts be forced to reduce the number of trips to balance their budgets?

Will municipal governments have to raise taxes to address their rising fuel and utility costs? Can consumers take tax increases on top of consumer price hikes?

A new poll by Yahoo and The Associated Press found 90 percent of Americans expect ballooning costs to squeeze them financially over the next six months. Half think that hardship will be serious. Americans are attempting to drive less, curtailing vacations and setting thermostats higher in the summer.

Americans are looking to elected officials for leadership. Political proposals are all over the map, from increased oil and gas drilling to laws that level taxes on coal-fired power plants that owners say could put them out of business. Meanwhile, there is a lot of discussion about alternative forms of energy, such as solar, tidal, wind and even nuclear power.

Will a four-day work week make a dent in the state's overall energy use and carbon output? It should help, to some degree.

It may have a more psychological benefit than environmental boon or cost savings. But that's OK, too. When Americans are fretting more about the price of gas than the economy, health care, the war in Iraq, something's got to give.

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Marjorie Cortez, who's trying to do her bit for the household budget and the planet by riding the bus and TRAX as much as possible, is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com