Gore’s Nobel win to fuel new energy technologies

The winning of the Nobel Peace Prize by Al Gore should push alternative energy technologies, already enjoying their best year ever, say experts. The prize may spur change in the energy industry, which coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power dominate. “It’s a quiet revolution,” said Sarah Emerson, MD of Boston-Based Energy Security Analysis Inc, which has advised clients about fossil fuels for decades. “Gore’s winning makes it a little louder.”

“Gore has helped a whole lot of people see how critically important it is we address the climate crisis,” said Ted Nordhaus, an adviser to environmental groups. “Where we and he need to go next is to define an agenda that is focused on building the new energy economy, not just tearing down the old energy economy,” said Nordhaus, the co-author of Break Through, a book on how the world should fight global warming.

The peace prize for Gore comes at a time of record prices for oil, cheap supplies of which are harder and harder for major oil companies to find. Oil hit a record high above $84 a barrel on Friday amid supply concerns. Adam Bergman, a clean technology investment banker at Jeffries, New York, said the peace prize and record oil prices may give a push to politicians who promise to regulate greenhouse gases and provide strong incentives for renewables. He noted that incentives have helped put renewables on a level playing field with fossil fuels in EU countries such as Germany and Spain.