Something unusual happened in late April. In many large cities around the world people looked up and saw deep blue skies during the day and a multitude of stars at night. It was a worldwide phenomena, happening in China, the U.S., India, and elsewhere.
COVID-19 cut transportation emissions drastically and air pollution fell dramatically. Unfortunately, one of the more insidious results of living in a polluted world is you start to think polluted skies are normal.
The Los Angeles skyline on April 6, 2020. Source SFGate
So, is prosperity inexorably tied to pollution? The current U.S. administration apparently thinks so. It's weakening air pollution controls in order to boost economic growth. I believe there is a better way.
Perhaps those blue skies were telling us something, something which we may not have realized -- namely, we can have blue skies along with prosperity. That's the message renewable proponents have been asserting for a long time.
Many complain of clean energy subsidies yet oil and gas is subsidized on a continuing basis -- every time they pull the stuff out of the ground. A one time subsidy to home owners, say on a solar array, is good for 20 years. So think about it, which makes more sense?
Renewable energy, even without subsidies is now, in many markets, less costly than fossil fuel so and costly capital expenditures on coal, oil, and gas only add to the earth's CO2 burden -- something which is already killing us.
Did we reach peak global oil demand in 2019?
The COVID-19 black swan devastated almost all equity sectors but perhaps none as much as oil and gas. In one of the fastest sell offs in history the S&P 500 Index tumbled 34% in less than a month, reaching its low in mid-April. Now, with few exceptions, markets have regained almost
