Danielle was the second guest with Jim Goddard on This Week in Money today, talking about recent developments in the world economy and markets. You can listen to an audio clip of the segment here by advancing the show playbar to 23:40.
Over the past decade, the cost of renewable electricity has fallen some 64% for utility-scale solar power and 41% for land-based wind since 2008. At current pricing, renewables are already competitive with coal and natural gas, and getting cheaper by the day.
Naysayers fixate on the fact that just 20% of global electricity demand is currently supplied from renewable sources, and just 4% once hydroelectricity is excluded. But this misses the point utterly. Far from undermining the argument for renewable energy, the currently low penetration rates underline the mind-boggling scale of opportunity here for investment, jobs, self-sufficiency and lower utility costs ahead.
Canada best get on board, or our economy will be left flailing in our tailings ponds. See: Numbers don’t lie: we’ve reached a tipping point for renewable energy:
The rush for renewables is happening – and it will continue with or without us. In the long term, failure to embrace this transition really would be economic suicide.
Last night President-elect Trump proclaimed his team “by far the highest IQ of any cabinet ever assembled” (here is the video for those who can’t believe anyone would say that).
Thinking people should be reminded of Daniel Khaneman’s illuminating work on human behavior, the prevalence of mental errors in over-confidence and the critical importance of Emotional Intelligence in effective decision making. Michael Lewis’s latest book The Undoing Project is about Khaneman’s life work and partnership with Amos Tversky and Kahneman’s excellent 2011 book ‘Thinking fast and slow‘ explains key findings in detail.
This 2012 appearance on Charlie Rose is also a good refresher.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman discusses his book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” which examines the nature of intuition and the two systems that drive how we think. Here is a direct video link.
The most obvious risk for the new US government out of the gate, is that Trump’s semblance of supreme confidence has engendered high expectations in his supporters for quick and dramatic change to improve their problems. On the other side, his detractors are expressing the lowest approval rating and expectation for any incoming President in decades. President Trump and co therefore have a good chance of surprising detractors while disappointing supporters.
