Agoracom Blog

Gregor Macdonald – Keynote Presentation. Coal World: Will Energy Transition Deliver Us to a World of Green Energy, or Return us to a World of Coal?

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:34 PM on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

THIS PRESENTATION WILL GO LIVE ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3RD @ 4:00 PM EST.

Please find enclosed our afternoon keynote presentation for The AGORACOM Online Gold & Commodities Conference. Gregor Macdonald, an oil analyst and energy sector investor, who also focuses on the coming transition to alternatives, brings us a great change of pace by evaluating whether a shift to renewable energy is actually feasible – OR – as he states whether “the risk of a return to coal is much higher than most anticipate“.

On its face, I think most of us assume we’re on our way to an all renewable world. Gregor shows us 100 trillion reasons why that may not be the case in his excellent presentation titled “Coal World: Will Energy Transition Deliver Us to a World of Green Energy, or Return us to a World of Coal?”.

I don’t think anybody worked harder on their presentation than Gregor, who chose a topic that is not generally discussed at this level of depth within investment or energy circles.  As such, he dug down deep to conduct some great research and then generate extremely thought provoking conclusions.  We’re extremely thankful for his efforts and highly encourage everyone to sit back, grab a coffee and watch some great insights.  After all, if he’s written for the Financial Times of London, cited in the New York Times, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, WIRED, and the Oil And Gas Journal – you can bet he’s got great things to say.

Please click on the image below to launch the presentation in a new browser window. The presentation will not launch prior to 3:30 PM EST. Upon completion of the interview, close the window and return here to post your questions and comments. To do so, please click on the “Comments” button at the bottom of this post.

CONFERENCE LINKS: Home PagePresenting CompaniesKeynote SpeakersConference Schedule

Gregor - Opening Slide

BACKUP LINK IN CASE OF BANDWIDTH ISSUES (CLICK HERE)

PROFILE

Gregor Macdonald is an oil analyst and energy sector investor, who also focuses on the coming transition to alternatives. He has written for the Financial Times of London and been cited in the New York Times, The Financial Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, WIRED, and the Oil And Gas Journal.

In addition, he recently appeared on MSNBC in the United States and BNN in Canada.

Gregor produces two newsletters: a big picture take on global energy and economics available from this site, Gregor.us Monthly, and a new global macro and model portfolio service via the StockTwits financial network, Gregor Weekly

You can follow his free public commentary via his blog, Twitter or StockTwits TV

Regards,
George

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14 Responses to “Gregor Macdonald – Keynote Presentation. Coal World: Will Energy Transition Deliver Us to a World of Green Energy, or Return us to a World of Coal?”

  1. This is very compelling. I don’t think our society will be able to rely on fossil fuels for much longer. Check out my blog about Solar power, I write about things like this extensively.

  2. I recently started out constructing my own solar panels – I used some video guides I discovered and it’s working out fantastic!

  3. […] I’ll be making a presentation that speaks to these issues at the Agoracom Online Gold and Commodity Conference, broadcasting out of Toronto. Anyone can watch for free. In addition, while the recently published […]

  4. Rubin: Alt E is going to play a big tactical role. But until a certain country or countries get serious, it will not play a strategic role. It’s encouraging that some of the Gulf State oil producers are building big solar. That might get the message across.

    In general, my view is we can’t depress the economy with clamped regulations and then transition. We have to get the economy going, and then transition using the capital being produced by a strong economy.

    G

  5. Bernie says:

    Some interesting insights.Thanks Grogor..B

  6. Thanks for the comments. It generally comes as a surprise to people when they learn that google.org has been working on trying to beat Coal on a KwH basis, with renewable energy. This was announced by the CEO’s just over two years ago.

    I think that beating coal on price in North America will be possible either a) when coal emissions costs raise the structural price high enough on coal-fired power generation or b) when the financing and true, actual, ROI on utility grade solar is better understood.

    Generally however, I just don’t see how the developed world will prevent the developing world from burning their coal.

    G

  7. I do think it’s possible, once you layer on enough climate and emissions control to North American coal fired power generation, that groups like Google–and this is Google.org–will maybe beat coal fired KwH with solar.

    Yes, it really surprises people to learn that google–google.org that is-have been working on energy problems. But that is one of their key missions.

  8. […] Gregor Macdonald – Keynote Presentation. Coal World: Will Energy … […]

  9. rubin says:

    excellent presentation,
    how much role would alternative energy play going forward ?
    appreciate your presentation ………

  10. Steve Place says:

    Great talk gregor– we need a much more confrontational, realist approach to addressing future eneergy needs.

    — S

  11. I do think it’s possible, once you layer on enough climate and emissions control to North American coal fired power generation, that groups like Google–and this is Google.org–will maybe beat coal fired KwH with solar.

    Yes, it really surprises people to learn that google–google.org that is-have been working on energy problems. But that is one of their key missions.

    G

  12. AGORACOM says:

    Slide 14 – Google.org has tried to find alternative energy sources that are cheaper … but coal is just too hard to beat…coal prices itself just below other energy sources.

  13. Thanks to everyone for coming today. This has been a great conference so far and I’ve enjoyed being a part of it.

    I will look over any questions, and start answering them over the next 10 minutes.

    Gregor