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<\/a>\r\nKepler Chevreux, a French investment bank, has produced a\r\nfascinating analysis that has dramatic implications for the global\r\noil industry. The investment bank estimates that $100 billion\r\ninvested in either wind energy or solar energy — and deployed\r\nas energy for light and commercial vehicles — will produce\r\nsignificantly more energy than that same $100 billion invested in\r\noil.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe implications, needless to say, are dramatic. It would signal the\r\nend of Big Oil, and the demise of an industry that has dominated the\r\nglobal economy and geo-politics, for the last few decades. And the\r\nneed for it to reshape its business model around renewables, as we\r\ndiscuss here.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n“If we are right, the implications would be momentous,”\r\nwrites Kepler Chevreux analyst Mark Lewis.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n“It would mean that the oil industry faces the risk of\r\nstranded assets not only under a scenario of falling oil prices\r\nbrought about by the structurally lower demand entailed by a future\r\ntightening of climate policy, but also under a scenario of rising\r\noil prices brought about by increasingly constrained supply. “\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe main argument from Lewis is that oil prices could stay so low\r\nthat it is no longer economic to bring in high cost new oil fields.\r\nBut even if the oil price does rise, it will not be able to compete\r\nwith renewables such as solar and wind.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe most striking conclusion is that by using wind or solar to\r\ncharge electric vehicles, more energy is produced per dollar\r\ninvested than with oil — in the case of onshore wind, it is\r\nfour times as much energy for the same amount of money.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nIt’s already 18 months since we discovered\r\n\r\nGoogle had spent a billion dollars on solar and wind<\/a>,\r\nwhich is about as much as the cost overruns on that boondoggle at Plant Vogtle,\r\nand already has operational from that investment almost as much energy generation\r\nas those new nukes at Plant Vogtle are supposed to produce, if they ever go online.\r\n
\r\nAnd it’s been six months since we found out that by Sabal Trail’s own figures\r\nit would take half the acreage<\/a> to produce\r\njust as much solar power as that Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline is supposed to produce.\r\n
\r\nSo how about we forget about nukes and gas and oil and get on with solar and wind power?\r\n