We humans are really good at messing up the biosphere, we have been doing a pretty decent job of it for the last few thousands years. Now we have such powerful tech that our tendencies in this matter have only accelerated. But that same tech also offers us the ability to attempt to reverse our destruction on the planet. This is THE issue of this century. This got me thinking, there has to be some huge profits to be made in this. I imagine there could be some companies that develop tech to combat this and they will be poised to make a lot of money. There will also be organizations who's products/services will be in very high demand. I'm thinking things like clean drinking water and food production. I am sure there many aspects of this I have not even really thought about. Is anyone else mindful of this when investing? Is anyone using this as a strategy? Any equities that I should be looking at to capitalize on this opportunity?
Well it is kind of sad to think about, but you are right. We are already hearing about water wars in other parts of the world, and who is to say how long it is until some of these resources that we depend on are gone. And yes, of course there are profits to be made and chances are that they will be made by the very few while the majority suffer. Better to have a heads up I guess.
I'm not worried with water maybe because of the rains that come and go. What's profitable in the near future and even now is the alternative energy source. If you can perfect the solar power system then you will definitely be rich. Right now the solar panels are very expensive and not that efficient. The battery or storage is also not dependable aside from being expensive as well. If there is a way to store the energy from the sun that can be used later then that system will be availed of even at a high price.
Unfortunately these things aren't really that developed yet. Ie. The big people haven't really decided that this whole climate thing is a big deal. That quite simply results in most of these companies being private. And that means hard to get your fingers in the pie unless you've got some serious capital. This is for things like the boat that cleans the ocean etc. There are some good concepts out there but it's a small industry for now. Alternative energy could be one of the things that you are looking for. Also electric cars and companies involved in the whole battery technology.
This isn't just about "the whole climate thing" howevevr. I am not educated in climate science, so I won't say one way or another what's going on there. BUT there are many other things going on that no one with half a brain can refute are actually occurring. Things like: Loss of biodiversity, destruction of rainforests, ocean acidification, massive ocean pollution, widespread overfishing, food and water shortages or the logistical problems of food and water availability the list goes on and on and on. I am very confidant we can find solutions to these problems, which is going to be huge business in the future so I want to brainstorm idea's on how to get in on the ground floor. Corzhens is 100% right about solar as well. We are getting pretty close to it being a very viable alternative to other energies. I am also a big pro nuclear advocate as well. But the cool thing is when you think about energy, pretty much ALL energy on this planet is actually solar in nature. If you trace it back it originally got its energy from the sun. Oil is really just biologically stored solar energy. Why not just cut out the middle man and get power from the sun!
Nuclear energy is clean energy with zero pollution. It's just sad that nuclear plant leaks and radiation greatly scare the populace hence the opposition to nuclear energy. But now that we are seeing the ill effects of fossil fuel particularly petrol, I guess the attitude of people will tend to change for a more understanding stance towards nuclear energy. And with the carbon credit that countries are talking about, we are slowly shifting to a cleaner energy supply and nuclear energy is the first in the list.
Still fits my description: the big people aren't interested yet. I do agree with you, it could be a lucrative business in 10-20 years. That is assuming the world leaders can actually agree on something... very few countries will be putting a lot of funds into something like cleaning the ocean if 10km from their shores there are factories (in another country) pushing all the crap they want into the water. It certainly is an interesting idea for investment but I really can't think of many *public* companies doing much here. As far as I'm aware, unfortunately it's mostly smaller privately held companies.
It is FAR from zero pollution. Of course everyone should be aware that until they make a fully functioning fusion reactor there will be nuclear waste left behind. Waste that has to be stores somewhere safe and out of reach for thousands of years. Yes thousands, we will actually store that thing somewhere safe for longer than we have known that such a thing as electricity exists. But apart from that there are also other things to consider, like the fact that uranium simply does not fall out of the sky but rather it has to be mined. And I'm sure you've seen pictures of mines, it's not exactly pretty. And then you have to transport it from where it's mined to where it's enriched (since you can't just use it like that), enrich it, then transport to the powerplant etc. None of this is pollution free. That being said it's still one of the cleanest methods we have currently but it's far from producing zero pollution. As much as I like nuclear power, we will have to wait until someone figures out how to sustain a controlled fusion reaction before it will be the #1 source of energy. (and solar & battery technology might be so advanced then that there is very little need for nuclear reactors)
Kinda related, but one thing I researched last weekend was the Flint, Michigan situation. I looked at it from 2 angles. The first is that it is heavily reported that Flint is not the only city, and that there are going to be a lot of cities that are going to have to rip up and replace pipes. If the politicians from Flint go to jail, you are going to see a lot of that work being done pronto. But there are no companies I could find that would benefit from that extra work that would be worth investing in. I also thought about bottled water, but most of them are owned by Coke etc, and even if there is a big uptick in bottled water, it wouldn´t be enough to move the needle for a company as big as Coke. The final thing I looked at were home water test kits. However, they are very cheap and made by a ton of companies and nobody really has a decent market share.
The problem is that Fukishima is too recent. Also to add that nuclear energy does produce pollution, but it has a low volume and we just bury it deep underground. I also think terrorist activities would be a fear also.. they would certainly be targets for terrorists... but I think Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now Fukishima will prevent many people from building plants. They are hugely expensive, and all it takes would be an accident somewhere else and there could be political pressure to shut them down. One of the problems with energy generation is that for it to be economically feasible, it has to be generated fairly close to major population areas, which is why we don´t have huge solar farms out in the middle of the desert. So you have to build a nuclear plant, then put it near a big city. Three Mile Island is literally right in the middle of Harrisburg Pa ( the capital).
