Energy wake-up call

Excerpts from OUR ENERGY FUTURE by Jeffrey Carter [via InstaPundit]

At the Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business Management Conference Friday, I listened to a panel discussion on energy. It was interesting, primarily because the two panelists didn’t mince words. They offered up some interesting stats. . .

• Running an oil company isn’t cheap and has a lot of fixed costs.


• Energy prices aren’t going lower in the long run and instead of battery powered cars and trucks we should figure out how to make uranium powered cars and trucks.


• Research into green energy isn’t a total waste of money or time since fossil fuels will eventually be gone. However, government subsidies and government money pouring into research seems ill spent.


• Natural gas is a good alternative, but we need to figure out how to develop an ecosystem so that it becomes easy for companies to switch. Natural gas has more energy density than diesel fuel.


• We don’t need CAFE standards to stimulate car companies to create better cars. Economic incentives create them. There is no secret car that gets 90 MPG that car companies are withholding from the market. If they had it, you could buy it on a lot.


• Give up on high speed rail. It’s not going to be possible under the current political environment, or economic environment.

• The US will squander much of it’s storehouse of current energy due to bad policy.


• Things like the Chevy Volt in the current technological environment are not efficient. They are science experiments.

As an angel investor, I don’t see me making investments in green energy that will take years to come to fruition. However, as an angel investor I can make investments into companies like Power2Switch that are in the energy sector, but not in the research and development of it.

Obama's energy plan: Higher energy costs kick in as soon as the bill's provisions take effect in 2012

Are you prepared to live without gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, and heating oil? Can you afford electricity, coal, natural gas at a cost more than 100% increase per household, over what you are paying now? That is exactly what we will do if the Waxman-Markey Bill (Cap and Trade) if written in its present form is passed. This is not an exaggeration or a pessimistic opinion, but the honest truth. Obama admits it in his campaign to wean the U.S. off of Crude Oil Petroleum products. The intent is to go "Cold Turkey" by making Crude Oil Products beyond affordability by every American homeowner. The Tax Cost on the Oil Refineries and Chemical Plants ability to produce the products would be more than consumers to afford to purchase the product. Remember just last year when gasoline prices were $4.00 plus. That will be nothing compared to the effects of this bill.

Obama's Energy Plan: Mandated Scarcity in the Richest Country in the World