On my way out of the office this afternoon I stopped by the mail room and picked up some copies of the weekend newspapers. I am not sure which of you out in cyber land gets the paper these days, or reads Diane Francis, but this particular story really caught my eye.

Another POET market ?.....I think so....

http://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/is-the-sun-about-to-set-on-the-age-of-oil-solar-battery-developments-becoming-the-new-black-gold

In Silicon Valley jargon, disruption is the euphemism for destruction, and the consensus is that Canada as whole, along with big oil producers Saudi Arabia, Russia or Venezuela, will be “disrupted” within one generation.

That’s not because the oil will run out or because new pipelines won’t be built. Canada will be in trouble because neither oil nor pipelines will be needed.

By 2030, the sun will begin to set on the Age of Oil as the economics and technology behind solar energy, battery technologies and distributed power are rapidly becoming the new Black Gold.

Exponential developments in solar panels and battery storage have driven down solar costs and driven up their effectiveness. By next year, solar power costs will reach parity with most grid prices in North America.

Quietly, the amount of solar power has doubled every two years for 20 years. By 2030 or so, cost and technology improvements will each have improved by doubling and redoubling eight more times, and solar will be cheaper and better than any other energy sources.

This won’t mean solar panels everywhere. One estimate by a Silicon Valley friend is that solar farms on a relatively small portion of the world’s unused deserts will be able to meet all the world’s energy needs.

That means Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern kingdoms will be able to convert oil fields into desert solar farms. So will Nevada, Arizona and the Mojave. But others won’t be so fortunate.

This week, the newly crowned King of Saudi Arabia mused that his country will be a solar producer by 2050 and be out of the oil business.