The reason I say the good guys are winning is that all
capital flows globally will now avoid fossil fuels like the proverbial
plague. (here is my rant) . Not even ethanol.
MOST DO NOT REALIZE THAT PRIOR INVESTMENTS ARE SUNK CAPITAL
THAT CANNOT BE REVERSED The coal fired
power plants, the crappy oil cars, the miserable electric grid, and even the
production of resistant antibiotics are all funded by capital that is through
the pipeline of annuities and pensions and insurance policies and coupons that
grandmothers (of politicians)clip. Stopping the use of old oil cars stops
payments to pensioners (in pensions that are already under water). So the main enemy is time*…..it will take
time for these things to work through our capitalist system.
Old coal fired power plants are a good case (and our most
egregious environmental sin) --- even
the operators do not like them and are happy to pay fines and insurance policy
bills as long as they make their bond payments.
Raising capital for scrubbers and conversion is not possible at this
time. Same for Duke energy (current
poster child) who would love to raise capital to properly entomb coal ash but
is stuck (at least until their bankruptcy).
My favorite case right now is used batteries…..clearly a
plague on the green scene. It was
announced this week that they have found a way to take (some not all) of used
batteries and make them into a home (stationary) storage system in a
financially viable way. Same for spent
nuclear fuel rods….but all of this takes time* AND CAPITAL.
So (end of rant coming) keep to the ‘right is right and wrong is
wrong’ theme, but watch the capital…
*some cheeky guy might site the existence of GADD --Green attention deficit disorder
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