18 Oct The “Green” Fairytale is Over
The push towards green energy over the past decade has been obvious and obtrusive. Seems like every governmental, environmental, and media influencer was (is) pushing for the transition. Tax incentives, easy institutional funding, and grants made this an attractive space for many investors. Many felt like they were both making money and saving the planet. It was like your fairy Green godmother coming to take you away from your evil carbon-spewing stepmother. What could go wrong?
The simple truth? Renewable Energy cannot supplant fossil fuels on a macro level.
Just because oil and natural gas is not as “cool” as green energy to declare in your portfolio or institutional fund management, does not mean it’s’ a better bet. In fact, if you didn’t cash out a year ago, prepare to lose $$ over 5 years.
Now, I don’t think of myself as biased towards oil and natural gas. Many of you didn’t know this, but I helped run a solar company in Rural Alaska a few years ago. It makes economic sense to buy a $32k off grid system when the electrical and gas utility may have cost over $50k to get a line to your place, then you’re purchasing power at $0.24 per kilowatt-hour! I called it “going green twice”, and it is a solid deal as power can go out in these places in the winter, which may jeopardize your life!
But let’s be real: Take a look around at just one construction site…do you see renewables taking over all energy needed to produce a single commercial building? I’m not seeing an electrically powered 10-yd dumptruck anywhere!
Until an energy storage solution that is affordable, easily manufactured, and readily distributed is created, fossil fuels are here to stay and THEY MUST STAY. Other countries found this out the hard way. Lack of worldwide support for our industry has led to cleaner energy reduction and energy insecurity, rather than the opposite promised.
The Green Energy carriage has turned back into the pumpkin it always was. (sorry, Cinderella).