Wind Energy
Stocks started out down today as earnings reports started in. Goldman Sachs made big gains and stock ended down only 26 points at the close.
Bonds gained (lower interest rates) as the stock market fell in the morning.
The Dollar strengthened today, but oil and gasoline stayed in their well defined sideways trough.
Gold gained $13 today. However, I still believe gold will test the $850 to $860.
In the news today…..
Wind Energy – The state producing the most wind energy is Texas ( 7,118 megawatts) – and this is easy to understand if you ever fly over southwestern Texas during the daytime, and look down on all those wind towers. The second place state is Iowa (2800 megawatts) and third is California (2500 megawatts).
How could Iowa ever produce more wind energy than California? In fact, if you put wind towers in Washington DC with all that hot air coming out of Congress, you could power the world, I think. California is a much bigger state than Iowa could ever dream to be. And, California has lots of wind – just go to Palm Springs, but don’t forget to duck as those big blades come whipping around.
Here is my guess. California has a majority of conservationists (aka greens) in the state and has blocked the drilling of offshore oil for decades. Naturally, that was the good ole days when there was plenty of cheap energy around, and who cared if we owed the Saudi’s our first born. But, those folks couldn’t see an energy crisis looming on the horizon if they had continuous brown outs. And, oh I almost forgot, those folks went through a crisis under Governor Davis when the energy companies blackmailed California residents with very high bills, and black outs. Those were the Enron days. It’s hard to miss a black out when your favorite TV show shuts off. So, being good citizens (in their own mind) Californians have rejected wind energy as being wonderful, but not something to put “in their own back yard.” They do have a “clean” nuclear powered electric generator just north of San Diego that’s ready to crack open at the earliest shake of an earthquake. How about tidal power? But, wouldn’t that harm the kelp beds offshore, and make surfing less dangerous as the waves would be smaller?
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8058 (down 26 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.85% (down 0.08%)
Euro – $1.3369
Gold – $896 (up $13)
Oil – $50.05 (down $2.19)
Gasoline – $1.46 (down $0.02)
