The recent move toward green energy doesn’t mean gas is going away anytime soon. No, no.
Key details
The International Energy Agency is predicting oil demand to peak by 2035 and barely decline by 2050.
Some 95% of American cars are still gasoline-powered and efforts to phase them out are unlikely to see new expensive electric vehicles taking precedence for at least another decade or more.
Even if 25% of cars are electric by 2030, that means 75% are still gas-powered.
As we previously reported, oil companies are reporting large profits in the midst of economic distress and green-energy investments.
Why it’s important
The green-energy movement has made impressive strides in the past year, with the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act investing $369 billion into climate change research and tax credits for cleaner energy.
Major corporations, railroads, and automobile manufacturers are making preparations for the change, canceling gas-powered models, and expanding production for electric vehicles.
“The next logical assumption is that fossil fuels are dead.… But the reality is much different,” says Stansberry Research editor Brett Eversole.
“The reality is that we still need oil and gas—for at least another decade or two.”
Despite the major legislative victories, the green-energy revolution still has decades’ worth of infrastructure buildup, implementation, research, and development outstanding.
Solar energy may have surpassed coal power in terms of efficiency and may be becoming more popular to power individual homes, but the energy grid is not prepared for an all-solar power supply—yet.
“While solar power has gotten cheaper, it’s a long way away from powering the grid. We need billions of dollars worth of infrastructure investment to make that possible. And battery technology, while improving, simply isn’t there yet,” says Eversole.