The World Economic Forum & Davos - Setting the agenda on fossil fuels, global regulations, etc.

[surrept33 + 609]

11 minutes ago, Tom Nolan said:

Event 201 has over 5 hours of video at THEIR website.  It involved the New World Order players like the Bill Gates Foundation, The World Economic Forum, and others who want to dictate and control the populations.  Just months prior to the "official Covid Pandemic" across the world, they war gamed the scenario which included Big Tech censorship.  You can watch a "highlights" short video of the EVENT 201 here at the following LINK.

Those who are not aware of EVENT 201 are really in the dark.

https://community.oilprice.com/topic/21211-the-world-economic-forum-davos-setting-the-agenda-on-fossil-fuels-global-regulations-etc/#comment-140156

 

Is there a cliff notes/executive summary? Assume that I know something like clustering algorithms, or anything that can be transformed into a (statistical model of a) diffusion process over time, space, frequencies, differential geometry, etc. One of the things this type of modeling is often used for is in the actuarial sciences and contingency planning to make systems more resilient to tail-risk events.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Academic Study Finds Big-Tech Elites Are In Their "Own Class", Different To Rest Of Humanity

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/academic-study-finds-big-tech-elites-are-their-own-class-different-rest-humanity

An academic study carried out by researchers in the US and Germany has concluded that big-tech elites are completely different to all other people on the planet, and can be placed in their own class.

“Our research contributes to closing a research gap in societies with rising inequalities,” note the authors of the study from two German universities and the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies in New York. 

The research centres around analysing language used in close to 50,000 tweets and other online statements by 100 of the richest tech-elites as listed by Forbes.

The researchers conclude that big-tech elites such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates display a ‘meritocratic’ worldview, meaning they do not see wealth as a source of their influence or success, but rather believe their innate abilities and more altruistic beliefs have enabled them to achieve power.

“We find that the 100 richest members of the tech world reveal distinctive attitudes that set them apart both from the general population and from other wealthy elites,” the study states.

The findings reveal that big-tech elites consistently talk about believing in democracy, being philanthropic, and helping make the world a better place for other people.

“Yet their position in a democratic system is contradictory – as a result of their enormous wealth, they have disproportionate influence over how discretionary income is spent,” the researchers note.

The researchers found that language used by the tech-elites regularly includes words such as ‘merit’, ‘distinct’, ‘excellent’, ‘value’, ‘virtue’, ‘advantage’, ‘superiority’, ‘worth’, ‘perfect’, ‘important’ and ‘significant’.  

The researchers also note that:

“The tech elite may be thought of as a ‘class for itself’ in Marx’s sense – a social group that shares particular views of the world, which in this case means meritocratic, missionary, and inconsistent democratic ideology.”

The researchers noted that the study had limitations, ironically owing to the fact that they were not able to access language used by all the top 100 tech-elites because Twitter is banned in China.

The Twitter accounts they were able to access could also be managed by PR professionals and are obviously public projections of how the tech elites want to be thought of by the public at large, therefore the language used may be ‘strategic’.

Nevertheless, the findings go some way to explaining why big-tech elites are so inclined to censor and de-platform those who hold world views at odds with their own.

 

 

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

ESG Investing Is A False God

Saturday, Jan 23, 2021 - 10:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/esg-investing-false-god

EXCERPT

After one peels back the layers of sugarcoating, there are two thorny truths about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.

(1) There’s not even close to agreement on how to grade firms, and there never will be.

(2) Ideologically constrained portfolios don’t generate superior returns relative to unconstrained portfolios.

ESG has become a virtue-signaling buzzword that distracts from legitimate fundamental analysis and allocative efficiency. The ruse—since it rests on subjective assessments rather than concrete outcomes—muddies fiduciary duty and lessens accountability for portfolio managers. 

[ARTICLE CONTINUES while discussing transparency and the profit motive of companies.]

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

The following YouTube Video will likely be censored.  An alternative viewing platform is mentioned below on the THREAD.

A great documentary that investigates The Fourth Industrial Revolution, what the 1% has to gain and the rest of us are about to lose.

Video created by happen.network - https://happen.network/

(53 minutes)

https://youtu.be/E0cbIzJy-R0

Here is the THREAD from which this came, along with an alternative platform to view the video.

“The New Normal” – 4th Industrial Revolution & Our Future

https://community.oilprice.com/topic/22432-“the-new-normal”-–-4th-industrial-revolution-our-future/

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by Tom Nolan

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

WEBSITE LOADED WITH DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE...

Real Climate Science

https://realclimatescience.com/

Tony Heller of "Real Climate Science" has a YouTube Channel.  Of course, YouTube will delete some of his important videos.

Here is a link to his YouTube Playlist on Climate Science...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL25om63gd1VoP7m5VLuVcLOwKh-FB7Rxp

Following are a few sample videos:

In a 5 minute video, showing FACTS, Tony Heller lays waste to the U.K. propaganda headline...

Junk Climate Science - The New Normal

https://youtu.be/3OEuptwQgNg

15 minute video below

CO2 Endangerment Finding Fails Every Test

DESCRIPTION  - The "EPA CO2 Endangerment Finding" forms the legal basis for climate alarmists to shut down the fossil fuel supply. It is a political document created by the Obama administration, and is unsupportable scientifically.

https://youtu.be/vrJRmIvHF0k

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

QUOTE:

" IHS Markit is a dynamic team that includes more than 5,000 analysts, data scientists, financial experts and industry specialists. Our global information expertise spans numerous industries, including leading positions in finance, energy and transportation." - https://ihsmarkit.com/about/index.html

IHS Predicts A Record Year For Renewables In 2021

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 23, 2021, 4:00 PM CST

Global renewable capacity additions defied COVID-19 to set new records in 2020, while global renewable energy output in the electricity sector jumped, unlike other energy sources.  This year, renewable installations are set to further surge globally, with solar and wind posting new records on the back of strong Chinese development and a growing number of markets auctioning off solar, onshore wind, and offshore wind capacity, IHS Markit said in a new report this week. 

Last year, renewables turned out to be the most resilient energy sector to the COVID slump. In sharp contrast to all other fuels, renewables used for generating electricity were set to have increased by 6.6 percent in 2020, compared to a 2.2-percent decline in the world’s total energy demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its Renewables 2020 report in November.   

 Moreover, investor appetite for renewables continued to be strong, unlike in fossil fuels, despite the economic uncertainties, the IEA said, noting that auctioned renewable capacity rose by 15 percent from January to October 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, reaching a new record. 

In 2021, renewable capacity additions are on track for a record expansion of nearly 10 percent, according to the IEA, thanks to government support in many economies and robust pipelines of projects from before the pandemic. 

In its Top Clean Tech Trends to Watch in 2021, IHS Markit expects solar installations globally to jump by more than 30 percent this year, with China accounting for 35 percent of all capacity additions. Many more markets have joined the 1 GW-plus total solar capacity club over the past decade, and those will also grow in 2021.

“There are now 18 markets globally that have +1 GW cumulative solar installations, compared to just six a decade earlier,” IHS Markit said.

Solar demand will soar despite the fact that solar module prices are expected to be higher in the first half of the year. But production costs are expected to decline in the latter half of 2021, “and this will lay the groundwork for record solar installations at the end of 2021,” IHS Markit noted. 

Wind power installations will also jump this year, following a record 2020. Onshore wind additions in 2021 will continue to be driven by installation in markets facing imminent subsidy cuts, while offshore wind installations could nearly double in 2021 from 2020 to exceed 10 GW, thanks again to Chinese development. Many European countries, the U.S., and Japan are also set to auction offshore wind projects while floating offshore wind may finally be moving into the commercial phase, Andrei Utkin, senior associate, clean energy technology at IHS Markit, says. 

The United States will also see a continued boom in solar and wind installations this year, following record-breaking capacity additions in 2020. 

Renewables, mostly solar and wind, will dominate new electricity generation capacity in the United States in 2021, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said earlier this month. A total of 39.7 GW of new electricity generating capacity is expected to start commercial operation in 2021, with solar photovoltaics (PV) accounting for 39 percent of the new capacity. Wind power generation capacity will represent 31 percent of the newly installed U.S. electricity generating capacity this year, followed at a distant third by natural gas with 16 percent of new generation. Solar installations of 15.4 GW are set to beat this year the 2020 record of 12 GW, according to EIA estimates. Solar capacity growth is set to exceed wind growth for the first time in 2021, the EIA said in its January Short-Term Energy Outlook. 

It’s not only record solar and wind installations in the U.S. and globally that will draw attention to the renewables sector this year. IHS Markit sees green hydrogen development, geothermal energy, and policies on battery recycling as the other top clean energy trends to watch in 2021.  

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Tom Nolan here - I want to correct the Title of the article.  Instead of "Climate Change" it more truthfully should say "Grand Solar Minimum".

How Climate Change Increased The Need For Fossil Fuels In 2021

By Rystad Energy - Jan 23, 2021, 2:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-Climate-Change-Increased-The-Need-For-Fossil-Fuels-In-2021.html

ENDING PARAGRAPH

“The new round of lower temperatures can support the high energy prices in the market. As milder weather returns, we expect to see less upward pressure on energy prices. Still, the market will continue to be tight during the coming months, as challenges in the Panama Canal are yet to be resolved, Chinese coal production needs to recover, and gas storage needs to be restocked for the current market tightness to ease,” says Sindre Knutsson, vice president of gas market research at Rystad Energy.

By Rystad Energy

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

You've been busy!

[El Nikko + 2,145]

Well the whole thing including the great reset just sounds a bit like fantasy to me as if they can press a button.

Is there anyone who has listened to what they're talking about and can explain how exactly this would play out?

Also much of the WEF and GR proponents talk about stuff that has already happened like it's some amazing new plan...that weird circle chart they have....what exactly is on that that has not already happened? Social justice, drones what?

I'm more inclined to think they know there is going to be a very serious crisis and they're basically selling hope for the future.

It's a shame the events of 2020 have overshadowed this debate...again in Sept 2019 a small number of people were getting nervous about more QE after the Repo market ground to a halt but no one was really talking about it because in a very short space of time we had all kinds of things happen and then covid and when everyone was sick of that it was the US election.

In recent historical terms I keep trying to find a previous crisis but so far I'm not sure the piece is fitting in to the jigsaw...if it's similar to 2007-2009 then are we nearer 2007 or 2009? I don't think that's a good analogy but I think think that if we do have a crisis then everything that happened since the 'great financial crisis' has led to this point. Before the GFC QE was almost unheard of, since then it was the norm and in 2020 it turns out we can turn on the money firehose and let it rip. MMT is now the latest cool idea...as if noone had ever thought of that before.

Edited January 24, 2021 by El Nikko

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

5 hours ago, El Nikko said:

Also much of the WEF and GR proponents talk about stuff that has already happened like it's some amazing new plan.

You are spot-on.  Exactly what we see now has been planned for years...The Great Reset, the New World Order, it is all the same thing.  Watch the "How and Why Big Oil Conquered the World" from 4 years ago...this has been the plan.  More Technocracy is coming.  Wait till all your money is digital and they give you "social credit scores" for being a good citizen.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

How Hydrogen Could Power The Ultimate Battery

By Irina Slav - Jan 24, 2021, 2:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-Hydrogen-Could-Power-The-Ultimate-Battery.html

Hydrogen as a fuel of the future is the talk of the town in energy markets. Pros and cons of green versus blue hydrogen, capacity building plans, new production technologies, you name it, researchers are working on it.

Hydrogen can be used as a fuel in fuel cell vehicles—still very expensive—and for heating—blended with natural gas. One other thing it can be used for is renewable energy storage.

Earlier this week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on a company, LAVO, that had developed what is essentially a hydrogen battery that can take in electricity produced by solar panels and store it in the form of hydrogen, to be released on demand.

The battery, the size of a fridge, contains an electrolyzer that breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is then stored in a set of canisters full of hydride—a fibrous metal alloy. The battery can be connected to a solar panel array, store the excess electricity it produces as hydrogen and then release the hydrogen to act as a battery and power various devices.

Developed in partnership with the University of New South Wales, the battery can power a household for two to three days on a single charge, the Sydney Morning Herald’s Nick O’Malley noted. It is also more durable than lithium-ion household battery packs, with its lifespan at 20 years, according to the chief executive of the developer company, Alan Yu.

This Australian battery costs more than $30,000, but there are already early buyers attracted by the convenience and probably the reliability of the installation, whose risk of hydrogen combustion is eliminated by the solid-state hydride.

This is just one example of how hydrogen can be leveraged for energy storage, in a way shooting two birds with one stone. On the one hand, hydrogen is, depending on the method of production, a relatively cheap storage option compared to battery arrays costing hundreds of millions of dollars. On the other, here is one good use that hydrogen can be put to without the need for any major technological breakthroughs.

The hydrogen is produced from excess electricity generated by solar or wind farms, stored in underground caverns or repurposed pipelines, and when the grid needs more electricity, it is fed into power plants to power their turbines and produce the necessary difference.

“As gas turbines are inherently fuel-flexible, they can be configured to operate on green hydrogen or similar fuels as a new unit, or be upgraded even after extended service on traditional fuels, i.e., natural gas,” according to GE, which is one of the companies working on integrating more hydrogen into their operations. The company adds this would come at a cost, but the cost would depend on the initial configuration of the turbine.

So, a picture emerges of a future world in which every household has its own solar farm and a battery pack that may be lithium-ion if the tech advances sufficiently, or it could be hydrogen. When the sun shines, the battery will absorb the electricity the household does not use and then release it when it’s night or when the sky is overcast.

If this picture looks too good to be true, it’s because it is, for now. Green hydrogen is an expensive source of energy, and efficiency rates during its conversion back to water are not the best ones, either, which adds to the cost. According to Green Tech Media, the efficiency rate of converting water to hydrogen and oxygen using electrolysis and then back to electricity has an efficiency rate of just 35 percent. Batteries, in comparison, have an efficiency rate of 95 percent.

But then there are products like the Australian battery developed by LAVO and the University of New South Wales. While its price tag is considerable, there is the option of sharing the hydrogen canisters, so if one buys the installations, they can then rent out the canisters.

This is a great solution at a household or small community level. Yet some governments, notably the EU, have much bigger plans for hydrogen and it is these plans that could run into the ground because of the steep cost of green hydrogen. As Rystad Energy said in a recent report, “good ingredients, bad cocktail.”

The consultancy looked specifically at the costs of producing green hydrogen using electricity from offshore wind farms, but solar is not much different because the costs of producing green hydrogen do not just include the costs of the electricity source—wind turbines or solar panels—but also the electrolyzer where water is actually turned into hydrogen and oxygen. Large electrolyzers are expensive equipment, so barring a breakthrough, green hydrogen will continue to be a lot more expensive than the hydrogen produced from natural gas.

Yet developments on the household and community level should not be underestimated. They represent small steps forward on a very long road towards energy transition, but they might turn out to be a lot more meaningful than, say, the EU’s plans to build 40 GW of green hydrogen capacity. Even if the costs of producing green hydrogen fall by 50 percent by 2050, as predicted by the International Council on Clean Transportation, they would be higher than the current prices of grey and blue hydrogen.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com 

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Oil Majors Poised To Make Biggest Geothermal Investments In 30 Years

By Alex Kimani - Jan 24, 2021, 7:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Oil-Majors-Poised-To-Make-Biggest-Geothermal-Investments-In-30-Years.html

EXCERPTS

...Indeed, the latest report by clean energy watchdog Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) reveals that a broad measure of global energy transition investments in 2020 clocked in at a record $501.3 billion, good for 9% Y/Y growth. The firm's analysis shows that both public and private investments in renewable energy capacity came to $303.5 billion, up 2% on the year, thanks mainly to the biggest-ever build-out of solar projects as well as a $50 billion surge for offshore wind. 

Yet, one renewable energy source has been conspicuous by its absence: Geothermal energy.

Private equity research firm PitchBook has revealed that $675 million of investors' capital flowed into geothermal investments last year. Whereas that was a good 6x higher than the previous year's figure, it represents a minuscule amount of clean energy investments, including emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which encouragingly tripled to $3 billion or hydrogen, which attracted  $1.5 billion in new investor capital after declining 20% Y/Y.

But that is about to change, with struggling fossil fuel companies about to put their capital and skills to work on something that's far less degrading on the planet. 

Oil and gas majors are about to make their biggest geothermal investments in more than 30 years, as geothermal economics improve while financials for the fossil fuel sector continue to pose a major challenge amid stubbornly low energy prices....

[El Nikko + 2,145]

5 hours ago, Tom Nolan said:

You are spot-on.  Exactly what we see now has been planned for years...The Great Reset, the New World Order, it is all the same thing.  Watch the "How and Why Big Oil Conquered the World" from 4 years ago...this has been the plan.  More Technocracy is coming.  Wait till all your money is digital and they give you "social credit scores" for being a good citizen.

You could even easily argue that the social credit score already exists. I believe some employers check people's facebook pages etc to see if they say anything naughty.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

The 5 Best Utility Stocks In 2021

By Alex Kimani - Jan 25, 2021, 5:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-5-Best-Utility-Stocks-In-2021.html

The average U.S. investor has been giving the energy sector a wide berth over the past half a decade due to perennial underperformance. Indeed, the energy sector has been a disaster for long-term investors, emerging as the worst performer among the market’s 11 sectors over the past decade. 

Yet, that blanket condemnation ignores the fact that several corners of the energy market, including energy utilities and renewable energy, have been outliers in this sea of mediocrity.

Utility stocks can help stabilize a portfolio by lowering volatility and risk thanks to the fact that the sector is heavily regulated. Utilities tend to be more resistant to economic cycles than most other sectors of the economy because the demand for utilities does not vary much. Most utilities have predictable cash flows, which enables many to pay decent dividends with higher yields than other fixed-income investments.

Utility companies tend to be slow-growing but high-yielding and inexpensive relative to earnings. They are generally viewed as good defensive plays because of their relatively steady and safe cash flows both in both good and poor economic cycles. Utilities are more recession-proof than most sectors, as evidenced by their positive returns during the last recession when the rest of the market tanked.

By the same token, utilities can be a drag on your portfolio during good times. The S&P 500 Utilities Index has gained 25.8% over the past three years compared to 39.3% return by the S&P 500 over the timeframe. For perspective, putting $20,000 in the Utilities SPDR ETF (XLU) over the last three years would have resulted in $2,700 lower profit before fees compared to the same amount invested in the S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).

Still, energy utilities are great defensive plays that you should include in your portfolio. 

Here are the sector’s best-in-breed stocks.

#1. Brookfield Renewable Partners LP

At a time when energy MLPs (Master Limited Partnerships) are mostly struggling, it comes as a breath of fresh air to find some that are flying high.

Brookfield Renewable Partners LP (NYSE: BEP) is an MLP that owns a portfolio of wind, solar, hydroelectric, and other green-energy properties.

Recently, Plug Power (NASDAQ:PLUG) announced an agreement to source 100% renewable energy supplies from Brookfield Renewable Partners to fully energize its planned green hydrogen production plant, one of the first industrial-scale facilities in North America. The hydrogen sector is one of the hottest corners of the renewable energy sector right now, with the hydrogen market projected to hit $11 trillion over the next three decades.

This makes Brookfield Renewable Partners LP-- a 60%-owned renewable-energy affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management--one of the best stocks to own under a Joe Biden presidency.

#2. NextEra Energy Inc.

NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE:NEE) is a Florida-based clean energy company and America’s largest electric utility holding company by market cap. NEE is the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy, with 45,900 megawatts of generating capacity. The company owns eight subsidiaries, with the largest, NextEra Energy Services, supplying 5 million homes in Florida with electricity.

It’s worth noting that last year, NextEra briefly surpassED ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) to become America’s largest energy company, an ominous warning that renewables are ready to take over the mantle from their fossil fuel brethren.

Last year, NextEra’s management reiterated its 30x30 goal to install more than 30 million solar panels, or roughly 10,000 megawatts of incremental solar capacity, in Florida by 2030 through one of its subsidiaries, Florida Power & Light (FPL).

NextEra is unabashedly pro-renewables: Company CFO Rebecca Kujawa has even declared that the company is “...particularly excited about the long-term potential of hydrogen” and discussed plans to start a pilot hydrogen project at one of its generating stations at Okeechobee Clean Energy Center owned by its subsidiary, Florida Power & Light (FPL).

NextEra’s usual modus operandi involves conducting small experiments with new technologies to establish their cost-effectiveness before going big if the trials are successful.

CFO Kujawa told analysts:

“Based on our ongoing analysis of the long-term potential of low-cost renewables, we remain confident as ever that wind, solar, and battery storage will be hugely disruptive to the country’s existing generation fleet, while reducing cost for customers and helping to achieve future CO2 emissions reductions. However, to achieve an emissions-free future, we believe that other technologies will be necessary, and we are particularly excited about the long-term potential of hydrogen.”

NextEra plans to test the electricity-to-hydrogen-to-electricity model at its natural gas-powered Okeechobee Clean Energy Center that came online in 2019. Okeechobee is already regarded as one of the cleanest thermal energy facilities anywhere on the globe. However, replacing natural gas with zero emissions hydrogen would be a major step in helping the company achieve its goal to become 100% emissions-free by 2050. 

Another of NEE’s subsidiaries, NextEra Energy Partners LP(NYSE: NEP), is publicly listed and has been flying, too. NEP acquires, manages, and owns contracted clean energy projects with a preference for businesses with stable, long-term cash flows. NextEra Energy Partners owns interests in dozens of wind and solar projects in the United States., as well as natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. These contracted projects use leading-edge technology to generate energy from the wind and the sun. The company’s management is shooting for 12-15% dividend growth through 2024, making this an ideal stock for income investors.

#3. American Water Works 

American Water Works Inc. (NYSE:AWK) is a New Jersey-based public utility company that provides drinking water and wastewater services to 15 million people in all but four states in the United States. AWK is the largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility in the U.S., which helps the company enjoy stable revenue streams and low demand elasticity, thus enabling the company to pay more consistent higher dividends.

Indeed, whereas water utilities might seem boring, AWK significantly outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 5 years after gaining 158% vs.105%.

This outperformance could continue for years to come.

AWK management has guided for 7-10% EPS and dividend growth through 2024, with the growth runway probably running for much longer. Further, AWK’s proven business model and the rise of ESG investing make it well positioned to continue to deliver for long-term investors.

#4. Edison International 

California-based power producer Edison International (NYSE:EIX) is a giant utility that generates electricity through natural gas, hydroelectric, diesel, nuclear, and photovoltaic sources. Edison combines deep value as well as exposure to the decarbonization/electrification trend. Last December, EIX hiked the dividend for a 17th increase and now sports a 4.5% yield.

Southern California Edison, one of Edison International’s subsidiaries, is one of the country’s largest investor-owned utilities, serving 15 million people in Central, Coastal, and Southern California. Based in Rosemead, California, SCE is not only the primary electricity supply company in Southern California, but it has also consistently ranked among the top 10 utilities in the country delivering solar power to its customers since 2007.

On average, the company has been connecting an average of 3,600 solar customers to its grid every month, which works out to a customer coming online every 12 minutes. In 2018, SCE added 547 megawatts of solar energy to the grid, which is the equivalent of removing 231,839 cars from the road for a year.

SCE offers a ‘‘green rate’’ that allows its customer to source all their electricity needs entirely from renewable sources. In 2017, the company commissioned two new hybrid electric-gas peaker plants to accommodate peak demand and also operates a regulated gas and water utility.

#5. AES Corp

The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) is a Virginia-based, Fortune 500 global power company that provides sustainable energy, including thermal and renewables, to 14 countries. The company owns and manages $34 billion in total assets and generated $10 billion in revenue in 2019. For 2020, the company projected that it derived 36% of its PTC (pre-tax contribution) from the U.S.; 31% from South America, 22% from Mexico and Central America, and the remaining 11% from Asia and Europe.

AES has been making strong progress in its transition to renewable energy and managed to retire 1.2 GW of coal in the U.S. and Chile last quarter, thus bringing its coal generation down to 29% of total output and hitting its target to lower coal generation to below 30% of its total energy output by the end of the year. AES sees coal contributing less than 10% of its total energy output by 2030.

AES has a solid history of raising its dividends over the years, which now sits at 2.2%

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Shell Buys UK’s Top EV Charging Network

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Jan 25, 2021, 6:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Shell-Buys-UKs-Top-EV-Charging-Network.html

Shell is buying ubitricity, the European provider of on-street charging for electric vehicles (EVs) that has the largest public EV charging network in the UK, the supermajor said on Monday.

The expansion of Shell’s EV charging offering is part of the oil major’s support for low-carbon transport by offering electric vehicle drivers public on-street charge points integrated into existing street infrastructure, the company said.

That’s not the first deal for Shell in the EV charging business. As early as 2017, Shell signed a deal to buy one of Europe’s biggest EVs charging networks, Netherlands-based NewMotion. Shell has also partnered with a consortium involving some of Europe’s largest carmakers to build a network of EV fast-charging stations across the continent. 

The acquisition of ubitricity, founded in Berlin, is the first major EV charging deal since Shell announced in April 2020 its ambition to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 at the latest, joining other majors such as BP and Eni in unveiling plans to curb carbon emissions.

The transaction, for which Shell did not disclose a purchase price, is expected to be completed later in 2021, subject to regulatory clearance. 

The ubitricity deal will give the supermajor 100 percent in the largest public EV charging network in the UK with over 2,700 charge points, with a 13.1 percent market share in the UK as of the end of January, according to Zap-Map data.

The second-largest EV charging network is that of bp pulse, with a 12-percent share in the UK. bp pulse was named as the UK’s fastest-growing and most used public network in 2020, by Zap-Map.

Shell and BP will thus be the main competitors on the UK’s EV charging network market. Both companies have supported the UK’s ban of the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars and vans, which Britain adopted last year and banned those sales from 2030.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

 

[surrept33 + 609]

 

On 1/24/2021 at 11:50 PM, Tom Nolan said:

You are spot-on.  Exactly what we see now has been planned for years...The Great Reset, the New World Order, it is all the same thing.  Watch the "How and Why Big Oil Conquered the World" from 4 years ago...this has been the plan.  More Technocracy is coming.  Wait till all your money is digital and they give you "social credit scores" for being a good citizen.

I think the better place to look at is the private sector, not the public sector. Just look at Larry Fink's advice to CEOs re: Climate Change:

https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/investor-relations/larry-fink-ceo-letter

BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are (together) are the biggest shareholders in 90% of the S&P 500. BlackRock and State Statestreet have both said that they will vote against boards of directors who don't take more active action on current norms on climate change (which is adhering to transparency related to things like CDP, SBTi, stress testing related to TCFD, etc. 

I think governments will start coordinating again. It's been noticeably absent in the last 4 years both from the US and China. COP26, later this year, is expected to have a lot more ambitious commitments, even relative to COP21 (aka the 2015 Paris Climate negotiations), but this time, instigated by the private sector who want international standards and accountability (some of this can be done via the birth of automated smart contracts, but sometimes not). 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Europe’s Unforeseen Renewables Problem

By Irina Slav - Jan 31, 2021, 12:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Europes-Unforeseen-Renewables-Problem.html

ZERO HEDGE ran this story...

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/europes-unforeseen-renewables-problem

Earlier this month, something happened in Europe. It didn’t get as much media attention as the EU’s massive funding plans for its energy transition, but it was arguably as important, if not more. A fault occurred at a substation in Croatia and caused an overload in parts of the grid, which spread beyond the country’s borders. This created a domino effect that caused a blackout and prompted electricity supply reductions as far as France and Italy. The problem was dealt with, but it’s only a matter of time before more problems like this occur—the reason: the rise of renewables in the energy mix.

Bloomberg reported on the incident citing several sources from Europe’s utility sector. While no one would directly blame the blackout and the increased risk of more blackouts on renewables, it is evident that Europe’s change in the energy mix is raising this risk.

The problem has to do with grid frequency. Normally, it is 50 hertz, Bloomberg’s Jesper Starn, Brian Parkin, and Irina Vilcu explain. If the frequency deviates from this level, connected equipment gets damaged, and power outages follow. The frequency is normally maintained by the inertia created by the spinning turbines of fossil fuel—or nuclear, or hydro—power plants. With Europe cutting its coal and nuclear capacity, this inertia declines as well, exposing the grid to frequency deviations.

“The problem isn’t posed by growing green electricity directly but by shrinking conventional capacity,” the chief electricity system modeler at Cologne University’s EWI Institute of Energy Economics told Bloomberg.

This is pretty much the same as saying it is not the pandemic that is wreaking havoc on the global economy, but the lack of enough healthy people to keep it going. Wind and solar power, for all their benefits, such as a much lower emissions footprint, do have drawbacks, as does every source of energy. In this case, the drawback is the intermittency of generation. This intermittency cannot maintain the inertia necessary to keep the grid at 50 hertz.

Related: Can Big Oil Surprise This Earnings Season?

Utilities know about the problem. “It is not a question about if a blackout in some European regions will happen, it is only a question of when it will happen,” said Stefan Zach, head of communication at Austrian utility EVN, told Bloomberg. “A blackout might happen even in countries with high standards in electricity grid security.”

But the problem is not being publicized enough to spur those in charge of decision-making into action. The Bloomberg report mentions things like energy storage and batteries, yet batteries—where they are now—cannot replace the inertia-creating turbines of coal-fired power plants, which keep the grid buzzing at 50 hertz. They would help in a brief outage, but they can’t keep millions of households and industrial facilities running. Take the world’s biggest battery to date, currently in construction in Australia: with its capacity of 300 MW/450 MWh, the battery can power half a million households. For an hour.

Problems such as what happened at the Croatian substation highlight one fact that few of those riding on the renewables bandwagon would like to talk about: that solar and wind capacity is maybe being added a little too quickly, while fossil fuel capacity is being retired a little too quickly.

Take Germany: it is fast reducing its nuclear and coal generating capacity. And yet, the country, which is the poster boy for renewable energy in the EU, is currently generating more energy from coal than from wind, simply because the wind does not blow permanently. It is also generating zero energy from solar at the moment because it’s winter, which does not make for the optimal conditions for solar farms.

Or take California and its rolling blackouts last summer when heat waves hit the state that gets a third of its electricity from renewable sources. At the time, officials refused to acknowledge this fact as a potential cause of the blackouts, but with or without acknowledgment, the fact remained: electricity output from solar farms declines as the sun goes down just when there is a surge in demand from households. At the same time, as it retires its natural gas plants, the state did not have enough backup generation capacity to make up for the lost supply.

Or here’s another example: back in 2018, the UK went for nine days with zero power generations from wind farms. Why? Because of something called a wind draught. At the time, this event led to a spike in next-day electricity prices, and forecasts for calm weather for two weeks did not help. The UK government now wants to power the whole country with wind power, which in light of past events might be a little bit risky.

Renewable energy is a great thing. Once they’re manufactured, solar panels and wind turbines do not emit greenhouse gases for the duration of their production life. Solar specifically has become a cheap way to become relatively independent in terms of electricity supply if you happen to live in a sunny part of the world.

Yet solar and wind have been touted as a silver bullet solution to the emissions problem the planet is having, and they are not a silver bullet. There is no silver bullet solution. The sooner decision-makers realize this, the sooner they can start working on ways to reconcile renewables with grid reliability. Otherwise, we might see an unwelcome repeat of what many Soviet bloc countries experienced in the 1980s—timed blackouts lasting months and even years.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

OILPRICE.COM VIDEO

(4 minutes)

The New King Of Electricity - Solar Energy

https://youtu.be/Vr73KrmCqtM

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Solar Energy...

A Renewable Energy Waste Crisis Is Looming

By Haley Zaremba - Feb 03, 2021, 2:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/A-Renewable-Energy-Waste-Crisis-Is-Looming.html

It turns out that the falling costs of solar panels is a double-edged sword for the environment. As photovoltaic technology becomes more affordable and therefore more widespread, some critics are becoming more and more worried about the growing threat of all the trash that those panels will eventually turn into.  While renewable resources are greatly reducing many forms of waste associated with the fossil fuel industry, clean energy infrastructure contains its own fair share of harmful materials that will require special and costly disposal methods. “Few countries, operators and the industry itself have yet to fully tackle the long-term consequences of how to dispose of these systems, which have their own environmental hazards like toxic metals, oil, fiberglass and other material,” Deseret News reports. 

Ironically, however, as the renewable industry has worked to use fewer precious metals and other elements and rare earth minerals in the manufacturing of infrastructure such as solar panels, they are simultaneously disincentivizing the eventual recycling of those apparatuses. More cheaply made solar panels tend to be more fragile and break down more quickly, creating more waste. 

And then there is the fact that we can’t necessarily count on the companies getting rich off of solar and wind to do the right thing for the environment. Many of the industry leaders cleaning up the energy sector aren’t environmentalists in the slightest--they just know an untapped market and a smart fiscal move when they see it. Individuals who own solar panels will likely be part of the issue as well unless recycling is made accessible, affordable, and properly incentivized for the average consumer.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has projected that by 2050, the world is going to have a whole lot of photovoltaic waste on its hands; just the United States will have 10 tons, while China will have double that. “Recycling is a critical piece of our future for not only consumer commodities like paper and plastic, but also the ever-expanding renewable energy sector,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said. “Without a strategy for their end-of-life management, so-called green technologies like solar panels, electric vehicle batteries, and windmills will ultimately place the same unintended burdens on our planet and economy as traditional commodities.”

Most solar panels have a lifespan of about 30 years, but we are already seeing solar panel waste outstrip recycling capacity. “The growth of solar waste is already straining recycling and disposal capabilities, with some panels improperly ending up in municipal landfills or stacking up in warehouses while the wait continues for more inexpensive routes to recycling,” Deseret News reports. 

Despite these worrying trends, there is plenty of cause for hope that by 2050 there will be much better infrastructure to recycle the growing amount of renewable energy waste. While the EPA’s new paper raises extremely important concerns about the potential negative environmental externalities of the renewable energy industry, it also shows that both scientists and policymakers are well aware of the issues and of what needs to be done to address them. Reports that renewables will be no better for the world than fossil fuels can easily be dismissed as alarmist and Malthusian. 

While renewable energies have their environmental downsides, however, they remain an absolute necessity in the global battle against catastrophic climate change. We do not have the luxury of time to fully develop a 100% sustainable life cycle for clean energy infrastructure from cradle to grave before we rush headlong into increasing installation. We’re on a very short deadline to save the planet from certain armageddon, and uncertain armageddon will have to be next. It’s absolutely essential to begin an earnest attempt to turn the entire energy industry into a circular economy. We’re not there yet. But hopefully, with some serious R&D, we’ll be a lot closer by the time all of today’s spent solar panels start piling up in 2050.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Nolan NOTE:  The SILVER in solar panels is next to impossible to economically recycle.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

The "Battery Fairy" & Other Delusions In The Race To Replace Gas-Powered Cars

Wednesday, Feb 03, 2021 - 12:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/battery-fairy-other-delusions-race-replace-gas-powered-cars

Authored by Thomas Lifson via AmericanThinker.com,

I continue to be amazed that serious people think that gasoline powered vehicles can be completely replaced by electric vehicles in a decade-and-a-half, and that this would be a good thing, even if possible. ...

[Article continues & brings up many aspects]

... Studies detailing the carbon emissions necessary to manufacture an electric vehicle reveal that on a net basis, there are more emissions for vehicle bought and used for its expected lifetime, than would be generated by buying and using a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. ...

... I am glad that some grownups are pointing out that the electric vehicle conversion emperor has no clothes on. But that hasn’t stopped governments, manufacturers, and investors from pretending that electric vehicles are our only future.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Does The World Have Enough Energy To Support The EV Boom?

By Haley Zaremba - Feb 03, 2021, 4:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Does-The-World-Have-Enough-Energy-To-Support-The-EV-Boom.html

First things first: electric vehicles are greener than conventional gas- and diesel-powered internal combustion engines no matter how you slice it. Even if 100 percent of your EV’s energy comes from dirty, emissions-heavy coal-fired power, your electric car will still have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than a gasoline-consuming equivalent.  That being said, the coming EV revolution raises some extremely important questions about skyrocketing energy demand and consumption and its associated ecological impact--questions that need to be addressed with some urgency. The world is switching over to EVs at a breakneck pace that’s only going to continue to speed up as more countries adopt EV-friendly policies, ramp up charging infrastructure, and the EV sector continues to see technological improvements that make their vehicles more attractive and more affordable for the public. In the UK, policy-makers are pushing to ban new gas-powered vehicles by just 2030. In the U.S., President Joe Biden is on an EV-spending spree that could boost the country’s EV fleet by 40 percent. And Tesla is trying to take over the entire world. 

For utilities and other bodies in charge of grid and energy infrastructure, this means that the race is on to improve and adapt current infrastructure to meet with coming demand. In order to make the EV transition smooth and as eco-friendly as possible, it’s imperative that we not only continue to improve our grid capabilities and capacities but that the expansion of renewable energy keeps pace with increasing energy demand. 

The key to powering a countrywide EV fleet without overwhelming power grids and eating up more energy than ever before lies in energy efficiency. While the topic is decidedly un-sexy and seems trivial compared to other, flashier components of the global energy transition and the battle against climate change, energy efficiency is a monumentally important piece of the puzzle. “Using energy more efficiently accounts for the largest share — nearly 40% — of the reductions in heat-trapping emissions needed to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement,” Axios reported in October. And while EVs are huge energy guzzlers, they are much, much more energy-efficient than combustion engines--up to  5 to 6 times more energy-efficient. But the energy that powers them needs to become more efficient as well for this to work.

In our current energy landscape, where 97 percent of power is generated through a thermal system (“one where we mostly burn stuff or split atoms”) nearly two-thirds of the energy created is lost as wasted heat thanks to the second law of thermodynamics. By comparison, while wind and solar lose a small amount of energy in transmission, the vast majority of the energy created is actually used. 

“So here’s a thought experiment,” a Bloomberg article posited this week. “What if the entire U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet (currently about 270 million cars and trucks) were electrified by 2030 and we expanded wind and solar generation at a rapid pace while eliminating coal power, at the same time?” The answer? Not only will U.S. carbon emissions be slashed by nearly 30 percent, but our entire system also gets a huge energy efficiency boost. 

Related: Will U.S. Shale Finally Reward Shareholders?

If current predictions for solar and wind growth hold true (with solar rising 20 percent and wind 10 percent by 2030) and coal is eliminated in the same time frame (which is not a far-fetched idea), with natural gas filling in the gaps, “despite the electrification of light-duty vehicles, inputs to the grid actually fall slightly” writes Bloomberg. “The replacement of coal-fired power by more efficient gas turbines and the rapid expansion of non-thermal renewable power means useful electrical energy rises by more than a third anyway.”

If nothing else, these hopeful figures are a good reminder that when it comes to a world-ending hyper-threat the size and breadth of global warming, there is no silver bullet solution. The answer to saving ourselves and saving our planet lies in incremental (but urgent) change across sectors. All these little improvements really add up, and they are all essential. EVs in and of themselves can only go so far without better, cleaner, more efficient power production. And Leaf-driving consumers can only do so much without the help of the government and the private sector. We all have a part to play, and we can all play our part. 

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Nolan Note:  While I am not concerned about carbon dioxide in the slightest, nor any of the manmade global warming hoax coming from CO2 (especially since we are in the Grand Solar Minimum with a cooler planet for the next decade), I am concerned about toxins in our environment.  I don't think anyone likes to pollute our bodies and planet with toxins.  But CO2 ain't a toxin.

Electric Vehicles evidently account for the primary industrial usage of SILVER.

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

The Global Wind Energy Industry Is Set To Explode In 2021

By Rystad Energy - Feb 03, 2021, 3:00 PM CST

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Global-Wind-Energy-Industry-Is-Set-To-Explode-In-2021.html

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the world’s installed offshore wind capacity rose by 15% in 2020, reaching 31.9 gigawatts (GW) at year-end, from 27.7 GW at the end of 2019, Rystad Energy estimates. China was the main contributor in 2020, accounting for 39% of last year’s additions, followed by the Netherlands (18%) and the UK (17%). Rystad Energy expects the global installed offshore wind capacity to further increase by 11.8 GW in 2021, a monumental 37% step-up compared to 31.9 GW in 2020. China will continue to lead the new capacity additions, contributing 63% of the expected growth. 

As Covid-19 hit the Chinese market first, fears over supply chain disruptions emerged, with offshore wind developers worried about delays to projects down the line. And as the pandemic spread throughout the world, the risks of a severe slump in construction activity grew. More countries closed their borders and went into lockdown and several manufacturing sites for turbines and other components temporarily shut down operations.

However, with the first wave of the virus settling, the offshore wind market returned to a growth trajectory, supported by increased capacity targets from several nations. While staying resilient in an uncertain market was key in 2020, this year the industry finds itself positioned for record growth, especially as commissioning activities pick up pace in Asia and around the world.

After 2021, China will begin phasing out feed-in-tariffs and many developers are therefore pushing to complete projects during the coming period. As such, this year is expected to see high capacity additions in the country.

“China had a construction backlog of more than 10 GW going into 2020, and Chinese developers are racing to reach maximum commissioning by the end of the year in order to claim full feed-in-tariffs. This means 2021 is going to see major capacity additions, particularly since some projects initially scheduled for commissioning in 2020 ended up slipping into 2021,” says Alexander Fløtre, Rystad Energy’s Product Manager for Offshore Wind.

Related: A Glimmer Of Hope For Oil Markets

Europe and the U.S. also saw some delays due to the pandemic. The developers of the second phase of the 50 MW Kincardine floating offshore wind project in Scotland and the Kriegers Flak combined grid solution in Denmark had to delay start-up. In the US, Danish player Ørsted announced in October delays of at least one year for five projects due to permitting issues.

Nevertheless, offshore wind developers stayed committed to their ambitions and continued to make final investment decisions for projects in 2020. The UK sanctioned more than 4.7 GW of offshore wind and the Netherlands followed with over 2.2 GW. As a result, major projects such as Triton Knoll in the UK, Borssele 3 & 4 in the Netherlands, and Kriegers Flak in Denmark are expected to be completed during 2021.

In the second half of last year, almost 25 GW of capacity was added to the global backlog. Currently, Brazil has no operational offshore wind capacity, but its backlog grew significantly during 2020 as the country added more than 15 GW to the drawing board.

In addition, other regions in Asia outside China are preparing for a ground-breaking year, Taiwan and Vietnam have finally started to add significant volumes to their project pipelines – making 2021 a year to look forward to in the offshore wind market.

*Note: The report’s numbers are based on full commissioning of the wind farms to an operating level, which may diverge from grid-connected or just installed figures.

By Rystad Energy

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Fossil Fuels Aren’t Going Anywhere

By Irina Slav - Feb 05, 2021, 6:00 PM CST

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https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Fossil-Fuels-Arent-Going-Anywhere.html

 

“There is no scenario where hydrocarbons disappear,” the chief executive of Baker Hughes, Lorenzo Simonelli, said during his keynote speech at this year’s annual meeting in the company. Like other executives from the industry, Simonelli acknowledged and welcomed the energy transition, but he noted that a 100-percent renewable energy scenario was simply not possible. There is plenty of evidence this is indeed the case, despite the hopes and ambitions of many environmental advocates.

These hopes and ambitions imagine a world where human activity is powered from electricity only, and this electricity in turn is being generated using only renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower.

Such a world, however, is unrealistic.

Take Germany, for example. The country, which is among the EU members with the most renewable energy capacity, has not produced a single Watt of solar energy since the start of this year. The reason: it’s winter. It is producing solid amounts of wind power, that’s for sure, but it is also generating power from the most despised fossil fuel of all: coal.

At the time of writing its carbon intensity was 264 grams of CO2 equivalent per kWh. That was comparable to the carbon intensity of another poster girl for renewables in Europe, Denmark, which is currently getting most of its energy from wind power.

So, it seems building renewable capacity in itself is not a silver bullet solution to the emissions problem. In fact, if you build it too quickly without adding substantial storage capacity, it could backfire. This was most recently evidenced by a narrow miss of a major blackout in Europe prompted by a minor problem at a Croatian substation that rippled through the continent, highlighting the importance of maintaining the grid at a constant frequency—something renewables cannot do because of their intermittent generation. Related: Canada Oil And Gas Deals Surge 468%
Even Denmark has thermal power plants to secure the baseload any grid needs to function properly and eliminate or at least reduce the risk of blackouts.

But back to Simonelli’s prediction about the guaranteed future of oil and gas. This future won’t be like the past. The world is firmly on course to change the way it generates and uses energy. Both Simonelli and the other keynote speaker at Baker Hughes’ AM2021, IHS Markit’s Daniel Yergin, recognized that. It is simply that this change will not be limited to a build-up of solar- and wind-generating capacity.

Energy efficiency, for one, will be a big part of the transition.

Efficiency has been pushed out of the spotlight recently, replaced by things like green hydrogen and the constant emission-reduction narrative, but it has not gone away. According to Baker Huges’ Simonelli, efficiency alone could help meet as much as 27 percent of the Paris Agreement climate change targets. On a global scale, this is a massive amount of emissions cut, at a rate of half a gigaton annually.

In addition to efficiency, there are all the commitments Big Oil is making under pressure from investors, regulators, and activists. Every supermajor now has a renewable energy transition plan, some more ambitious than others. All the plans, however, involve pouring billions of dollars into what is essentially a move away from these companies’ core business of extracting oil and gas from the ground, at a carbon and methane emission cost, of course.

This shift to renewables might raise some doubts about whether oil and gas will really remain indispensable.  However, the facts suggest that they probably will. There are still millions of people around the world without access to any electricity, and going renewable straight out of the gate for many of these people is simply not an option, for a number of reasons including cost—yes, even though solar panel costs are dropping like WTI in April 2020—and logistics problems. Going green only appears cheaper than sticking with fossil fuels. But it isn’t.

As IHS Markit’s Yergin pointed out in his speech, emerging economies will continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels, despite other regions’ efforts to reduce their own reliance on them. Even if solar panels become free at some point, it is not just panels that go into the making of a solar farm: it also needs components such as inverters and a link to the grid, plus storage, for best results. This alone is enough to guarantee the long-term future of oil and especially gas as an indispensable part of the world’s energy mix.

So, if oil and gas are not going anywhere, can we at least make them a bit cleaner? We certainly can, according to both Simonelli and Yergin, as well as to many other industry experts. Carbon capture is the second element of oil and gas’ long game, besides efficiency. True, carbon capture technology is still quite costly but, as in solar and wind, costs are on their way down. From a lot of talk and little action, carbon capture is on its way to becoming a feature of the energy transition. Why? Because “the numbers don’t work without it,” as Daniel Yergen said.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

https://irinaslav.wordpress.com/

https://twitter.com/IrinaSlav1

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Willem Middelkoop, author of the book, predicts that in coming 5-10 years, the world economic system will go through a big reset which will redefine the financial system and change the position of various currencies, along with a transfer of world authoritarian powers.  The authoritarian powers will redefine the values of society, either through manipulation of the financial system or through veiled and deceptive propaganda.

http://www.thebigresetblog.com/

Feb 5, 2021

Reddit-triggered buying led to a frenzy in silver, making for a significant event that lifted prices to eight-year highs.

While the price has since come back down, many experts expect more craziness, predicting that the silver squeeze drama isn’t going anywhere.

“If you look at the palladium market, it will tell you how this silver drama will play out; palladium was managed and manipulated for years,” best-selling author of the Big Reset Willem Middelkoop tells Daniela Cambone. “The physical demand became so large that it overwhelmed the paper shorts... and the palladium price went up fourfold.” He considers this a playbook for what will happen to silver, noting that, while central banks can solve many crises, "they can’t print more silver– just like they couldn’t print more palladium.” Noting that the popular iShares Silver Trust ($SLV) needs to source metal to meet the demand, he warns, “tricks are being played— the amount of silver they need to fund is physically impossible.”

PSLV is a more trustworthy ETF than SLV.  SLV is not trustworthy because Big Players "monitor" the physical quantity that is supposed to be in the vaults of SLV.

Silver Supply Crisis: Impossible To Source Metal for ETFs, Tricks Are Being Played Warns Middelkoop

https://youtu.be/qeY1n67LUOg

 

[Tom Nolan + 2,443]

Why COVID-19 Cases Will Instantly Drop

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2021/02/03/who-changes-ct-value-pcr.aspx

Story at-a-glance

• One hour after Joe Biden’s inauguration, the World Health Organization lowered the recommended PCR cycle threshold (CT), which automatically guarantees that the number of “cases,” i.e., positive PCR test results, will plummet in the days and weeks to come
• Tests recommended by the WHO used to be set to 45 CTs, yet the scientific consensus has long been that anything over 35 CTs renders the test useless, as the accuracy will be a measly 3% — 97% are false positives
• The “casedemic” could not have been maintained were it not for the media, over which the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission wield significant influence
• Most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies, The Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP)
• The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. Governments, military and intelligence services also use these news agencies as multipliers to spread and reinforce their chosen narrative

...[ARTICLE CONTINUES and explains the scam of the PCR tests]...

...US Slated to Shape the Great Reset

Why did the W.H.O. (World Health Orgainzation) wait this long to correct the CT guidance? Is it really a coincidence that the updated guidance was issued on the day of Biden’s inauguration? Or is it just more evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is a political chess piece, the aim of which is to guide the world’s population into a global economic and social “reset”?

Former President Trump spent the last four years publicly stating he was battling globalization and deep state interests, whereas President Biden has a long history of supporting globalist agendas and the “New World Order,” which is the old term for what is now called the “Great Reset.” Clearly, Biden would be the preferred choice for the technocratic elite pushing this nefarious agenda to radically decrease personal liberties.

As noted in an October 29, 2020, article on the World Economic Forum website,¹⁷ it is U.S. foreign policy that will shape the Great Reset. “The United States will need to set distinct priorities to ensure its foreign policy efforts can harness its capabilities to shape the global recovery,” the article states.

While much of the discussion therein sounds benevolent and good to the untrained ear, those who have investigated the Great Reset plan and are familiar with the jargon and the real meaning behind the buzz words will be able to read the truth between the lines.

Media Are Complicit in Creating the Fake Pandemic Narrative

Just how did the deep state technocracy fool the masses? In short, through their media accomplices. Without the mainstream media pumping out misleading if not flat-out false information on a daily basis (think nonstop tickertape with case and mortality data, for example), none of it would have been possible. 

A key player behind the Great Reset is the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). As explained by Swiss Policy Research, “Largely unbeknownst to the general public, executives and top journalists of almost all major U.S. media outlets have long been members of the influential Council on Foreign Relations.”¹⁸

Not to be confused with the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations or the European Council on Foreign Relations, CFR is a nonprofit think tank, the 5,000-plus members of which also include past and present presidents, politicians, secretaries of state, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, academic professors and corporate leaders, just to name a few.¹⁹

CFR also operates the David Rockefeller Studies Program, which in turn advises the White House on foreign policy matters. Overall, the CFR wields incredible power and influence over the U.S. White House and its policies. As reported by Swiss Policy Research:²⁰

“In his famous article about ‘The American Establishment,’ political columnist Richard H. Rovere noted: ‘The directors of the CFR make up a sort of Presidium for that part of the Establishment that guides our destiny as a nation …

t rarely fails to get one of its members, or at least one of its allies, into the White House. In fact, it generally is able to see to it that both nominees are men acceptable to it.’ It was not until the 2016 election that the Council couldn’t, apparently, prevail.”

The Synchronization of Fake News

CFR has two international affiliates: the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission. As explained by Swiss Policy Research, both of these groups were established by CFR leaders “to foster elite cooperation at the global level.”

Well-known names in the Trilateral group’s U.S. branch include David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Michael Bloomberg and Google heavyweights Eric Schmidt and Susan Molinari, vice president for public policy at Google. Many of its board members are also members of The Aspen Institute, which grooms and mentors executives from around the world about the subtleties of globalization.

"Most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies … The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world. "~ Swiss Policy Research

As you can see in the graphic below, major media are well represented in all three groups, which explains how a false narrative (whatever it might be) can be so widely coordinated and synchronized to the day, if not the hour.

https://swprs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/cfr-media-network-hdv-spr.png

As noted in the Swiss Policy Research post, “The Propaganda Multiplier”:²¹

“It is one of the most important aspects of our media system, and yet hardly known to the public: most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies [Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP)] based in New York, London and Paris.

The key role played by these agencies means Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world.

A study of the Syria war coverage by nine leading European newspapers clearly illustrates these issues: 78% of all articles were based in whole or in part on agency reports … 0% on investigative research. Moreover, 82% of all opinion pieces and interviews were in favor of a U.S. and NATO intervention, while propaganda was attributed exclusively to the opposite side.”

The ‘Free Press’ Is Far From Independent

Until or unless these news agencies send out a notice, national and local media are unlikely to report on an event. Even photos and videos are typically sourced directly from these global news agencies. This way, people hear, see and read the exact same message everywhere.

“This dependency on the global agencies creates a striking similarity in international reporting: from Vienna to Washington, our media often report the same topics, using many of the same phrases – a phenomenon that would otherwise rather be associated with ‘controlled media’ in authoritarian states,” Swiss Policy Research writes.²²

Even media outlets that have foreign correspondents on their payroll do not expect those correspondents to conduct independent investigations. They too simply report whatever the Big Three news agencies want covered, and from the angle they want it covered. What you end up with is a sort of echo-chamber where only one view is presented.

As one might expect, this setup makes for a perfect propaganda machine. As noted by Swiss Policy Research, “Due to the rather low journalistic performance of the mainstream media and their high dependence on a few news agencies, it is easy for interested parties to spread propaganda and disinformation in a supposedly respectable format to a worldwide audience.” Military and defense ministries are well aware of this and use it with regularity.

Full Circle Back to the WHO

We’ve already mentioned three key organizations involved in creating and pushing the Great Reset agenda forward: the CFR, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group. The WHO, which serves as the medical branch of the U.N., also plays a central role in the technocratic plan, which brings us full circle back to where we started this article.

Its role in the Great Reset agenda is why I don’t believe it’s pure coincidence that the WHO’s sudden decision to change the way we diagnose COVID-19 cases coincided with the inauguration of President Biden. It’s simply too convenient. Another clue: One of the first things Biden did when he entered office was to rejoin the WHO.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation became the WHO’s largest funder when the Trump administration, in mid-April 2020, halted funding until a White House review of the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic can be completed.²³

The GAVI Alliance — a partnership between Gates and Big Pharma with a stated aim of solving global health problems through vaccines — is also a top donor to the WHO, and one of the primary initiatives of the World Economic Forum,²⁴ which we’ll review next.

The World Economic Forum

No deep state organizational chart is complete without the World Economic Forum, which serves as the social and economic branch of the U.N. and is the organization that hosts the annual conference of billionaires at Davos, Switzerland.²⁵

The World Economic Forum was founded by Klaus Schwab, who also wrote the books “The Fourth Industrial Revolution”(2016), “Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution” (2018) and “COVID-19: The Great Reset.”

The World Economic Forum is a conglomeration of the world’s largest and most powerful businesses, all of which are helping to further the technocratic agenda along. They include:

• Microsoft, which made Bill Gates a billionaire

      MasterCard, which is leading the globalist charge to develop digital IDs and banking services

       Google, the No. 1 Big Data collector in the world and a leader in artificial intelligence services

         Foundations started by the world’s wealthiest people, such as the Rockefeller foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation

When you peek behind the curtain at the World Economic Forum and the WHO, you find all the same wealthy individuals and their companies and foundations who, although they claim to be working for a more equitable society and healthier planet, are really only trying to centralize profit and power.

Technocracy by Any Other Name Is Still Technocracy

Many of the terms we’ve heard more and more of from these and other organizations in recent years actually refer to technocracy under a different name. Examples include:

The Great Reset26

The Fourth Industrial Revolution²⁷

“Build Back Better”²⁸

Sustainable development

Agenda 21

The 2030 Agenda

The New Urban Agenda

Green economy

The green new deal

The Paris Climate Agreement and the global warming movement in general

All of these refer to and are part of technocracy and its resource-based economics. Their common goal is to capture ownership of all the resources of the world for a small global elite group that has the know-how to program the computer systems that will ultimately dictate the lives of everyone.

What they’re aiming for is really the ultimate form of totalitarianism. When they talk about “wealth redistribution,” what they’re actually referring to is the redistribution of resources from us to them, and that is precisely the kind of wealth transfer the COVID-19 “casedemic” facilitated.

For nearly a year, we were snookered into thinking that millions would die unless we gave up all semblance of a normal life, when in fact faulty testing had been put into place that merely detects inactive viral particles that pose no threat to health. While small business owners were forced to sacrifice everything they owned, the rich gobbled up both the market share and property that they had to forfeit because of lost business.

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has been the biggest false flag event in human history, cooked up by technocrats and implemented through their network of global organizations that influence — if not outright direct and control — politics, health, finance and media. As noted by Lennox in her January 20, 2021, article:²⁹

“What I have referred to as the ‘casedemic’ since September will be magically solved just in time for Joe Biden to look like a hero. For doing absolutely nothing. Do not tell me there is not a politicized deep state in our health agencies … Every business owner who has been ruined because of lockdowns due to a high number of ‘cases’ should be livid. Any parent whose child has lost a year of school should be furious. None of this was for your health.”

* Editor’s Note: This article has been modified to reflect that one of the referenced sources has been retracted by PJ Media and to clarify the WHO’s changes on PCR tests for COVID.

- Sources and References

 

• ¹ WHO.int Notice 2020/05 January 20, 2021

² AP January 21, 2021 ^3, 13, 29 PJ Media January 20, 2021 ⁴ Wayback Machine PJ Media January 20, 2021 ^5, 9 The Vaccine Reaction September 29, 2020 ⁶ WHO.int Diagnostic detection of Wuhan Coronavirus 2019 by real-time RT-PCR, January 13, 2020 (PDF) ⁷ WHO.int Diagnostic detection of 2019-nCOV by real-time RT-PCR, January 17, 2020 (PDF) ⁸ Eurosurveillance 2020 Jan 23; 25(3): 2000045 ¹⁰ Jon Rappaport’s Blog November 6, 2020 ¹¹ YouTube TWiV 641 July 16, 2020 ¹² Clinical Infectious Diseases September 28, 2020; ciaa1491 ¹⁴ The Sentinel January 21, 2021 ¹⁵ PJ Media October 27, 2020 ¹⁶ NEJM January 27, 2021 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2027040 ¹⁷ World Economic Forum October 29, 2020 ^18, 20 Swiss Policy Research The American Empire and Its Media ¹⁹ Council on Foreign Relations: The Imperial Council of the US ^21, 22 Swiss Policy Research, The Propaganda Multiplier ²³ Politico April 14, 2020 ²⁴ Josephine Moulds, “How Is the World Health Organization Funded?,” World Economic Forum, April 15, 2020 ²⁵ CFR.org February 1, 2016 ²⁶ Technocracy.news June 25, 2020 ²⁷ Gov.uk The Fourth Industrial Revolution ²⁸ UN.org April 22, 2020

Edited February 6, 2021 by Tom Nolan