• Print
• E-Mail

TER: What will be the impact on the U.S. dollar if/when commodity prices fall?

LR: I don't believe commodity prices will fall. What we are seeing now are commodity prices that reflect weak demand as a result of the recession in the West. As the Western world gets back on track, commodity prices will continue higher.

TER: To give our readers some perspective for your comments regarding energy, can you summarize the focus of your GreenTech Opportunities newsletter and why you chose that focus over a general energy or an emerging technology newsletter?

LR: There has to be a shift in the way the world generates energy. At present, burning carbon fuels provides 88% of all the energy in the world. The next biggest energy source is nuclear. The biggest carbon fuel is oil. There is a limit to the amount of oil that can be produced. The alarmists will tell you that we will run out of oil soon. The reality is that oil production has been increasing steadily for decades.

In the not very distant future - estimates range from next year to as much as 12 years from now - the total oil production will no longer increase. With demand continuing to increase, flat oil production will cause considerable disruption. Furthermore, a growing portion of oil production is coming from politically unstable or unfriendly jurisdictions, causing a lot of concern about energy security. It is vital that we begin now to get away from carbon-based energy.

There are numerous alternative energy forms in operation. They all offer enormous promise. But, most of the alternative energy forms are not economically viable at current prices and with current technology. There is enormous scope to improve technologies and to develop new technologies. The focus of GreenTech Opportunities is to raise awareness of the challenges, but more to the point, to make investors aware of the enormous opportunities available.

We have been enormously successful at Resource Opportunities at identifying emerging companies. We are bringing that skill at recognizing successful management and the other elements involved in building winning innovative companies.

We believe that the most important element in the transition to a cleaner energy environment will be the technological enhancements that will allow broader application of alternative energy forms. As in all fields, a great deal of the innovation happens in the small companies.

TER: The first issue of GreenTech Opportunities focused on two key factors for a pending demand for changes in our fuel consumption: 1) peak oil/gas - we will shortly reach the point where consumption is greater than production and 2) environment impacts of using fossil fuels is greater than the benefits of the currently cheaper fossil fuel energy options.

Awareness of global warming (the environment impact of using fossil fuels) initiated the desire for changes in our energy consumption. Without global warming as an issue, is there enough momentum from other drivers to sustain the desire for change?