Juggling Dynamite

Considering the 100’s of trillions we have wasted on non-productive activities like bailing out bankers and antiquated automakers, investing billions to transform the North American highway system into clean, endless, solar-powered charging ‘free’ ways that will fuel all types of vehicles–literally for free and without having to stop to refuel– well that’s just so much smarter.  Yes we will.

“Range anxiety” — aka running out of batteries — is the biggest concern for buyers of electric cars. Oak Ridge National Laboratory may have just discovered an $80 billion cure. Here is a direct video link.

Plummeting costs for renewable energy have finally made solar and wind a viable alternative to fossil fuels. But what’s responsible for the drop in price? Technological innovation and expanded manufacturing share some of the blame, but less examined is the low cost of intellectual property.  See:  The little known reason renewable energy costs are dropping.  Here is a direct video link.

Hitting a low of $8.35 a barrel yesterday (down from $80 2 years ago), Canadian oil producers are losing money at current prices. Yet so far, they are continuing to pump at record levels nonetheless. The spending to extract bitumen is front-loaded and so sunk costs encourage producers to increase output as prices fall. Today highly indebted and desperate for cash flow, most don’t see a choice.  See:  Crude at $10 already a reality

Already down 80% in a world still reliant on oil, price risk now is a fraction of its former self.  Rational thinkers know, the black stuff isn’t worth zero.

But near-term, large downside pressures remain: the world is running out of places to store the present glut and an unraveling of the distressed OPEC cartel would increase the “every producer for itself” thinking that could surge global production and pummel prices further.

The oil price bubble of 2005-14 has burst in spectacular fashion, as all bubbles do…but incredibly, this price plunge may still have further room to run.