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It's a "fossil fuel" world that we live in...
Just The News (7/19/26) reports: "Climate advocates for years have been promising a 'clean energy transition' was just on the horizon. The globe has spent $10 trillion in the past decade on the effort, and that was backed up by government mandates. Despite all that support, an annual benchmark report shows yet again that coal, oil and natural gas continue to dominate the global energy picture. The 2026 'Statistical Review of World Energy' finds that 86.3% of primary energy consumption was derived from fossil fuels last year. This is down from 86.6% the previous year. Driven by subsidies and government mandates, wind and solar energy saw the greatest year-over-year growth, according to the report, with solar accounting for 71% of the increase in renewable energy from 2024...The 'World Energy' report also notes that battery storage capacity grew by 66% in 2025, exceeding that of the generation types. However, as the Institute for Energy Research notes in its analysis of the report, battery storage isn’t a generation type. 'It stores excess energy generated by other sources for later use, particularly when wind and solar power are in a lull. Batteries are thus a necessary additional expense due to the intermittency of wind and solar generation,' the IER wrote. While the report shows that subsidies and government mandates are producing large increases in the share of wind and solar, providing plenty of highlights for advocates of net-zero, the report also shows that the globe’s primary source of energy is fossil fuels, and net-zero won’t likely be seen for many decades to come."
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Bad news for green hucksters. Good news for everyone else.
Bloomberg (7/16/26) reports: "Corporate America is struggling to meet its climate goals as sustainability initiatives lose out on funding to competing priorities such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and digital transformation. More than half of the executives surveyed by the Conference Board and data analytics firm ESGAUGE said those investments now rank ahead of decarbonization initiatives. The result is that many companies are falling behind on their emissions targets. About 58% of S&P 500 companies that have set goals to reduce their direct, or Scope 1, emissions have reported flat or rising emissions since 2021, according to the report. The figure climbs to 62% for Scope 3 emissions, which are generated by suppliers and customers and often account for the largest share of a company’s carbon footprint. Looking ahead, only one-quarter of sustainability leaders surveyed said they’re confident their companies will meet environmental goals across most emissions categories...The strain is notable in the technology sector where companies are racing to scale AI infrastructure to meet surging demand. The greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Microsoft Corp. spiked in 2025. Microsoft reported the biggest gain with emissions climbing 25%...And it’s more than just the tech industry that’s being affected. In May, Burberry Group Plc, the British retailer known for its tartan scarves and garbardine trenchcoats, postponed its goal of cutting emissions to net zero by a decade to 2050. Brazil’s JBS NV, the world’s largest meatpacker, said earlier this month that it’s dropping its Scope 3 target, which includes the emissions produced by all of the livestock that the company slaughters."
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Talk about an inconsiderate neighbor.
New York Post (7/17/26) reports: "The policies and actions driving up California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices don’t just hurt Californians — but also residents of nearby states, according to a new report by the Institute for Energy Research. The entire country has seen gas prices rise this year due to the ongoing Iran war, which has constrained the global oil supply. But over the past five years, prices rose higher by 86 cents per gallon in Democratic states, while GOP states only saw a 62-cent rise, according to the report. This year, gas costs 55 cents per gallon more in blue states than red ones...'People in those states, they haven’t voted on any of these policies, and obviously they’re being impacted. They’re paying more for gas because of them,' said Alex Stevens, who helped work on the report, in an interview...That timing matches two things that California led on: carbon-pricing programs, in which the government sets a limit on emissions and issues tradable permits for every ton of emission, and oil refineries leaving the region. Washington state followed after California’s first-in-the-nation cap-and-trade program that year to enact a similar regime, and at the same time, cap-and-trade allowance prices in California roughly doubled between 2021 and 2023. Additionally, the West Coast and specifically California was hit with a wave of oil refinery shutdowns, some of which cited California’s hostile policies against fossil fuels as a reason. The Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles and the Valero refinery in Benicia both shut down in the past few years, tightening the fuel supply and raising prices. California’s policies don’t just influence the other West Coast states but even neighboring ones like Nevada and Arizona, the report said. Those two states alone see a 52-cent-per-gallon premium on their gas."
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If removing a subsidy for something "slows investment" in that something, what does that tell you about that something?
Bloomberg (7/18/26) reports: "Germany plans to scale back renewable-energy subsidies in a sweeping overhaul of its funding system, as surging solar output puts growing strain on the country’s power grid. From 2027, new renewable generators should receive support 'in a way that benefits both the market and the system,' according to a draft law published by the Economy Ministry late Friday. That means rewarding projects that respond more closely to electricity demand and don’t worsen grid congestion. Fixed feed-in tariffs for new installations would be gradually phased out under the proposal. The changes could slow investment in onshore wind and solar projects, where developers already face higher costs and falling revenues as power prices increasingly turn negative. Still, the ministry is sticking to its target of raising renewables’ share of Germany’s gross electricity consumption to 80% from about 58% by 2030, and plans additional auctions for wind capacity. Germany’s feed-in tariffs, generally granted for 20 years, and recent efforts to cut red tape have helped renewable capacity expand at a record clip. But power lines have failed to keep pace, creating bottlenecks and forcing operators to temporarily curtail generation. Producers can claim compensation for the lost output. The state is expected to spend about €16 billion ($18.3 billion) on renewable support this year, fueling criticism as Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government seeks to rein in spending, including on pensions and healthcare. Additional payments for curtailed generation of as much as €3 billion have also drawn criticism...The proposal would also end subsidies for solar installations smaller than 25 kilowatts and require larger projects to be paired more frequently with batteries, helping to shift power supply into the evening."
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"By encouraging the tech giants to develop their own energy generation and mitigate environmental, noise, and aesthetic concerns, we can achieve the best of both worlds — and give the lie to the overblown complaints of politicians and Beijing."
– Michael M. Rosen,
American Enterprise Institute
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Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again.
AEA (7/20/26) article: "On July 14, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued the nation’s first statewide moratorium on large data centers, those of 50 megawatts or more, imposing up to a one-year moratorium over concerns that the data facilities are raising power costs, straining water supplies and burdening local communities. Hochul also plans to pursue legislation to repeal sales tax exemptions for large data centers. During the moratorium, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will not issue any discretionary permits that are not already complete. In her executive order, Hochul directed state officials to develop a Generic Environmental Impact Statement to ensure that new data centers coming online are held to “consistent standards” and to examine the potential environmental impacts of the construction and operation of data centers in the state. The ban in New York will reportedly be lifted once the state finalizes the standards. Last month, New York’s legislature passed a bill to impose guardrails on data centers that consume more than 20 megawatts of power, a wider scope than Hochul’s executive order, but the bill has not yet been sent to Hochul’s desk for signing. With these actions, New York is sending a message about its concern for the jobs, tax revenues, and economic development that data center construction brings, which other states are benefiting from, with much more data center development than New York has. It is also reminiscent of N.Y.’s ban on hydraulic fracturing, even though the Marcellus natural gas play that has lifted incomes and the quality of life in Pennsylvania continues next door to New York. New York has the eighth-highest retail price for residential electricity in the country, which did not deter the Governor from advocating for electric vehicles and even pushing for their mandatory adoption."
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Energy Markets
WTI Crude Oil: ↑ $85.09
Natural Gas: ↑ $2.87
Gasoline: ↑ $4.01
Diesel: ↑ $5.14
Heating Oil: ↓ $409.91
Brent Crude Oil: ↑ $91.17
US Rig Count: ↑ 635 |
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