Repeat after me, “Batteries are the affordable solution to renewable grid instability.”
Wall Street Journal (12/13/21) reports: "Lithium prices are rising at their fastest pace in years, setting off a race to secure supplies and fueling worries about long-term shortages of a vital ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to smartphones. An index of lithium prices from research firm and price provider Benchmark Mineral Intelligence doubled between May and November and is up some 240% for the year. The index is at its highest level in data going back five years. Driving the run up are bets on continued scarcity. Demand is multiplying as Tesla Inc. and other auto makers ramp up sales of electric vehicles. Supply, meanwhile, has been constrained by limited investment in new projects following a recent bear market and supply-chain bottlenecks. Producers often face environmental opposition and cumbersome permitting processes when trying to extract the silvery-white metal. While there is plenty of lithium in the world, converting it into battery-grade chemicals is a long, expensive ordeal. With traders and corporate buyers riding momentum, prices are prone to big moves in both directions."
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Although, those brave enough to invest like heretics are posed to make off like bandits.
Oil Price (12/12/21) reports: "Recovering economies this year have resulted in a robust rebound in oil demand, disproving some projections from the onset of the pandemic in 2020 that the world had already seen peak oil demand. Despite scares of new variants, such as Delta and lately, Omicron, global oil demand is on track to reach pre-pandemic levels within months and to further rise in coming years. Peak oil demand is not in the cards in the near future, analysts say. Oil investors surveyed by Bloomberg Intelligence in November have also significantly recalibrated their expectations of peak oil demand over the past two years. Two and a half years ago, a fifth of oil investor clients polled by Bloomberg Intelligence said that oil demand would peak by February 2021, BloombergNEF’s Chief Content Officer Nathaniel Bullard notes. In June 2019, another one-third of oil investors thought we would see global oil demand peak by 2025. In previous surveys, most investors expected peak oil demand by 2030...Currently, just 2 percent of oil investors believe peak oil demand will occur by 2025, and fewer than 40 percent see that peak before 2030. One-third of investors expect oil demand to peak between 2025 and 2030, but another one-third think that peak would be after 2030, at some point between 2030 and 2035."
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"The [climate] story is complex because the villain is a hero. Fossil fuels are remarkable condensed energy that has raised living standards in most of the world. The world won’t turn its back on fossil fuels without better alternatives."
– James Hansen, "Broken Clock"
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