The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk in the morning is check the price of gold. The second thing I do is check the price of oil.  Sure, the price for gold and oil changes all the time. Prices go up and down, for good and bad reasons. Heck, sometimes prices fluctuate and the reasoning defies logic.

The oil resources off Brazil are in the same scope as those of Saudi Arabia. The oil potential is huge. Beyond huge. It’s a game changer for the world of energy. No, the Brazilian resource doesn’t mean that Peak Oil is history. But it does mean that history is about to change. Indeed, the angel of history is favoring the nation of Brazil.

Offshore areas of the world — especially in deep water — are the key to the world’s energy future. Far out and deep down. That’s where the last great hydrocarbon discoveries remain to be made.

“It’s only gas,” said the geologists. And wow, were they ever frustrated…  The year was 1959. The geologists were in the Netherlands, near a small town named Groningen, at the southern edge of the North Sea. They worked for Shell and Esso (now Exxon Mobil) and were drilling a well.

Brazil is making a national commitment to develop energy resources located far offshore in the South Atlantic. Indeed, no nation has ever advanced such an ambitious plan for long-term comprehensive offshore development. And it’s being bankrolled by China.

When most people think of oil, they think of light, sweet crude that comes up out of little holes in the ground. You describe oil by its API gravity. For example, oil like Brent crude or West Texas Intermediate has an API gravity of 38-40. The oil that Col. Drake pulled from the ground at Titusville, Pa., in 1859 had API gravity near 60. These types of oil are relatively easy to pump from a reservoir, lift to the surface and transport via pipeline to the refinery.

Remember the old expression, “I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China.” People used to associate China with tea. Well, now it’s time to associate China with gold, and a lot of it. Because the Chinese recently announced that they control over 33.89 million ounces of gold for monetary purposes. That’s an increase of 75% in Chinese gold holdings over the past six years.

Last week, I spent a full day in a seminar on climate change. It was a totally sober and professional seminar, sponsored by a group that specializes in continuing legal education for attorneys. I heard talks by a variety of lawyers, academics and regulators, mostly about how “the train has left the station” on climate change and carbon regulation. And wow… has that train ever steamed out. But did you ever hear the conductor call, “All Aboard?” This is a critical matter and here’s the takeaway point: We’re about to see an UTTER TRANSFORMATION of the U.S. economy.

There’s lots of money to be made in the “clean energy” sector…Maybe more so now than ever before. My confidence in the investment potential of renewable energy gained some interesting corroboration the other day.