Our New Series

Over recent months I’ve become increasingly interested in the stark and fairly recent, even sudden, changes in the global energy economy. We’re all seeing lower gas prices, which affects all of us as consumers – either directly or indirectly. These sustained low oil prices, though, may well bankrupt a series of countries around the world which cannot survive with oil stuck around 50 dollars a barrel – something that may persist for two or three years. The growing role of the US as an energy producer is also driving changes in global currency flows in ways that deepen global US financial dominance. Meanwhile the role of oil is declining in the global energy economy with rising use of gas (not so bad) and coal (really, really bad). But happening amidst all of this over the last couple years is a surprising (at least to me) run-up in the use of wind and solar power. We’ve commissioned a five part series of Prime longform pieces (sub req), looking at all these changes with a particular focus on growth in the wind and solar space. We’ll be running this series over the course of the spring.