Gasoline prices in the United States dropped four-tenths of a cent over the past two weeks as crude oil prices fell, ending a long stretch of sustained price increases, according to a widely followed survey. 

The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.8338 on September 21, down from $3.8376 on September 7, according to Trilby Lundberg, editor of the Lundberg Survey, which covers some 2,500 gas stations nationwide.

While the decline is small enough to be considered "no change," it ends a nine-week run of gas price increases dating to July 13, when the average gallon of gas cost $3.41, Lundberg said on Sunday.

The change was spurred by a fall in crude oil prices caused in part by signals that Saudi Arabia may be willing to supply more oil to the market to lower prices, Lundberg said.

The news could portend a period of price stability assuming relative status quo in crude oil prices.

"Margins on gasoline for refiners and retailers are not only positive but comparatively healthy, so there is no disadvantage at the moment for the industry to withhold a price cut," Lundberg said.

Continued economic struggles in the United States and Europe, as well as an economic slowdown in China, the world's No. 2 oil consumer, also played a role in weakening demand, she said.

The end of the high-consumption summer months brought about lower demand, while the resolution of issues at some U.S. refineries increased supply, Lundberg added.

According to the survey, Chicago has the priciest gas at an average of $4.25 a gallon, while drivers in Jackson, Mississippi, pay the lowest average price of $3.52.

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The researchers found that Americans had a pretty sophisticated understanding of what steps would make a major difference in terms of saving energy.

 Americans are worried about the nation’s energy problems and take some personal responsibility for them, but they don’t necessarily feel like they have the ability to make major changes soon to address them.

That’s according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted earlier this year and released Thursday.

The survey found that 78 percent of Americans say energy issues are extremely or very important and 72 percent feel that way about gas prices.

Still, they place even more importance the economy, education and health care. And when it comes to finding solutions, they are looking to the energy industry and the government.

The poll found that 65 percent of Americans say the energy industry has major responsibility for increasing energy savings in the United States. About 58 percent said the government has that level of responsibility, and 57 percent said it fell to individuals such as themselves.

Nevertheless, Americans were willing to admit that they are at least partly to blame for the nation’s energy woes.

Nearly two-thirds of those polled said a major reason for the nation’s energy problems is that people use a lot of energy and are not willing to reduce that demand.

But the people surveyed were nearly equally likely to say that a major reason is that energy industry does not do enough to make energy-saving products and services more affordable. More than half also felt that the government should be extremely involved in finding solutions to the country’s energy problems.

The researchers found that Americans had a pretty sophisticated understanding of what steps would make a major difference in terms of saving energy, such as buying a more fuel-efficient car or installing insulation.

But they were much more likely to say that, realistically, they could make more moderate changes, such as turning down the thermostat or turning off lights, in the next year.

A major barrier to the bigger changes: The cost.

“Some of the more expensive things, like (buying a) fuel-efficient car or changing out the insulation in your home, those were some of the hardest thing that people thought to do,” said Jennifer Benz, a research scientist with NORC.

Benz said the researchers didn’t define what they meant by “energy problems,” and she noted that the term may mean many different things to many different people.

“Some people think of it in terms of cost. Some people think about it in terms of concerns about energy and the environment,” she said.

With money tight and the economy weak, Americans have been closely watching rising and falling gas prices, and paying close attention to things like heating and air conditioning bills.

But as economic concerns have taken a front seat, other research has shown that Americans are growing less concerned about the environment. After years or prioritizing the environment over economic development, a long-running Gallup poll has found that since 2009 Americans have placed higher priority on saving the economy than the planet.

Despite rising crude oil prices and threats to stability in the Middle East, the price of gas is unlikely to reach a national average as high as $5 per gallon in the near term, ExxonMobil’s Chief Executive Rex Tillerson told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Friday.

“As I look at just the supply and demand fundamentals, I would not expect prices to reach that level,” Tillerson told TODAY.

“Again, the unknown in here is the market’s view of the political risk; if the rhetoric gets more heated, if a problem flares up anywhere else in the world, then certainly it could drive these prices up further,” he said.

With the busy summer driving period approaching, many observers are fearful that the price for a gallon of gas, which AAA says is now $3.76 on average across the U.S., could move up to the dreaded $5 mark and derail the economic recovery.

Ongoing conflict in Syria, political tensions between Iran and the West and rising demand for oil from emerging economies such as China are also threatening to push up gas prices.

One source of tension in the Middle East has been concerns over Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel sees as a threat to its existence. If Israel were to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities the impact on gas prices would be “fairly immediate and highly volatile,” Tillerson said.

“It would be largely driven too by what the response was, and whether that resulted in an actual physical disruption of oil to the market.”

Faced with trade embargoes and the possibility of an attack, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz -- a strategic shipping channel through which a majority of the Middle East’s oil-producing countries supply the world’s economies with crude oil.

Related:

Magic number for gas prices? Try $5.30 a gallon

U.S. Energy Information Administration

The recent run-up in oil prices has many Americans worrying about the cost of everything from gas to food, and with good reason. Of all the energy sources we use, petroleum is the most popular.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, petroleum accounted for a little more than one-third of the energy Americans consumed in 2009, the most recent full-year data available. (Partial data for 2010 data is available here.) 

Natural gas accounts for about one-fourth our energy consumption, and coal is responsible for around one-fifth.

We’re heard a lot of talk in recent years about renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydropower. As of 2009, the Energy Information Administration said that made up just a small chunk – 8 percent - of our overall energy consumption. But that it is expected to grow to 17 percent by 2035.

Why not more? The EIA notes that renewable energy plants are generally more expensive to build and operate, although that is changing with certain renewables such as wind. It also notes that renewable plants are often build in remote areas, which makes it difficult to transport the energy to metro areas. Tax credits and other government programs are expected to help spur more renewable energy plant production.

You know times are hard when you have to heat your pool with the dead.

A cash-strapped council in the United Kingdom has come under fire for its plan to use the heat from a nearby crematorium to heat a public swimming pool, according to a report in the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

The excess heat generated by the incinerator at the Borough Of Redditch Cemeteries & Crematorium in Worcestershire would be used to warm the water for swimmers at the nearby Abbey Stadium Sports Centre -- the plan will reportedly cut £14,500 each year (slightly more than $23,000) off the council’s heating bills.

Aside from saving cash, council leaders argue that the plan is a greener way of powering the sports center. Currently, heat from the incinerators (which reaches 800 degrees centigrade) is lost into the atmosphere, the article says.

“I’d much rather use the energy rather than just see it going out of the chimney and heating the sky,” Council leader Carole Gandy told the newspaper.

In an effort to scale back its national debt, late last year the United Kingdom announced the most drastic budget cuts in living memory -- including sharp cuts in public sector funding -- that surpass measures taken by other advanced economies. Prime Minister David Cameron has said the nation is facing an “age of austerity” that will mean tough economic choices for most Britons, but some local residents in the Borough Of Redditch seem uncertain those choices extend to heating their local pool by burning cadavers.

Simon Thomas, of Thomas Brothers Funeral Directors, told the paper: ”I don’t know how comfortable people would feel about the swimming pool being heated due to the death of a loved one, I think it’s a bit strange and eerie.”

“I’m not comfortable with it at all and I think trying to save money due to the death of someone's family member or friend is a bit sick,” he added. “I think it will cause uproar and may even put people off using the facilities which would lose the council money.”