By Jeff Siegel
You probably
wouldn't recognize him if you saw him on the street. Heck, you probably don't even know his name. But Ali Al-Naimi is one of the most powerful men in the world.
As the Saudi oil minister and chairman of Saudi Aramco, Al-Naimi
is not particularly popular with U.S. oil producers,
especially after telling the media he didn't care if oil
prices crashed to $20 because it was not in the interest of OPEC
producers to cut production — regardless of price.
Still, he remains the most influential oilman on the planet.
Listed as one of Forbes' 50 most powerful people in
the world, Ali Al-Naimi may not feel the love in Texas, but his
influence is unquestionable. So last week, when he made the following statement, the
gatekeepers of the global energy economy blinked...
In Saudi Arabia, we recognize that eventually, one of these days, we’re not going to need fossil fuels. I don’t know when - 2040, 2050 or thereafter. So we have embarked on a program to develop solar energy. Hopefully, one of these days, instead of exporting fossil fuels, we will be exporting gigawatts of electric power.
Al-Naimi also added:
I believe solar will be even more economic than fossil fuels.
And he calls himself an oilman!
One of these days...
Sarcasm aside, Al-Naimi is right. One of these days, we're not going to need fossil fuels. We're not going to need gasoline or diesel to fuel our vehicles
because in the future, our vehicles will not be reliant upon
outdated internal combustion technology. We're not going to need coal or natural gas to juice up our grid
because those resources will simply be too expensive and
environmentally burdensome to rely upon.
But let me assure you, dear reader, that this “one of these days”
scenario is pretty far off. Although I'm without a doubt one of the biggest advocates for
transitioning our energy economy to one that is primarily built on
cleaner energy, moving from a fossil fuel-dominated world to a
renewable energy-dominated world will take more than 25 to 35
years.
Renewable Energy is the Future
Don't get me wrong; this transition is well underway. And those
making the important investments in renewable energy
today will be the dominant energy providers of tomorrow. Don't think for a second that companies like Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA),
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG),
and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are embracing cleaner energy because
they're run by a bunch of tree-huggers.
Renewable energy IS the future, and embracing it in its earliest
stages is little more than a very smart investment decision. By the end of this decade, solar will be competitive with all
forms of fossil fuel power generation in nearly every city, town,
and neighborhood on the planet. In some places, it's already
there.
New developments in energy storage are not 50 years away —
they're here today. In another 10 to 15 years,
innovations like Tesla's Powerwall will be ubiquitous. Electric cars — not even representing 1% of all the
cars on the road today — will conquer 20% of the entire new
car market in less than 15 years.
By 2030, we'll be moving people and freight at speeds in excess
of 500 miles per hour using hyperloop technology. Centuries-old
rail systems will find new homes in museums, and short-range air
travel will become almost non-existent.
But here's the thing...
Even with all of these wonderful and exciting innovations that
will move us forward as a global society, it's highly unlikely
that all of the world's energy needs in 2050 will be met without
the inclusion of fossil fuels. That being said, the demand for fossil fuels is definitely going
to decrease dramatically, and in a relatively short amount of
time.
Your Grandkids Will Thank You
By 2030, 30% of the U.S. will be powered by renewables. And
that's a conservative estimate. By 2040, we'll be at 45%, and by 2050, we'll be well above 70%. As far as transportation is concerned, I suspect that by 2050,
they won't even be building internal combustion passenger vehicles
anymore. Economically, environmentally, and socially, they just
won't make sense.
Electric cars and high-speed travel
(powered almost exclusively by renewable energy) will be the norm,
new drivers won't even know how to put gas into a gas tank, and
guys like Elon Musk and Jigar Shah will be in the history books as
the most influential inventors and entrepreneurs of the 21st
century.
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2015/05/saudis_confirm_switch_from_oil_to_solar.html