Last month, real estate mogul and reality television star Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum in front of Scotland’s parliament.
Worried that a planned offshore wind development would spoil the view at his new billion-dollar golf resort, Trump told Scotland’s lawmakers if Scotland pursues its policy of these monstrous turbines, the country will go broke.
He went on to say, “They are ugly, they are noisy, and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us.”
Trump was later asked to provide evidence of his claims, to which he responded: “I am the evidence, I am a world class expert in tourism.”
The result of this rant was the public gallery erupting into laughter.
Despite the fact that Scotland’s tourism agency claimed 83% of UK visitors will not be turned off by wind turbines, Trump insisted Scotland was making a mistake by choosing its own energy security over a golf course.
Fortunately, the good folks in Scotland don’t seem to be willing to bow to the Donald’s ego.
And quite frankly, I’d expect more from Trump. He’s an exceptionally smart guy and I would think he’d know better than to expect folks over there to bend over for him, much in the way so many folks do here. (This isn’t a negative criticism, by the way — just a truthful observation.)
Of course, Scotland has much more at stake than the U.S. when it comes to its energy goals…
Although the United States is steadily diversifying its energy portfolio — integrating more natural gas, solar, and wind into the mix — Scotland’s plan is 100% renewable electricity by 2020.
In order for that to happen, it must increase its renewable power generation from 10 Twh today to 50Twh in just eight years.
In 2011, about 35% of Scotland’s electricity came from renewables…
To add another 65% inside of eight years is an aggressive goal.
From 2010 to 2011, installed renewable capacity grew by 9.5% and renewable electricity generation increased by 44.5%. These are very impressive numbers, but Scotland will not reach its goal if it doesn’t stay aggressive.
Now, while Donald Trump does have plenty of juice, I don’t think he has enough to sidetrack an entire nation’s energy security. He’d be better off asserting his influence here in the U.S., where special interests have a much better track record at dictating policy.
Who Loves Cheap Gas?
Last week legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens told a reporter that President Obama has offered no real energy plan, and that special interests were continuing to block real energy reform.
Pickens went on to point out Koch Industries as the main culprit, saying:
The biggest deterrent to an energy plan in America is Koch Industries. They do not want an energy plan for America because they have the cheapest natural gas prices they’ve ever had, and they’re in the fertilizer business and they’re in the chemical business. So their margins are huge.
And they do not want you to have an energy plan, because if you had a plan, then natural gas prices would come up.
To be perfectly honest, even without a real energy plan, natural gas prices will eventually head north again…
Especially as we continue to transition both our outdated coal-fired power plants with natural gas and many of our truck and bus fleets to run on natural gas.
And of course, don’t ignore exports…
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that when natural gas futures are running around $2 per million BTUs, but going for $12 per million BTUs in Europe and $18 in a few Asian markets, few are hesitating to ship it off to the highest bidder.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying Pickens is inaccurate. The truth is the Koch Brothers do have a lot at stake here.
Of course they don’t want to see natural gas prices rise…
But even with all their money and influence, they can only slow — not stop — the eventual increase in natural gas prices.
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Profits Versus Propaganda
Be it the Koch Brothers, Donald Trump, or any other heavy hitter, nobody has a perfect track record of getting his way all the time.
And it’s often when the insanely wealthy start acting, well, insane, that you should tune out their ramblings — or at least take them with a grain of salt.
Donald Trump insists offshore wind turbines are ugly, noisy, and dangerous.
Meanwhile, offshore wind capacity doubled last year, and the EU is seeking to build out even more…
The North Sea is actually turning into a sort of offshore wind energy hub with companies like Scottish Power, Statoil (NYSE: STO), Siemens (NYSE: SI), and Gamesa (PINK SHEETS: GCTAF) leading the charge under the Norstec initiative.
And as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, a recent Pike research report has indicated offshore wind power production is expected to reach $104 billion in revenues by 2017. This is a 53% annual growth rate based on 2011 numbers.
Now, I can’t say with absolute certainty that Trump won’t be able to influence offshore wind development in Scotland, no matter how ridiculous his rhetoric becomes…
What I can say with absolute certainty is that as an investor, it’s best to focus on real data — and not the temper tantrums of a few privileged individuals who aren’t used to being told ‘no’.
That data suggests Europe will continue to develop its offshore wind resources and the U.S. will continue to develop its solar and domestic oil and gas resources.
So pick your poison. And focus on the profits, not the propaganda.
To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…
Jeff Siegel
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Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor’s page.
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