A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web.
There's no gasoline smell when plugging in an electric vehicle, but that doesn't mean fossil fuels aren't involved earlier in the electricity chain.
As the M.I.T. Technology Review underscores, electric vehicles are only as environmentally friendly as the power that charges the batteries,
"In much of the country, the cheap, flexible power sources at night are often coal-fired power plants. That means you could actually end up with higher greenhouse emissions from a particularly dirty energy source, Carnegie Mellon's Michalek notes… The vehicles will only be as clean as the power sources used to charge them, and more than 80 percent of U.S. energy generation still comes from fossil fuels."
"Tesla's Model 3 Is a Long Way from Elon Musk's Grand Goal" – M.I.T. Technology Review
"China's Electric Vehicles Run on Coal! Yes, But ..." – Gadfly
This is a more technical, but very good study on electric vehicles: "Riding the energy transition: Oil beyond 2040" – VoxEu
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Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter believes that Canada's economic growth spurt is behind us,
"We continue to believe Canada's astonishing 2017 growth performance is already past its peak … A big driver for the growth spurt this year was the stabilization in oil prices, and the concurrent stability in capital spending in the energy sector… But arguably the bigger story is the 3%, or better, GDP gains seen in each of the non-oil provinces of Ontario, Quebec and B.C. this year. The issue is that the forces behind this surprisingly sturdy performance are now largely heading in reverse."
"@SBarlow_ROB BMO: "Canada's astonishing 2017 growth performance is already past its peak"" – (research excerpt) Twitter
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The maddeningly diverse forecasts for the crude sector were on display again this morning,
Re Permian Basin : "In World's Hottest Oil Patch, Jitters Mount That a Bust Is Near" – Bloomberg
"@chris1reuters Permian is "the Powerhouse" of U.S. #oil output says @Chevron Promises to invest $4 billion to boost Permian shale " – Twitter
"Oil hits eight-month high as producers say market rebalancing" – Reuters
"China oil consumption helping to ease downturn but fears persist" – Financial Times
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Man bites dog! The Atlantic's Derek Thompson makes an extremely counterintuitive argument about Amazon.com's business strategy,
"The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon Is Doing" – The Atlantic
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Tweet of the Day: "@SBarlow_ROB GS : "wide dispersion btw asset price inflation and 'real economy' inflation" – (chart, research excerpt) Twitter
Diversion: "Robert Lustig on the science behind our addictions" – FT Alphaville
Scott Barlow