The longer I live, the more astonishing life becomes. This is a good thing, as it keeps life interesting (among other things), but, at times, I do shake my head and smile. I mean, who woulda thunk, say, ten years ago, that the name “Amazon,” the word “drone,” and the phrase “red tape” would all be used in the same sentence – Red tape does in Amazon as it pursues its drone delivery program.

  • Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration approved Amazon’s request for testing drones for package deliveries. But the e-commerce giant says it’s too little, too late; the drone models submitted with their request six months ago are now obsolete.

Now, here is another interesting aspect to this – the drones Amazon was testing six months ago are now obsolete. Okay, World, slow down just a bit. I am getting dizzy.

  • Young companies staked by big backers are challenging fossil fuels with new ways to hold sun and wind power in the $50 billion energy storage market.

Okay, World, keep going fast. We need the batteries. Yup, just yesterday (I think), I was writing about the Saudis and their purported real reason to keep oil prices low – slow down the move toward green energy. Good luck sticking a finger into the dike on this one.

  • New batteries can hold enough clean energy to run a car, home, or campus; store power from wind or solar farms; and make dirty electricity grids greener by replacing generators and reducing the need for more fossil fuel plants. This market for storage capacity will increase almost 10-fold in three years to 2,400 megawatts.

Now, 2,400 megawatts might not seem like a lot, but it is. That would be 2.4 billion watts, and to put that in context for you consider this: The Los Angeles Water and Power Department, the “largest municipal utility in the US, serving over four-million residents,” currently delivers 7200 megawatts of energy.

  • Wind turbines accounted for 45 percent of new U.S. power production last year, while solar made up 34 percent of fresh capacity worldwide.

Yup, the Saudis are onto something. Green energy is here and soon enough, the storage capacity needed to make the total shift will be here as well.

  • Retail sales increased 0.9 percent in March. That was the largest gain since March last year and snapped three straight months of declines that had been blamed on harsh winter weather.

Duh … The same words came across my screen last year.

  • Small business confidence fell in March as hiring and capital spending plans weakened, adding to signs that economic growth braked sharply in the first quarter.

Duh … The same words were used last year at this time except last year, small business planned to increase employment by a factor of 7%; this year it is 10%. The percent for capital outlays is about the same 24% and 25%, and the number who believed the economy would improve last year was -19% vs. -1% this year.   

  • The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday it expected U.S. shale production to fall by 45,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 4.98 million bpd in May.

Duh … This was to be expected, but, like 2400 megawatts, let’s put this into a context for easier grasping. It is less than 1% of the total US output. Nothing but a drop, if you will.

Trade in the day; invest in your life …

Trader Ed