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The Energy Futurist
The Energy Futurist brings a critical eye to the energy industry, offering facts and figures to support or debunk the hype behind clean technologies like solar and wind to oil and gas.
Chris Nelder
Chris Nelder
Columnist, Energy
Chris Nelder is an energy analyst and consultant who has written about energy and investing for more than a decade. He is the author of two books on energy and investing, Profit from the Peak and Investing in Renewable Energy, and has appeared on BBC TV, Fox Business, CNN national radio, Australian Broadcasting Corp., CBS radio and France 24. He is based in California.
Chris Nelder
Chris may or may not have financial holdings in the companies he writes about at the time of publication, as he is an active investor and trader in equities and ETFs. He also occasionally travels at the expense of companies or their press relations agencies in order to report on a company or industry event related to it. Chris prominently discloses this information when appropriate. These relationships have no influence on his coverage. Companies he covers do not get to review columns in advance, or select or reject topics.
He writes for SmartPlanet, but is not an employee of CBS.
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The energy transition juggernaut
Energy columnist Chris Nelder reviews public opinion polls and finds that money is no longer able to stop the energy transition juggernaut.
52 | May 16, 2012 2:37am |
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Fuel to Byrne
Energy columnist Chris Nelder digs into the dirty details of U.S. "oil" supply and finds that only about two-thirds of it can actually be used as vehicle fuel.
36 | May 2, 2012 5:00am |
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The cost of new oil supply
Energy columnist Chris Nelder shows why the production costs of oil from tight oil shales, tar sands, deepwater, and the Arctic will mean that oil becomes unaffordable for the U.S. by 2015.
40 | April 18, 2012 5:00am |
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The last sip
Energy columnist Chris Nelder explains why recent projections of oil independence by 2020 are not only wrong, but counter-productive in the long run.
24 | April 4, 2012 5:00am |
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Why baseload power is doomed
Energy columnist Chris Nelder explains why baseload power generation from nuclear and coal plants will be phased out in favor of renewables.
98 | March 28, 2012 5:00am |
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Scoring the rhetoric on Obama's energy policies
Obama takes credit for increasing fossil fuel production, while the fossil fuel industry blames him for falling production. So what's the truth?
35 | March 21, 2012 5:00am |
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High oil prices: Fortunately and unfortunately
High oil prices are changing our world in many ways; some for the good, and some for the worse, columnist Chris Nelder writes.
20 | March 14, 2012 2:16am |
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Oil demand shift: Asia takes over
Energy columnist Chris Nelder shows how the oil demand of the East will overtake the West this year, and why more efficient vehicles won't solve our problem.
32 | March 7, 2012 5:00am |
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A model of oil prices
Energy futurist Chris Nelder presents a model of oil prices, and shows why unconventional oil from fracked shales will reinforce, not relieve, the pain of high oil prices.
15 | February 29, 2012 5:00am |
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Energy independence, or impending oil shocks?
Bring back the good old days of U.S. oil production? Think again. Columnist Chris Nelder skewers recent proposals for energy independence with cold, hard data.
29 | February 22, 2012 4:03am |
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What EROI tells us about ROI
Energy futurist Chris Nelder explains why you can run from EROI, but you can't hide, and why savvy energy investors should use it as a guide instead of ROI.
32 | February 15, 2012 5:00am |
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Everything you know about shale gas is wrong
Is the shale gas gold rush over? Energy futurist Chris Nelder reviews new data showing that U.S. gas production is actually declining in major areas, and that the outlook for shale gas is...
11 | February 8, 2012 5:00am |
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The politics of peak oil
Energy futurist Chris Nelder reviews some recent press on peak oil, and tries to set the record straight about what it means, and why some in the press still get it wrong.
27 | February 1, 2012 5:00am |
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The Siren song of LNG exports
Natural gas fever has overtaken America, pumped up by a vigorous industry propaganda campaign, columnist Chris Nelder writes.
5 | January 25, 2012 5:00am |
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The revolution will be bottom-up
How will we respond to the Great Contraction? Columnist Chris Nelder argues that Americans must face energy challenges on their own.
3 | January 18, 2012 5:00am |
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Regulation and the decline of coal power
Energy futurist Chris Nelder explains why coal-fired electricity generation is on the wane, and why it's not just because of the EPA.
2 | January 11, 2012 2:10am |
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Three deformations of the apocalypse
Energy futurist Chris Nelder offers three scenarios for the next five years: the good, the bad, and the likely.
20 | January 4, 2012 5:00am |
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2012: Terra incognita
Energy futurist Chris Nelder offers his 2012 predictions for oil, the stock market, and geopolitics, along with some tips on how to maintain your sanity when the world is going crazy.
5 | December 28, 2011 5:00am |
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The mon(k)ey trap
Energy futurist Chris Nelder explains why we can't deal with peak energy, climate change, debt deleveraging, and our other existential crises: because we're stuck in a monkey trap.
24 | December 21, 2011 5:00am |
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The questionable economics of shale gas
Energy futurist Chris Nelder explores some serious questions about the economics of shale gas, and wonders if it's really a "game-changer," or a Ponzi scheme, or somewhere in between.
19 | December 14, 2011 6:00am |