Commodity

 Oil or Food Right now the federal government is reviewing a request from seven Midwestern governors to boost usage of corn-based ethanol — specifically the E15 blend that consists of 15% ethanol. Just great: At a time of global food shortages, we’re going to turn even more food into fuel. “If adopted,” Bloomberg reports, “it could be good news for corn farmers throughout the region, including the politically important state of Iowa. But it would also force oil refiners supplying the Midwest to provide a specialized gasoline grade and construct new storage tanks and other infrastructure. “That has the potential to increase costs, which would likely be passed on to consumers already squeezed by soaring inflation.” Conservative estimates have the scheme adding 2 cents a gallon to the region’s gas prices. The energy industry’s estimates are much higher. This scheme is being pushed by the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. So “conservative” he...

Silver and Solar Panels  Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have published a paper suggesting that silver demand for photovoltaic solar panels is on track to use up at least 85% of global silver reserves. “The rapidly growing solar industry could exhaust much of the world’s known silver reserves by 2050 or even earlier,” says an article summarizing the paper at   PV Magazine . In fact, the researchers say newer solar-panel technology will require even   more   silver — “posing price and supply risks,” they write. Alternative technologies do exist… but the changeover would be costly and even if it takes place, that will only increase demand for   copper . And as we suggested above, there’s already ample copper demand out there. Recycling old solar panels will be a source of silver, yes… but as the   PV Magazine   article points out, “it may still be several decades before the volume of PV waste processed each year is enough fo...

  Gold and silver has a support line and the trend is upwards.