Think your heating oil bill is out of control? Imagine the headaches at Dow Chemical, whose business is turning hydrocarbons into products like Styrofoam and materials for everything from shampoo to electronics. Energy and feedstocks accounted for half of Dow's operating costs last year, and it's only getting worse. For the first half of 2008 those costs were up 40% from 12 months before. The company will spend $32 billion on energy and feedstocks this year, four times as much as in 2002.
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