"What becomes apparent is that oil is much too valuable to burn."
This comment deserves +100 up votes.
Though the supply of oil is likely not going to decline anytime soon (the Earth is constantly making more crude - it's NOT solely, if at all, the result of ancient plant detritus and dinosaur carcasses), there surely WILL be a shortage of availability in the near future - engineered and enforced by our "betters."
On a longer timeline (50-300 years, if we can make it that long), the TRUE value of oil will be found in its use as a lubricating medium (particularly in the Space industry) and as an essential additive in many vital manufacturing processes.
Meanwhile and closer to home - Drill Baby Drill...
Enjoyed the Article in the main, but as an EV driver myself the past 6 years, getting a bit tired of the photo of the Tesla and the Generator. Bill Bonner also posted the same photo only a few weeks ago and I also commented that it was poorly researched. That photo has been doing the rounds on EV forums for years as a bit of a laugh. There are no long lines at EV chargers. I like most ev drivers charge overnight at home on Cheap Night Rate electricity, and ive never ran out of electricity in all the years driving. I recently did a 2,500km trip from Ireland and around Scotland in my Kona ev without any charging issues. I am though very aware where a lot of that energy comes from and the mining of the materials required to build the evs, but that same mining is required for Petrol and Diesel cars. Even where that Electricity is produced using Oil, Gas an EV is up to 80% more efficient using that same energy than an equivalent Combustion Engine Car. Also when pulling up outside a School to drop off children there are no emissions coming out an exhaust pipe . In terms of producing enough Energy for the Transition to Electric Vehicles we definitely need to go Nuclear. Unfortunately many European countries are giving up on Nuclear, but some like UK and France are Increasing their use of Nuclear Power. Im particularly interested in these Small Modular Nuclear Reactors under construction at a test side in Idaho Falls by NuScale. Im also an investor in Uranium through Sprott Physical Uranium Fund U.UN That has by far been my best investment to date getting in when no one wanted to own it and forgetting about it for a couple of years. Bit like the BPR trade of the Decade, long Oil, short Dollar.
To each his/her own, and more power to you. But it needs to stop there.
One of the issues I (and many others) have with the whole EV scenario is the fact that MANY (most?) people who support/drive the vehicles unerringly want to see NO ICE vehicles manufactured or allowed on the road as the end result. To that large throng of misled do-gooders we politely (for now), say BUZZ OFF.
Can you not be satisfied with the belief that at least you are "doing your part" to "save" the planet? Typically an EV owner's answer to that question is a resounding NO - the EV crowd will not be happy until everyone is forced into driving what amounts to, at this stage of technology, a sketchy proposition when it comes to traffic jams, floods, evacuations, blizzards, collisions, etc. The EV just doesn't perform as well as a ICE automobile in those circumstances and many others. Bonus - like everything else the left has shown us in the last 15 years, even if they magically get 100% of what they want, they are still, in the main, a MISERABLE bunch of human beings afterward.
So, as pie-in-the-sky as it is to ask, how about RESPECTING Freedom and allow individuals to MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES when it comes to what kind of car they decide to purchase and to drive? Maybe let Mr. Market sort this issue out?
I know - WAY too much to expect of ANYONE on today's left.
PS - On a personal note, is the level of perceived Virtue you conjure from driving an EV anywhere near equivalent to the sticker price? I'm reminded of an old saying - something about a fool and his money...
I bought my EV years ago and like everything today they have gone up a lot in price.
i enjoy driving my EV for its Quiet driving, Low maintenance, Great Driving dynamics, Lack of Car Exhaust and its smaller use of Fossil Fuels. Someone here commented already that Fossil fuels are far to valuable to Burn, and need to be preserved for all their other users in ma ny other forms of manufacturing. its not the solution for everyone , and i agree it shouldnt be forced down peoples throats, but as EB Tucker Investor and Financial Adviser has said, countries are going to push it through no matter what people think. There are definitely some crazy Socialists/ Communists in the EV brigaDe and i discuss with them every day or at least try to on EV Facebook Groups. Some dont want to see any Car ownership at all and that included s Electric Cars. One person said the Government should Ban cars and we basically all go on Public Transport or on your bike. Basically going back to the Stone Age, to " Save the Planet " I suggested he give up his Iphone and set an example for others. So anyway wear not all Crazy Lefties as some would like to Pidgeon hole us as.
I understand you completely. I am not saying that a few people here and there could not drive an EV. I am not saying that some person should not have a solar field next to their home. But there is simply no place today to change over to electric cars. But to depend on electric cars or to depend on solar heating is a fantasy today. Maybe in 50 or 100 years it could happen. These people pushing this have an agenda and that is to impoverished the middle class. These people do not care one whit about the environment.
We do have quite few left leaning , puritanical Types alright. I think people go into EVs with good intentions , but dont understand all the energy that is needed to build out an Electric Charging Infrastructure, Building those Cars, mining Metals to produce the cars, and the Coal needed to produce the Steel, or the Energy to fuel the cars with Electricity. Probably the biggest thing that attracted me was how little energy an EV uses to run, and that leaves more of that Valuable Oil to be used where its really needed . The rate of adoption by governments is too fast i would agree, with plans to end the sale of Petrol / Diesel cars by the end of the Decade or earlier in most European Countries and "California ". Most countries are not like Norway where Electric Car adoption is close to 80% for New Cars and where they get most of their Energy from Hydro Power, and is also a Wealthy Country built on the Oil Industry no less. I tend to be an early adopter of New Technology , so that was also an attraction.
There is a lot of research material on the manufacture of EV's that refutes your premise. The amount of carbon emission that occurs during the harvesting/manufacturing processes of EV materials and components so greatly exceeds that of manufacturing ICE's that the difference in the operation of the EV never catches up. EV = total loser.
There is just as much research showing that is not the case.
A lot of that research is dubious as it's sponsored often by oil companies .
Show me the specific research and I'll show you research articles that counter that argument.
The point I want to make is that the world is switching to Electric cars whether you or I agree with it. So we're here to make money, so it would be a big mistake not to invest in the spade and shovel companies that will benefit from the transition to Evs. EB Tucker has said recently you've got to follow this trend . That's why I've invested in Lithium Mining companies, and other related industries that I've done a lot of research into.
I first started saying “Liberalism is a mental disorder” back in the Clinton days, way before the fact came public. What we see now, is the offspring of these mentally challenged humans, and here we are…95% of university students surveyed this past year agreed that they suffer from some type of mental disorder caused by the lack of schooling and lock downs. It’s what their teachers and media re-enforced in their empty heads daily, until it became reality. Seems like another ploy by those same mentally deranged Liberals/communist to help create another voting block other then illegal aliens and felons…
Cute article but for me missed the point - how are we going to power human civilization in the 21st century without thrashing the climate? There are numerous technical innovations out there that lack the political and financial clout to effect the switch. Perhaps Bonner should publish some articles on these innovations, as it will be us - the investors who will be needed to make the change, (and make money in the process). I recommend looking forward rather than belittling possible changes.
You pose the real question. It will be fusion if it can get a chance. However, the forces in play are likely to deny humanity a chance rebuild around fusion. Either the WEF attains it’s publicly stated goal of a reduced world population, so you won’t get to see what fusion can do. Or, Jesus returns, and I don’t know what powers everything then. 😉 But, debt, war, disease (likely man caused), and a win-lose mentality will be the near future for a while. Just read a preprint paper about biomedical research where some ethically damaged scientists have created a new Covid variant for study. It has the lethality of the original strain but spreads and infects like the milder later omicron strains. It’s estimated at 80% lethality in mice tested. Isn’t that a nice worthwhile use of grant funds and research time? Let’s hope they don’t let it escape the lab while waiting on the reviews for their paper.
There was an even more absurd protest over the weekend in London during which a hideous ginger haired man in a dress hurled orange paint over Aston Martin’s windows whilst spewing incoherent climate alarmist nonsense. What a vile cult it is!
Reminds me of the local communist party selling T-Shirts for their cause at a "green" event. I got a little chuckle over. I do remember being young and I suspect these kids will live to laugh at their younger selves.
Really interesting discussion of fossil fuel usage! Thanks for the reminder. Mr. Entwhistle in his comment echoed the observation of my late father, a career geologist and oil company executive, that fossil fuels are so valuable for everything else that it approaches criminal to waste them by burning.
As to the pink-haired environmentalists, I think that leaving them glued to the wall would be appropriate. It might discourage others from such foolishness.
We let them stay glued to whatever their demented mind has directed them toward, and insist they maintain that station indefinitely. No food, no water, no phone, no peepee breaks. The ONLY way they are allowed to become "unstuck" is by cutting off the hand or whatever body part is affixed...
Stop giving morons attention. It will work for mass shooters as well as young people who destroy works of art for attention, though the destruction has nothing to do with their alleged issue.
Unfortunately, ignoring people doesn't work for the motorcycle drivers, pickup owners and the drivers of rice burners who decide they want to own a car/motorcycle that doesn't have a muffler that does its intended job. They have decided to cry out about their insecurities to the world, damn their neighbors and their community.
Turns out that 2.6 M years ago pulsating ice ages began. One million years ago the earth shifted into longer 100,000 year and more severe ice ages due primarily to the influence of the 100,000-year Milankovitch elliptical circle around the sun. Interglacial warming periods have averaged about 15,000 years and our last deglaciation began 11,700 years ago.
Could we enjoy well in advance a beneficial global warming and avoid both a severer next ice age and expensive often-fanatical green-new deal climate fixes?
Bob
Advice: “Let technology and markets work at their own pace." Why not?
I was recently on a whale cruise which was great but it reminded me that the discovery of fossil fuel saved the whales from extinction.
Just like the invention of the motor car save our cities from being engulfed in horse manure and dead horses.
These really are environ MENTAL activists.
I despair and unfortunately they are correct. There is no planet B we can go to in order to escape their hissy fits and tantrums.
An excellent article / post Joel. Thanks for all your good work.
I was a student of chemical engineering in the 70s and learned a lot about what oil can be used for. Joel's notes hardly scratch the surface.
What becomes apparent is that oil is much too valuable to burn.
Related arguments that might be made by large and small minds alike amount to little more than petty political posturing.
Hi Richard -
"What becomes apparent is that oil is much too valuable to burn."
This comment deserves +100 up votes.
Though the supply of oil is likely not going to decline anytime soon (the Earth is constantly making more crude - it's NOT solely, if at all, the result of ancient plant detritus and dinosaur carcasses), there surely WILL be a shortage of availability in the near future - engineered and enforced by our "betters."
On a longer timeline (50-300 years, if we can make it that long), the TRUE value of oil will be found in its use as a lubricating medium (particularly in the Space industry) and as an essential additive in many vital manufacturing processes.
Meanwhile and closer to home - Drill Baby Drill...
Brain food for those interested as to when, where and how significant, should browse a potted history lesson..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_petroleum_industry?wprov=sfti1
Enjoyed the Article in the main, but as an EV driver myself the past 6 years, getting a bit tired of the photo of the Tesla and the Generator. Bill Bonner also posted the same photo only a few weeks ago and I also commented that it was poorly researched. That photo has been doing the rounds on EV forums for years as a bit of a laugh. There are no long lines at EV chargers. I like most ev drivers charge overnight at home on Cheap Night Rate electricity, and ive never ran out of electricity in all the years driving. I recently did a 2,500km trip from Ireland and around Scotland in my Kona ev without any charging issues. I am though very aware where a lot of that energy comes from and the mining of the materials required to build the evs, but that same mining is required for Petrol and Diesel cars. Even where that Electricity is produced using Oil, Gas an EV is up to 80% more efficient using that same energy than an equivalent Combustion Engine Car. Also when pulling up outside a School to drop off children there are no emissions coming out an exhaust pipe . In terms of producing enough Energy for the Transition to Electric Vehicles we definitely need to go Nuclear. Unfortunately many European countries are giving up on Nuclear, but some like UK and France are Increasing their use of Nuclear Power. Im particularly interested in these Small Modular Nuclear Reactors under construction at a test side in Idaho Falls by NuScale. Im also an investor in Uranium through Sprott Physical Uranium Fund U.UN That has by far been my best investment to date getting in when no one wanted to own it and forgetting about it for a couple of years. Bit like the BPR trade of the Decade, long Oil, short Dollar.
Hi Stephen -
To each his/her own, and more power to you. But it needs to stop there.
One of the issues I (and many others) have with the whole EV scenario is the fact that MANY (most?) people who support/drive the vehicles unerringly want to see NO ICE vehicles manufactured or allowed on the road as the end result. To that large throng of misled do-gooders we politely (for now), say BUZZ OFF.
Can you not be satisfied with the belief that at least you are "doing your part" to "save" the planet? Typically an EV owner's answer to that question is a resounding NO - the EV crowd will not be happy until everyone is forced into driving what amounts to, at this stage of technology, a sketchy proposition when it comes to traffic jams, floods, evacuations, blizzards, collisions, etc. The EV just doesn't perform as well as a ICE automobile in those circumstances and many others. Bonus - like everything else the left has shown us in the last 15 years, even if they magically get 100% of what they want, they are still, in the main, a MISERABLE bunch of human beings afterward.
So, as pie-in-the-sky as it is to ask, how about RESPECTING Freedom and allow individuals to MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES when it comes to what kind of car they decide to purchase and to drive? Maybe let Mr. Market sort this issue out?
I know - WAY too much to expect of ANYONE on today's left.
PS - On a personal note, is the level of perceived Virtue you conjure from driving an EV anywhere near equivalent to the sticker price? I'm reminded of an old saying - something about a fool and his money...
Without a subsidy he would not buy it. End the foolish program and let us see how much virtue signalling is really worth to these people.
^^^THIS^^^
I bought my EV years ago and like everything today they have gone up a lot in price.
i enjoy driving my EV for its Quiet driving, Low maintenance, Great Driving dynamics, Lack of Car Exhaust and its smaller use of Fossil Fuels. Someone here commented already that Fossil fuels are far to valuable to Burn, and need to be preserved for all their other users in ma ny other forms of manufacturing. its not the solution for everyone , and i agree it shouldnt be forced down peoples throats, but as EB Tucker Investor and Financial Adviser has said, countries are going to push it through no matter what people think. There are definitely some crazy Socialists/ Communists in the EV brigaDe and i discuss with them every day or at least try to on EV Facebook Groups. Some dont want to see any Car ownership at all and that included s Electric Cars. One person said the Government should Ban cars and we basically all go on Public Transport or on your bike. Basically going back to the Stone Age, to " Save the Planet " I suggested he give up his Iphone and set an example for others. So anyway wear not all Crazy Lefties as some would like to Pidgeon hole us as.
I understand you completely. I am not saying that a few people here and there could not drive an EV. I am not saying that some person should not have a solar field next to their home. But there is simply no place today to change over to electric cars. But to depend on electric cars or to depend on solar heating is a fantasy today. Maybe in 50 or 100 years it could happen. These people pushing this have an agenda and that is to impoverished the middle class. These people do not care one whit about the environment.
Hi Stephen.
Thank you for restoring one small bit of my faith that not ALL Ev owners are Authoritarian-leaning nut jobs...
We do have quite few left leaning , puritanical Types alright. I think people go into EVs with good intentions , but dont understand all the energy that is needed to build out an Electric Charging Infrastructure, Building those Cars, mining Metals to produce the cars, and the Coal needed to produce the Steel, or the Energy to fuel the cars with Electricity. Probably the biggest thing that attracted me was how little energy an EV uses to run, and that leaves more of that Valuable Oil to be used where its really needed . The rate of adoption by governments is too fast i would agree, with plans to end the sale of Petrol / Diesel cars by the end of the Decade or earlier in most European Countries and "California ". Most countries are not like Norway where Electric Car adoption is close to 80% for New Cars and where they get most of their Energy from Hydro Power, and is also a Wealthy Country built on the Oil Industry no less. I tend to be an early adopter of New Technology , so that was also an attraction.
There is a lot of research material on the manufacture of EV's that refutes your premise. The amount of carbon emission that occurs during the harvesting/manufacturing processes of EV materials and components so greatly exceeds that of manufacturing ICE's that the difference in the operation of the EV never catches up. EV = total loser.
There is just as much research showing that is not the case.
A lot of that research is dubious as it's sponsored often by oil companies .
Show me the specific research and I'll show you research articles that counter that argument.
The point I want to make is that the world is switching to Electric cars whether you or I agree with it. So we're here to make money, so it would be a big mistake not to invest in the spade and shovel companies that will benefit from the transition to Evs. EB Tucker has said recently you've got to follow this trend . That's why I've invested in Lithium Mining companies, and other related industries that I've done a lot of research into.
I first started saying “Liberalism is a mental disorder” back in the Clinton days, way before the fact came public. What we see now, is the offspring of these mentally challenged humans, and here we are…95% of university students surveyed this past year agreed that they suffer from some type of mental disorder caused by the lack of schooling and lock downs. It’s what their teachers and media re-enforced in their empty heads daily, until it became reality. Seems like another ploy by those same mentally deranged Liberals/communist to help create another voting block other then illegal aliens and felons…
I. Just. Love. This.
Keep it up. No shortage of material.
Cute article but for me missed the point - how are we going to power human civilization in the 21st century without thrashing the climate? There are numerous technical innovations out there that lack the political and financial clout to effect the switch. Perhaps Bonner should publish some articles on these innovations, as it will be us - the investors who will be needed to make the change, (and make money in the process). I recommend looking forward rather than belittling possible changes.
You pose the real question. It will be fusion if it can get a chance. However, the forces in play are likely to deny humanity a chance rebuild around fusion. Either the WEF attains it’s publicly stated goal of a reduced world population, so you won’t get to see what fusion can do. Or, Jesus returns, and I don’t know what powers everything then. 😉 But, debt, war, disease (likely man caused), and a win-lose mentality will be the near future for a while. Just read a preprint paper about biomedical research where some ethically damaged scientists have created a new Covid variant for study. It has the lethality of the original strain but spreads and infects like the milder later omicron strains. It’s estimated at 80% lethality in mice tested. Isn’t that a nice worthwhile use of grant funds and research time? Let’s hope they don’t let it escape the lab while waiting on the reviews for their paper.
Here is the link to the article: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.10.13.512134v1
Brilliant Joel!
There was an even more absurd protest over the weekend in London during which a hideous ginger haired man in a dress hurled orange paint over Aston Martin’s windows whilst spewing incoherent climate alarmist nonsense. What a vile cult it is!
Reminds me of the local communist party selling T-Shirts for their cause at a "green" event. I got a little chuckle over. I do remember being young and I suspect these kids will live to laugh at their younger selves.
It is always satisfying to see hubris and ignorance skewered by facts. No one does it better than the folks at Bonner Private Research.
Really interesting discussion of fossil fuel usage! Thanks for the reminder. Mr. Entwhistle in his comment echoed the observation of my late father, a career geologist and oil company executive, that fossil fuels are so valuable for everything else that it approaches criminal to waste them by burning.
As to the pink-haired environmentalists, I think that leaving them glued to the wall would be appropriate. It might discourage others from such foolishness.
Hi Ms. Lee -
Better yet, a compromise.
We let them stay glued to whatever their demented mind has directed them toward, and insist they maintain that station indefinitely. No food, no water, no phone, no peepee breaks. The ONLY way they are allowed to become "unstuck" is by cutting off the hand or whatever body part is affixed...
Great writing, although, since we share similar ways to (try to) understand the world, I am biased.
I wonder if we (humans) are not like lemmings - maybe there are too much of us, resulting in some starting to behave in a self destructive way.
But I am here to ask - is there a way to get the wine from Tacana Winery in Brazil?
Thanks
Bugger! Tried to order the Tacana Malbec but no shipping to my farm in Australia!!
Stop giving morons attention. It will work for mass shooters as well as young people who destroy works of art for attention, though the destruction has nothing to do with their alleged issue.
Unfortunately, ignoring people doesn't work for the motorcycle drivers, pickup owners and the drivers of rice burners who decide they want to own a car/motorcycle that doesn't have a muffler that does its intended job. They have decided to cry out about their insecurities to the world, damn their neighbors and their community.
David,liked your comment,it sums up the world and media today
Re: Climate.
Turns out that 2.6 M years ago pulsating ice ages began. One million years ago the earth shifted into longer 100,000 year and more severe ice ages due primarily to the influence of the 100,000-year Milankovitch elliptical circle around the sun. Interglacial warming periods have averaged about 15,000 years and our last deglaciation began 11,700 years ago.
Could we enjoy well in advance a beneficial global warming and avoid both a severer next ice age and expensive often-fanatical green-new deal climate fixes?
Bob
Advice: “Let technology and markets work at their own pace." Why not?
We couldn’t agree more. The war on fossils fuels is a war on humanity’s way of life. It goes against reason.
Our article, Oil Ain’t Toast, expressed the same argument from a different angle.
https://specialsituationinvesting.substack.com/p/oil-aint-toast