Over at the investment site Seeking Alpha, writer Simet Patel noticed another trend in 2011, that Oil prices rose by 19% over the year, the third year of increases. He cites this chart on the price of crude oil:
Courtesy of SeekingAlpha.com
He notes these factors of currency devaluation, political tensions, speculators as market forces at work, but then he suggests a bigger picture with larger issue: “…a growing factor that suggests the price rise will continue is the supply/demand imbalance in the oil market. In other words: demand for oil and other fossil fuels is only growing, but the supply of them is diminishing.”
His conclusion to investors?
“While I believe the world will likely be using fossil fuels as a primary source of energy for some time, we are clearly at a point where a new source of energy is needed. I believe nuclear energy is the primary candidate destined to grow, for the following reasons:
- It can provide “baseload” – meaning always on – energy
- It is emission-free
- It has high power density, which means it does not require an inordinate amount of land and thus is conducive to powering cities
- It is inexpensive
No other source can really make these same claims. Wind and solar are much more expensive and cannot effectively provide baseload energy, which is precisely why they remain insignificant sources of power on a global basis. Technological breakthroughs may change this, though I don’t see this on the horizon, and believe renewables will have limited roles in the global energy market until this changes.
And so, the rise of nuclear energy is virtually inevitable — the world will demand it for survival.”
