In my article for Energy and Capital this week, I survey the carnage in the stock markets and adopt a solidly defensive stance (with a tip of the hat to Bob Marley). If anybody thinks they can call the bottom of this market, I think they’re just kidding themselves. It ain’t over till it’s over…

Good luck everybody.

–C
(more…)

I’m pleased to announce that my second book is now out:
Investing in Renewable Energy: Making Money on Green Chip Stocks

with Jeff Siegel and Nick Hodge

Unlike my first book Profit from the Peak, this book was a true collaboration. I wrote about half of it, including material that I borrowed and rewrote from PFTP. For example, the roughly four chapters on peak oil from the first book were condensed into one chapter in this book.

The timing of this book was, unfortunately, terrible. Whereas PFTP came out just as the world woke up to the possibility of peak oil, and oil prices were hitting new highs every week (and kept on hitting them for months more), this book comes out just as the markets are experiencing their worst selloff in decades. That’s too bad for us as authors, but there were very few people who would have said we’d be in this situation a year and a half ago, when we were writing the book. Certainly not us.

Although this is a tough time to be an investor in stocks, let alone the energy sector, I firmly believe that once the market has truly wrung out the toxins and assets have once again become properly valued, the energy sector will take off again. That point could be months or even a year or more in the future, but when it does happen, those who have invested wisely in renewables should make a bundle.

Check it out, and let me know what you think of it!

–C

I will be on http://www.cleanskies.tv live today at 1 pm PST, if you’d like to tune in.

The show will be re-broadcast on ABC TV this weekend (“Clean Skies Sunday,” after Stephanopoulos) and CBS radio…

UPDATE: The clip is now available online. I couldn’t get RealPlayer to work and make it a downloadable clip, nor does the pig of a Flash application that runs their entire site let you find links anywhere. But if you really want to see it, I suggest you shut down other applications, then follow these breadcrumbs:

1. Go to http://www.cleanskies.tv/#app=6609&b7d2-selectedIndex=3

2. In the center column of buttons, click on “The Energy Report with Susan McGinnis”

3. On the right, scroll down to the 10/2/08 segment, with the blurb “House members ar…” and click on it.

My bit runs from 3:00 to about 10:10.

In my Energy and Capital article for this week, I considered some insight from my Depression era daddy, and devised a “Depression Portfolio” to help weather the stormy markets.

–C
(more…)

For my Energy and Capital article this week, I offered some quick observations about the just-concluded ASPO-USA peak oil conference.

(more…)

In my article for Energy and Capital for the week of Sept 15, I take a good look at the worst carnage on Wall Street since the Great Depression, and conclude that sometimes just sitting it out is the best course of action. ..

–C
(more…)

My Energy and Capital article for this week takes a closer look at the health of the US economy, taking the Fannie and Freddie bailout into account.

–C

(more…)

Here’s my article this week for Energy and Capital, discussing the huge selloff in commodities & energy after the Labor Day weekend.
–C

(more…)

I recently did an interview with Chris Morrison of Venture Beat, which was published today there and elsewhere (including The Industry Standard). I’m reposting it here.
It’s a condensed summary of what was a pretty long (and technically challenged) interview by cellphone, and all the words are his, not mine. But I think he did a good job of representing what I said, and I always appreciate the additional coverage.

We are really running out of time to get moving on the inevitable transitions ahead. We need to get the story of energy transition out there into the public a lot more than we are. I just heard today that at a recent convention in Norway of some 6,000 geologists from 170 countries, the presentations by peak oil gurus Colin Campbell and Jean Laherrere had paltry audiences, and it appeared that a large part of the conference attendees had no clue about peak oil. I could say the same, by the way, for some of the cleantech and renewable energy conferences I’ve been to. If that doesn’t tell you we’re in trouble, I don’t know what will…

–C

(more…)

The last few weeks have really had me scratching my head and wondering, “What the hell is going on here?” The markets have been behaving exactly the opposite of what any rational read of the facts might suggest.

It’s been a very long wait, but my videocast interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp on June 3rd is finally online. The topic was the problems facing the airline industry due to rising fuel costs. You can view it here.

It was a very technically challenged interview. I was alone in a videoconferencing room in San Francisco with only video of myself, a telephone at my side with the interviewer’s audio, another telephone line ringing constantly in the background (only on my end), and a signficant delay. The uplink quality wasn’t very good either. But it was my first international media appearance, so I’m blogging it for posterity.

–C

In my regular article for Energy and Capital this week, I examine some of the popular new solutions to the energy crisis and attempt to figure out if they’re real or fantasy.

(more…)

I have several updates today, to catch you up with my busy East Coast trip last week. First is my Energy and Capital article for last week, which discussed my appearance on the Tech Ticker show.

More to follow…

(more…)

My book was reviewed twice by the Seeking Alpha financial site/newsletter in the last week:
“Profit from the Peak: An Enjoyable Read About Our Energy Problems”

“Profit from the Peak – A Great Surprise”

I have re-posted both reviews below.

–C

(more…)

I did a 53-minute interview with Jim Puplava on his Financial Sense Newshour show last week, which was posted online this past Saturday. Jim is one of the few financial journalists I am aware of who really gets peak oil, and he has done numerous long-format, high-quality interviews with experts like Matthew Simmons. In a world of sound bite journalism, it’s a rare pleasure to be able to talk at length on the subject with a guy who really knows his stuff. You can listen to the interview at the link above, or download it here.

–C

As I alerted you a few days ago, I did a video interview yesterday with Aaron Task for the Yahoo Finance “Tech Ticker” show, at their studio in Times Square. Check it out…and if you want a good laugh, read the comments threads!

Part 1: ‘Sky’s the Limit’ for Crude, says Peak Oil Advocate: Buy Drillers, Avoid Majors

Part 2: No Relief from $120 Oil Anytime Soon — or Ever, says Energy Expert

Part 3: The End Is Nigh: Peak Oil Proponent Forecasts Grim Future

Gotta bring these two pieces on population to your attention, because they’re so good, and I have a huge respect for these guys. If you’re able to stomach a solid, unvarnished, scientific perspective on everything, check these guys out. Basically, I agree with every word of both. Unfortunately, selling this message, as critical as it is, seems nigh impossible. If you have any ideas, I’m all ears…
First, a recent interview with famed environmentalist Paul Erlich, who wrote The Population Bomb. Watch the video.

Second, this recent screed (below) from Dr. Albert Bartlett, who’s standard lecture on population I have referenced many times…In my opinion, it should be a required part of every high school curriculum.

–CPublished in the Teachers Clearinghouse for Science and Society Education Newsletter

Vol. 27, No. 2, Spring 2008, Pg. 21

(more…)

In this week’s Energy and Capital, I offer my perspective on the Plug-In 2008 Conference, devoted to plug-in and electric cars. There were some exciting visions in play, and a couple of interesting vehicles. In particular I liked badboybuggies.com.

I’ll be traveling next week, and doing a podcast on Monday morning on my friend Aaron Task’s Tech Ticker show at Yahoo Finance, check it out. Live from Times Square…then off to brainstorm some new ideas on how to deal with peak oil.

–C

(more…)

In this week’s column for Energy and Capital, I review the crippled state of the financial markets, and address another load of horrible ideas out of Washington D.C. for how to deal with the energy crisis.

(more…)

I did a 45-minute telephone interview for a podcaster/blogger this week. The interviewer is a strong proponent of nuclear power, and was disappointed with my coverage of nuclear power in the book, but on most other points about the greater energy challenge, we agreed.

You can listen to it here: Atomic Show #098 – Chris Nelder, Co-Author of Profit from the Peak