Hydrogen Economy: Renewable Energy & The Future
Press Release: US State Department
Ambassador Reno Harnish
Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary, Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Remarks at an International Symposium on Materials Issues in a Hydrogen Economy
Richmond, Virginia
November 13, 2007
Renewable Energy and the Future
It is a great pleasure for me to speak this evening to such a distinguished group of scientists and entrepreneurs. Your deliberations over the course of the week will help to accelerate the development of the hydrogen economy as proposed by the President in 2003.
We hope, similarly, to accelerate sharply the market adoption of clean, alternative, and renewable energy through our deliberations at the ministerial meeting March 4-6, 2008 of the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, or WIREC.
I will speak about that in about 15 minutes, but first I will outline U.S. renewable energy policy. I will begin with an overview of our domestic program, then concentrate on the foreign policy aspects of renewable energy, including finance, market enabling initiatives, and project-based initiatives.
But before I start, let me apologize in advance for not being a bench scientist or principal investigator. My training was in what Thomas Carlyle calls "the dismal science" - economics. Some of you might be thinking now, "Oh great, he knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."
But seriously, I believe renewable energy will play a key part in U.S. energy and environmental policy, and I value it as an increasingly important energy source worldwide.
Domestic
We first set a good example here at home. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included over $14.5 billion in tax incentives designed to increase use of renewable fuels from 2005 to 2015.
Then, the Advanced Energy Initiative announced in President Bush's 2006 State of the Union accelerated advanced energy technologies, including the Solar America Initiative, the Biomass/Biofuels Initiative, and the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. By investing in these and other technologies, AEI will allow us to alter the way we power our homes and automobiles within 20 years.
Of course, you are contributing to these goals with your discussion this week of the hydrogen economy. President Bush announced his $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in the 2003 State of the Union Address.
The goal was to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells -- a way to power cars, trucks, homes, and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases.
In addition to his Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, in his 2007 State of the Union Address, the President outlined his Twenty in Ten plan, which aims to reduce U.S. dependence on imported petroleum, promote use of alternative fuels, and improve U.S. energy efficiency and infrastructure.
Twenty in ten will increase the supply of renewable and alternative fuels by setting a mandatory fuels standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017. This is nearly five times the 2012 target now in law. In 2017, this will displace 15 percent of projected annual gasoline use.
We are focused on next generation biofuels technologies such as cellulosic ethanol from switchgrass and other non-food stocks. In addition to U.S. Department of Agriculture funding of $500 million per year, in 2007 the Department of Energy announced nearly $1 billion in funding for biofuels research and development.
As you can see, investment in renewable energy technologies is a very important component of the nearly $3 billion annual investment the United States makes in our climate change technology program.
Foreign and Finance
The President's plan calls for America's global leadership to encourage our friends and allies to consider similar renewable energy policies. And they are. According to a recent study by the United Nations Environment Program, investments in renewable energy reached a record $71 billion in 2006 - a 43 percent increase over 2005. A similar growth trajectory is expected this year.
While the U.S. and E.U. together accounted for more than 70% of this investment in 2006, there is growing activity in the developing world, especially in China, India and Brazil.
Chinese companies, in fact, are the second largest recipients of venture capital in 2006 after the United States. Last year, India was the largest net buyer of renewable energy companies abroad, mostly in European markets. And Brazil is the largest renewable energy market in the world. More than 75% of Brazil's cars are flex-fuel.
Recognizing the global nature and the serious challenge of these issues, the United States works collaboratively with nations across the globe.
Active initiatives and partnerships are identifying solutions by reducing greenhouse gas intensity, creating new investment, building local capacity, and removing barriers to the introduction of cleaner technologies. They are examples of transformational diplomacy in action.
Transformational Diplomacy is the term Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has used to describe America's foreign policy.
What she means by this is our goal is to, and I quote: "work with our many partners around the world to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people -- and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.
One of the most dynamic ways in which we can achieve our transformational foreign policy vision is through the transformational energy climate in the world today.
President Bush addressed that climate when he spoke in September at the Major Economies meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change. He said: "Energy security and climate change are two of the great challenges of our time...the world's response will help shape the future of the global economy and the condition of our environment for generations to come."
The latter part of this statement is an important point, because energy policy and economic development are inherently linked; energy is a fundamental driver of development. Access to energy and energy services boosts crop production, drives industry, creates jobs, lights schools, and provides power to health facilities.
For less developed countries in particular, energy is a key enabler of growth. But it can be a hindrance to growth if it is not available, or only available at high prices. As we strive to help countries develop, we must help them reduce energy poverty.
We also know that cleaner, more efficient energy benefits the environment. U.S. energy policy seeks to enhance energy conservation and efficiency, and to diversity energy sources and diversify energy fuel types, which is where renewable energy comes in.
Partnerships
I want to briefly describe a number of these initiatives and partnerships to illustrate how we're advancing the use of clean, alternative, and renewable energy and changing the political environment to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by sharing technologies and best practices, and by encouraging more investment in renewable energy around the globe.
Some renewable energy initiatives change the environment for market adoption. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a premier international source of energy analysis and policy recommendations.
The International Energy Agency offers a range of activities to help encourage the adoption of best practices in energy policy, including renewable energy.
A second initiative I want to mention is The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP). This partnership was launched at Gleneagles in 2005 by the G-8 plus Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.
The Global Bioenergy Partnership is designed to power a cleaner future by supporting wider, cost-effective biomass and biofuels deployment, particularly in developing countries where biomass use is prevalent.
The United States is actively supporting the Partnership's work, including leading work on developing common methodologies for measuring the greenhouse gas benefits of biofuels.
A third valuable partnership is The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP). This is a multi-stakeholder partnership whose goal is to expand the global market for renewable energy and energy-efficiency technologies by structuring policy and regulatory initiatives for clean energy and facilitating financing for energy projects.
To date, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership has funded over 100 projects in 44 countries that address market barriers to clean energy in the developing world and economies in transition.
Finally, in the category of initiatives to change the enabling environment for renewable energy is The International Biofuels Forum (IBF). The International Biofuels Forum is a joint project of Brazil, China, India, South Africa, the United States and the European Commission that was launched in March of 2007 to develop strategies to promote the sustained use and production of biofuels around the globe.
IBF is working closely with Global Bioenergy Partnership to create common standards and codes for bioenergy products, to consolidate and facilitate world trade.
In addition to changing the enabling environment, the U.S. government also pursues project-oriented initiatives focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions directly. Let me mention four of them.
The first is The Methane to Markets Partnership (M2M). Methane to Markets is an initiative that promotes energy security, improves environmental quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions throughout the world.
Capturing and using "waste" methane provides an additional energy source that stimulates economic growth while reducing global emissions of this powerful greenhouse gas.
The United States, led by the State Department, has committed up to $53 million for the first five years of the Partnership. EPA estimates that this Partnership could recover up to 500-billion cubic feet of natural gas (183 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) annually by 2015.
The second project-oriented initiative is The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP). This Partnership brings together seven major Asia-Pacific countries -- Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Canada, and the United States -- in an effort to address increased energy needs and the associated issues of air pollution, energy security, and climate change.
An innovative public-private sector effort, the Asia-Pacific Partnership was established to promote economic development, reduce poverty, and accelerate the development and deployment of cleaner, more efficient technologies.
What makes the approach unique is that Asia-Pacific Partnership activities are identified and supported using an innovative "bottom up" approach. By focusing on concrete knowledge and technology transfer, the 110 individual projects and activities included in the APP Task Force action plans are already yielding concrete results
Together, Asia-Pacific partner countries account for about half of the world's economic output, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Partnership provides the U.S. a unique opportunity to engage India and China in constructively moving their energy economies toward a more climate friendly direction.
The Asia-Pacific Partnership has created eight task forces to achieve the initiative's goals: One of these task forces works on renewable energy and distributed power generation.
Let me cite four examples where the State Department is currently providing cost-share funding to accelerate renewable energy use in India. We will:
Accelerate the commercialization of a solar photovoltaic(PV) system in 4 Indian states by working with local business and banks;
* Deploy a pilot one mega watt PV power plant with the Tata Group;
* Identify and remove technical barriers to the deployment of renewable energy in three Indian states through a project involving US and Indian regulators and utilities;
* Promote biomass and biogas power generation systems in rural areas of Central India.
* A third initiative: through the Agency for International Development, the U.S. government is collaborating with a number of nations on a number of renewable energy projects - from a wind mapping initiative in Pakistan to rebuilding hydropower facilities in Afghanistan to studies on the expansion of bio-diesel for transportation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Finally, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) issued this summer a Greenhouse Gas/Clean Energy Initiative.
This initiative is a four-part plan to address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and increase support for clean energy and green technology. OPIC will (1) reduce the direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with projects within the OPIC active portfolio by 20 percent over a ten-year period.
They will also (2) cap transactional emissions, (3) support energy efficiency, renewable and clean technology, and (4) enhance accounting and transparency.
WIREC
In closing, I would like to speak to you about something dear to my heart. In March of 2008, the United States will host in Washington, DC the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference 2008 - WIREC.
WIREC will be the third global ministerial level event on renewable energy and will be an important opportunity for world ministers to show their commitment to renewable energy. The ministers will discuss how renewable energy advances our shared goals for increasing sustainable development and energy security while addressing the global challenge of climate change.
The United States is well positioned to host such an event, as I've mentioned America is a major producer of renewable energies such as biofuels, and we are a principal developer of many renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind energy and battery. The U.S. is also a substantial marketplace for renewable energy industries globally.
WIREC 2008 will provide an opportunity to advance renewable energy even more by bringing world leaders together to raise issues, exchange information, share experiences and best practices, and provide a global platform to highlight and promote strategies for significant development and adoption of renewable energy systems worldwide, including second generation biofuels.
Worldwide, enthusiasm for renewable energy has increased dramatically since the previous international renewable energy conferences - in Beijing, China in 2005 and Bonn, Germany in 2004. Oil prices have reached nearly $95 per barrel and there is an emerging price for carbon. Nations now more fully recognize the imperative to promote widespread adoption of renewable energy.
Together, the countries of the globe are responsible for collectively promoting energy security through long-term solutions that address the challenge of maintaining sufficient, affordable, and reliable energy supplies, while at the same time fostering sustainable global economic growth and environmental stewardship.
Let me repeat that: sustainable economic growth and environmental stewardship.
As Theodore Roosevelt said: "To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust land instead of using it to enhance its usefulness...will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."
I believe growing economies and sustainable resources can be complementary, not competing interests. I believe renewable energy is the key to the success of both these interests. And I believe that when we achieve the success of sustainable energy and thriving global economies, we'll have taken a big step toward our foreign policy vision to help citizens of the world "better their own lives, build their own nations, and transform their own futures."
Released on November 26, 2007
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Sustainable Power (SSTP) in clean fuels JV with Blue Harbor Energy
NATCHEZ, MS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/30/07 -- Sustainable Power Corp. (PINKSHEETS: SSTP) is proud to announce a reached agreement of a new project named Green Energy Consortium (GEC) based in Baytown, Texas. This agreement is to use SSTP's technology of the conversion of agricultural recycled feedstock to a variety of Green-based products that will produce biocrude, biogasoline, pharmaceutical grade glycerin and 500 megawatts of green power.
Imagine multiple types of fuels that are derived from the same feed stocks as cellulosic ethanol like grass, sugar cane, and corn stover; soy hulls but contain at least 300% more energetic content and are made by a process that uses 90% less energy. Unlike cellulosic ethanol, these fuels can be distributed by using existing oil pipelines, rather than uneconomical trucks and trains, dispensed through existing gas stations, rather than specialized pumps, and used in existing engines, rather than modified "flex-fuel" engines. In short, these are biofuels that can be substituted directly and immediately for gas or diesel on a gallon-for-gallon basis.
Sustainable Power Corp. (SPC) announced today that it has entered into a co-development agreement with Blue Harbor Energy, Inc. (Blue Harbor) to move forward its Baytown, Texas renewable fuel production and renewable energy electricity production facility. The Baytown project in envisioned to bring together SPC's propriety liquid biofuel generation and refining technology with electric power generation and a concrete plant to create a facility that produces liquid fuel suitable for use in current internal combustion engines, electric power that is generated solely from renewable sources and concrete that is produced using green power. Capacities and outputs for each phase of the operation are not yet final.
"We have been proposed financing offers for the project from undisclosed parties and expect more to come," stated Keith Mazer, President of Sustainable Power Corp. Mr. Mazer continued, "This is a monumental project and we're very excited to see the interest and confidence shown by some of the industry's largest capital investment groups. The world is in desperate need of green fuel and energy and we now have the ability to meet that need."
Under the terms of the agreement Blue Harbor will begin work immediately to work with SPC senior management to complete the development work necessary for securing the equity investment into the project. No time frame was announced for completion of this initial phase.
Texas was chosen by Sustainable Power because of its industrial and oil friendly environment. The Baytown property has rail, truck, pipeline and power grid access on site and barge access only a few miles down the road to support our feedstock needs.
Mr. Mazer stated, "We are pleased to have Blue Harbor as part of our team, and look forward to working with them."
"We have looked at this project and are excited about a renewable energy power generation of this magnitude," said Dr. White of Blue Harbor Energy, a co-development company. "We are looking forward to working with Mr. Mazer and the SPC team to finalize the development effort and bringing the project online as quickly as possible to realize its reduction of GHG and positive environmental impact."
About Sustainable Power Corp.
Sustainable Power Corp. is an international green energy service provider focused on environmentally safe power generation. The company has the exclusive rights to develop and manage a portfolio of green power plants utilizing the USSEC biofuel discovery, a renewable fuel source able to be produced from one-fifth of the soybean acreage traditionally associated with biodiesel. For more information please visit www.sustainablepower.com.
About Blue Harbor Energy, Inc.
Blue Harbor Energy is the energy project co-development company which provides management, technical management, commercial back-office and contract negotiation services to energy project developers. For additional information contact Dr. Jeff White at white@blueharborenergy.com
Imagine multiple types of fuels that are derived from the same feed stocks as cellulosic ethanol like grass, sugar cane, and corn stover; soy hulls but contain at least 300% more energetic content and are made by a process that uses 90% less energy. Unlike cellulosic ethanol, these fuels can be distributed by using existing oil pipelines, rather than uneconomical trucks and trains, dispensed through existing gas stations, rather than specialized pumps, and used in existing engines, rather than modified "flex-fuel" engines. In short, these are biofuels that can be substituted directly and immediately for gas or diesel on a gallon-for-gallon basis.
Sustainable Power Corp. (SPC) announced today that it has entered into a co-development agreement with Blue Harbor Energy, Inc. (Blue Harbor) to move forward its Baytown, Texas renewable fuel production and renewable energy electricity production facility. The Baytown project in envisioned to bring together SPC's propriety liquid biofuel generation and refining technology with electric power generation and a concrete plant to create a facility that produces liquid fuel suitable for use in current internal combustion engines, electric power that is generated solely from renewable sources and concrete that is produced using green power. Capacities and outputs for each phase of the operation are not yet final.
"We have been proposed financing offers for the project from undisclosed parties and expect more to come," stated Keith Mazer, President of Sustainable Power Corp. Mr. Mazer continued, "This is a monumental project and we're very excited to see the interest and confidence shown by some of the industry's largest capital investment groups. The world is in desperate need of green fuel and energy and we now have the ability to meet that need."
Under the terms of the agreement Blue Harbor will begin work immediately to work with SPC senior management to complete the development work necessary for securing the equity investment into the project. No time frame was announced for completion of this initial phase.
Texas was chosen by Sustainable Power because of its industrial and oil friendly environment. The Baytown property has rail, truck, pipeline and power grid access on site and barge access only a few miles down the road to support our feedstock needs.
Mr. Mazer stated, "We are pleased to have Blue Harbor as part of our team, and look forward to working with them."
"We have looked at this project and are excited about a renewable energy power generation of this magnitude," said Dr. White of Blue Harbor Energy, a co-development company. "We are looking forward to working with Mr. Mazer and the SPC team to finalize the development effort and bringing the project online as quickly as possible to realize its reduction of GHG and positive environmental impact."
About Sustainable Power Corp.
Sustainable Power Corp. is an international green energy service provider focused on environmentally safe power generation. The company has the exclusive rights to develop and manage a portfolio of green power plants utilizing the USSEC biofuel discovery, a renewable fuel source able to be produced from one-fifth of the soybean acreage traditionally associated with biodiesel. For more information please visit www.sustainablepower.com.
About Blue Harbor Energy, Inc.
Blue Harbor Energy is the energy project co-development company which provides management, technical management, commercial back-office and contract negotiation services to energy project developers. For additional information contact Dr. Jeff White at white@blueharborenergy.com
Thursday, November 29, 2007
AltEnews.com provides flow of alternative energy news
As their homepage reads: This site is designed to help entrepreneurs who are interested in the exciting world of alternative energy breakthroughs, and to provide an alternative energy news source for investors and the general public.
Full blurb:
Renewable energy sources including solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, biomass, wave and tidal power and hydroelectric are going to replace traditional oil, natural gas, and coal, and it is going to be possible for entrepreneurs to take advantage of these opportunities. New oil and gas exploration methods, new hydrogen fuel cell technology, hybrid cars and new battery technologies will also provide exciting new areas of growth, energy efficient green building and pollution credits are helping the environment, and nuclear power still has potential as an emissions-free power source. History shows that the greatest fortunes have been made during times when energy consumption changes. There is no doubt today that our energy consumption habits will shift radically in the near future. Entrepreneurs who can exploit the changing energy trends will likely make amounts of money that were previously unimaginable. This site is designed to help entrepreneurs who are interested in the exciting world of alternative energy breakthroughs, and to provide an alternative energy news source for investors and the general public. We hope that you enjoy the alternative energy news provided, which is updated weekly, as well as our Letter From The Editor, our pages focused on each individual alternative energy source, and our website features, including interviews with experts, op-eds, a list of alternative energy stocks, research reports, stock quotes, useful links, and info on seminars. Our goal is to help educate the intelligent environmentalist and the smart investor.
Check it out, at: alternative energy news website
Full blurb:
Renewable energy sources including solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, biomass, wave and tidal power and hydroelectric are going to replace traditional oil, natural gas, and coal, and it is going to be possible for entrepreneurs to take advantage of these opportunities. New oil and gas exploration methods, new hydrogen fuel cell technology, hybrid cars and new battery technologies will also provide exciting new areas of growth, energy efficient green building and pollution credits are helping the environment, and nuclear power still has potential as an emissions-free power source. History shows that the greatest fortunes have been made during times when energy consumption changes. There is no doubt today that our energy consumption habits will shift radically in the near future. Entrepreneurs who can exploit the changing energy trends will likely make amounts of money that were previously unimaginable. This site is designed to help entrepreneurs who are interested in the exciting world of alternative energy breakthroughs, and to provide an alternative energy news source for investors and the general public. We hope that you enjoy the alternative energy news provided, which is updated weekly, as well as our Letter From The Editor, our pages focused on each individual alternative energy source, and our website features, including interviews with experts, op-eds, a list of alternative energy stocks, research reports, stock quotes, useful links, and info on seminars. Our goal is to help educate the intelligent environmentalist and the smart investor.
Check it out, at: alternative energy news website
Zacks moves JA Solar (JASO) from HOLD to BUY
JA Solar Upgraded to a Buy
Posted Thu Nov 29, 03:20 pm ET, Zacks.com
As Zacks senior alternative energy analyst Jon Kolb notes today in his upgrade of JA Solar (JASO) shares from a Hold to a Buy, the Chinese solar panel manufacturer is one of the fastest-growing stocks in the alt-energy space:
"JASO's significant upswing following its February 2007 IPO remains a compelling growth story in clean energy. The growth potential for the solar industry as a whole is very promising. Capacity expansions and committed supply of key raw materials at JA Solar will continue to fuel growth.
"Strong earnings growth, coupled with a well-diversified customer base, makes JASO one of the fastest-growing alternative energy stocks. Material cost savings through the company's long-term supply agreement will also boost margins. Accordingly, we upgrade our recommendation on JASO to BUY with a six-month target price of $63.00, representing annualized total return potential of
41.3%.
"Looking ahead, successful execution in the high-growth potential solar panel market warrants premium multiples to the broader market and JASO is well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. The company still trades at a significant discount to the average industry multiple and many of its peers. With strong projected year-over-year earnings projections throughout 2008, this discount represents an opportunity for the share price to appreciate significantly with forward P/E multiple expansions."
Posted Thu Nov 29, 03:20 pm ET, Zacks.com
As Zacks senior alternative energy analyst Jon Kolb notes today in his upgrade of JA Solar (JASO) shares from a Hold to a Buy, the Chinese solar panel manufacturer is one of the fastest-growing stocks in the alt-energy space:
"JASO's significant upswing following its February 2007 IPO remains a compelling growth story in clean energy. The growth potential for the solar industry as a whole is very promising. Capacity expansions and committed supply of key raw materials at JA Solar will continue to fuel growth.
"Strong earnings growth, coupled with a well-diversified customer base, makes JASO one of the fastest-growing alternative energy stocks. Material cost savings through the company's long-term supply agreement will also boost margins. Accordingly, we upgrade our recommendation on JASO to BUY with a six-month target price of $63.00, representing annualized total return potential of
41.3%.
"Looking ahead, successful execution in the high-growth potential solar panel market warrants premium multiples to the broader market and JASO is well-positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. The company still trades at a significant discount to the average industry multiple and many of its peers. With strong projected year-over-year earnings projections throughout 2008, this discount represents an opportunity for the share price to appreciate significantly with forward P/E multiple expansions."
UK to host 2008 meet of engineers, investors and alternative energy companies
INVESTING IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY CONFERENCE
1 February 2008
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London
I am delighted to announce the Investing In Alternative Energy event, taking place on 1 February 2008, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
This event is a repeat of IMechEs hugely successful event in July 2007, and is a networking event designed to bring investors together with alternative energy companies.
Discussion booths will again be a key networking feature of this event, and will be available throughout the day. These networking sessions will be interspersed with key presentations provided by leading investors, industry
experts and alternative energy companies. A networking lunch and an evening
drinks reception will provide further opportunity for discussion.
Benefits of attending:
* Meet alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Gain insight into the future of the technology from key experts
* Engage in roundtable discussions bringing investors face-to-face with alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Discuss the investment potential over a networking lunch
* Analyse the suitability of the alternative energy sector for your company
* Hear case studies from past investments in this sector
* Examine the outcomes of various exit strategies of past investors
* Meet up with new contacts again at the reception drinks at the end of the event
Who should attend the event?
Venture capitalists, investment bankers, chief investment officers, brokers, ceos, fund managers, private equity firms, insurance companies, financial analysts, renewable energy associations, Alternative energy technology companies
Previous sponsors included:
* LIFE IC ltd
* New Energy Finance
* Ocean Equities Ltd
* Rosenblatt Solicitors
* Eversheds
* Ashton Penney Interim
* TWI Ltd
* Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd
* Low Carbon Investors
* RSL Electronics
* Wind Prospect Group
* Accelerate Clusters - Welsh Assembly
Further information
For information about sponsoring this event, sponsoring a discussion booth, or attending as a delegate please contact Jason Williams on +44 (0)20 7973
1273 or j_williams@imeche.org
www.imeche.org/events/investing
1 February 2008
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London
I am delighted to announce the Investing In Alternative Energy event, taking place on 1 February 2008, at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
This event is a repeat of IMechEs hugely successful event in July 2007, and is a networking event designed to bring investors together with alternative energy companies.
Discussion booths will again be a key networking feature of this event, and will be available throughout the day. These networking sessions will be interspersed with key presentations provided by leading investors, industry
experts and alternative energy companies. A networking lunch and an evening
drinks reception will provide further opportunity for discussion.
Benefits of attending:
* Meet alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Gain insight into the future of the technology from key experts
* Engage in roundtable discussions bringing investors face-to-face with alternative energy companies seeking investment
* Discuss the investment potential over a networking lunch
* Analyse the suitability of the alternative energy sector for your company
* Hear case studies from past investments in this sector
* Examine the outcomes of various exit strategies of past investors
* Meet up with new contacts again at the reception drinks at the end of the event
Who should attend the event?
Venture capitalists, investment bankers, chief investment officers, brokers, ceos, fund managers, private equity firms, insurance companies, financial analysts, renewable energy associations, Alternative energy technology companies
Previous sponsors included:
* LIFE IC ltd
* New Energy Finance
* Ocean Equities Ltd
* Rosenblatt Solicitors
* Eversheds
* Ashton Penney Interim
* TWI Ltd
* Frazer-Nash Consultancy Ltd
* Low Carbon Investors
* RSL Electronics
* Wind Prospect Group
* Accelerate Clusters - Welsh Assembly
Further information
For information about sponsoring this event, sponsoring a discussion booth, or attending as a delegate please contact Jason Williams on +44 (0)20 7973
1273 or j_williams@imeche.org
www.imeche.org/events/investing
global warming solutions provide job creation
from Gristmill: A Blogful of Leafy Green Commentary
New report lays road map for creating green jobs while fighting global climate crisis
Posted by Joseph Romm at 3:26 PM on 28 Nov 2007
A major new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) provides a detailed roadmap for avoiding catastrophic global warming and restoring our energy security, while maintaining economic development.
The report, "Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low Carbon Economy," is by CAP's John Podesta, Kitt Batten, and Todd Stern. It is well worth reading, and I say that not because I am a senior fellow at CAP, but because the 88-page report lays out the most comprehensive set of plausible job-creating climate/energy policies I have seen.
The authors understand the scale of the problem:
The challenge we face is nothing short of the conversion of an economy sustained by high-carbon energy -- putting both our national security and the health of our planet at serious risk -- to one based on low-carbon, sustainable sources of energy. The scale of this undertaking is immense and its potential enormous.
The urgency of this issue demands a president willing to make the low-carbon energy challenge a top priority in the White House -- a centerpiece not only of his or her energy policy but also of his or her economic program -- to produce broad-based growth and sustain American economic leadership in the 21st century. This task is so encompassing it will demand that the incoming president in 2009 reorganize the mission and responsibility of all relevant government agencies -- economic, national security, and environmental.
The report explores the crucial steps needed to meet the challenge:
* Create a green-house gas emissions cap-and-trade program
* Eliminate federal tax breaks and subsidies for gas and oil industries
* Increase vehicle fuel economy -- 40 mpg by 2020, 55 mpg by 2030
* Increase production and availability of alternative low-carbon fuels
o 25% of our nation's transportation fuels by 2025
o Reduce life-cycle emissions from transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020
o Fifteen percent of fuel "pumps" (including dedicated electricity charging stations for plug-in hybrid vehicles) provide low-carbon alternative fuels in any county in the U.S. where 15 percent of vehicles can run on these alternative fuels.
* Invest in low-carbon mass transportation infrastructure
* Improve efficiency in energy generation, transmission, and consumption -- 10 percent energy savings through efficiency upgrades by 2020
* Increase production of renewable electricity
* Use carbon capture-and-storage systems for carbon emissions from coal
* Create a White House National Energy Council
o Create an Energy Innovation Council
o Create an Energy Technology Corporation
o Create a Clean Energy Investment Authority
o Create a Clean Energy Jobs Corps
* Lead efforts to advance international global warming policies
Fortunately, while the challenge is great, the opportunity is greater -- and not just the benefits of avoiding catastrophic global warming:
Taking such action is not just good for our environment. Actions like these can provide a powerful charge to the economy. Our vision of a low-carbon economy includes vigorous private and public research pushing the envelope on technologies that will not only stabilize emissions at livable levels during the next 50 years but also create the clean-powered world that our grandchildren and their children will see at the dawn of the next century. Developing, deploying, and building at this scale recalls other great economic transformations in America's past, like the laying of our railroads and the construction of the interstate highway system. But in many ways our new challenge is even more complex since energy powers every part of the economy. Yet that's exactly why these advancements will drive economic growth and American leadership in a competitive global economy well into the 21st century.
Do we need to wait for breakthrough technologies, as Bush, Gingrich, and Lomborg argue? Of course not (in fact, we can't afford to delay any longer if we want to save a livable climate).
The good news is that the technology we need to begin the transformation to a low-carbon economy exists and the investment dollars are available if the policy ground rules are properly established. A great deal of investment and effort will be needed to make this vision real, but the hard work of ushering it in can become a powerful engine for growth, competitive advantage and jobs.
New report lays road map for creating green jobs while fighting global climate crisis
Posted by Joseph Romm at 3:26 PM on 28 Nov 2007
A major new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) provides a detailed roadmap for avoiding catastrophic global warming and restoring our energy security, while maintaining economic development.
The report, "Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low Carbon Economy," is by CAP's John Podesta, Kitt Batten, and Todd Stern. It is well worth reading, and I say that not because I am a senior fellow at CAP, but because the 88-page report lays out the most comprehensive set of plausible job-creating climate/energy policies I have seen.
The authors understand the scale of the problem:
The challenge we face is nothing short of the conversion of an economy sustained by high-carbon energy -- putting both our national security and the health of our planet at serious risk -- to one based on low-carbon, sustainable sources of energy. The scale of this undertaking is immense and its potential enormous.
The urgency of this issue demands a president willing to make the low-carbon energy challenge a top priority in the White House -- a centerpiece not only of his or her energy policy but also of his or her economic program -- to produce broad-based growth and sustain American economic leadership in the 21st century. This task is so encompassing it will demand that the incoming president in 2009 reorganize the mission and responsibility of all relevant government agencies -- economic, national security, and environmental.
The report explores the crucial steps needed to meet the challenge:
* Create a green-house gas emissions cap-and-trade program
* Eliminate federal tax breaks and subsidies for gas and oil industries
* Increase vehicle fuel economy -- 40 mpg by 2020, 55 mpg by 2030
* Increase production and availability of alternative low-carbon fuels
o 25% of our nation's transportation fuels by 2025
o Reduce life-cycle emissions from transportation fuels by 10 percent by 2020
o Fifteen percent of fuel "pumps" (including dedicated electricity charging stations for plug-in hybrid vehicles) provide low-carbon alternative fuels in any county in the U.S. where 15 percent of vehicles can run on these alternative fuels.
* Invest in low-carbon mass transportation infrastructure
* Improve efficiency in energy generation, transmission, and consumption -- 10 percent energy savings through efficiency upgrades by 2020
* Increase production of renewable electricity
* Use carbon capture-and-storage systems for carbon emissions from coal
* Create a White House National Energy Council
o Create an Energy Innovation Council
o Create an Energy Technology Corporation
o Create a Clean Energy Investment Authority
o Create a Clean Energy Jobs Corps
* Lead efforts to advance international global warming policies
Fortunately, while the challenge is great, the opportunity is greater -- and not just the benefits of avoiding catastrophic global warming:
Taking such action is not just good for our environment. Actions like these can provide a powerful charge to the economy. Our vision of a low-carbon economy includes vigorous private and public research pushing the envelope on technologies that will not only stabilize emissions at livable levels during the next 50 years but also create the clean-powered world that our grandchildren and their children will see at the dawn of the next century. Developing, deploying, and building at this scale recalls other great economic transformations in America's past, like the laying of our railroads and the construction of the interstate highway system. But in many ways our new challenge is even more complex since energy powers every part of the economy. Yet that's exactly why these advancements will drive economic growth and American leadership in a competitive global economy well into the 21st century.
Do we need to wait for breakthrough technologies, as Bush, Gingrich, and Lomborg argue? Of course not (in fact, we can't afford to delay any longer if we want to save a livable climate).
The good news is that the technology we need to begin the transformation to a low-carbon economy exists and the investment dollars are available if the policy ground rules are properly established. A great deal of investment and effort will be needed to make this vision real, but the hard work of ushering it in can become a powerful engine for growth, competitive advantage and jobs.
Tim O'Reilly Waxes Eloquently about Google's (GOOG) clean green initiative
More on Google's Energy Initiative
by Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Radar
I wanted to add a few more thoughts about Google's new energy initiative, Renewable Energy at Less cost than Coal, or spelled out as an acronym, RELC, an ambitious attempt to fund alternative energy technologies that offer the possibility of generating electricity at a cost less than that of coal.
The stakes are high. If our worst fears about global warming are right, we're going to bring our technological progress to a halt unless we get new sources of clean energy. Google's goal of beating the cost of energy from coal is critical, because coal is the default lowest-cost choice for electricity generation, and the worst from a global warming perspective.
And let's be clear, the internet industry we know and love is a huge consumer of power. I love Nick Carr's estimate from last year that a Second Life avatar consumes almost as much energy as a real human. While Nick's calculations are provocative rather than authoritative, he makes a good point. Our electronic lifestyle has hidden, off-the-books costs. Google is very smart to acknowledge this fact.
But Google's investments in energy aren't just driven by worries about global warming. To be sure, Al Gore is a senior advisor to the company, and the management team takes the threat very seriously. But Google also has a very direct business interest in developing new, cheap sources of energy.
One of the first times I met Larry Page, long before Google went public, when he was still driving a bright blue VW bug, he was telling me how for Google, the annual energy cost of each processor they put online was greater than the cost of the processor itself. (This may actually have been lifetime energy cost. It's a long time and I don't remember exactly, so I don't want to put words in his mouth.) Energy is one of the key costs for anyone running a large server farm, and keeping that cost under control is a key element of competitive advantage.
full article at O'Reilly Radar post on Google's Renewable Energy at Less cost than Coal plan, RELC
by Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Radar
I wanted to add a few more thoughts about Google's new energy initiative, Renewable Energy at Less cost than Coal, or spelled out as an acronym, RELC, an ambitious attempt to fund alternative energy technologies that offer the possibility of generating electricity at a cost less than that of coal.
The stakes are high. If our worst fears about global warming are right, we're going to bring our technological progress to a halt unless we get new sources of clean energy. Google's goal of beating the cost of energy from coal is critical, because coal is the default lowest-cost choice for electricity generation, and the worst from a global warming perspective.
And let's be clear, the internet industry we know and love is a huge consumer of power. I love Nick Carr's estimate from last year that a Second Life avatar consumes almost as much energy as a real human. While Nick's calculations are provocative rather than authoritative, he makes a good point. Our electronic lifestyle has hidden, off-the-books costs. Google is very smart to acknowledge this fact.
But Google's investments in energy aren't just driven by worries about global warming. To be sure, Al Gore is a senior advisor to the company, and the management team takes the threat very seriously. But Google also has a very direct business interest in developing new, cheap sources of energy.
One of the first times I met Larry Page, long before Google went public, when he was still driving a bright blue VW bug, he was telling me how for Google, the annual energy cost of each processor they put online was greater than the cost of the processor itself. (This may actually have been lifetime energy cost. It's a long time and I don't remember exactly, so I don't want to put words in his mouth.) Energy is one of the key costs for anyone running a large server farm, and keeping that cost under control is a key element of competitive advantage.
full article at O'Reilly Radar post on Google's Renewable Energy at Less cost than Coal plan, RELC
GreenDaily.com features WilderHill Clean Energy Fund, from PowerShares Capital
GreenFinance: Clean Energy Investing
by Lita Epstein, GreenDaily.com
Want to invest in a portfolio that focuses on clean and renewable energy providers? Take a look at the ETF, PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (AMEX: PBW) based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which has signifcant holdings in solar power companies, as well as other renewable energy products. An ETF is a basket of stocks that is traded on a stock exchange as one entity. You can buy and sell this basket of stocks just as you would a company's stock using the symbol PBW.
The Wilderhill Clean Energy Index includes companies that seek to benefit from a transition toward the use of cleaner energy. Stocks chosen for this index include companies that focus on clean energy technology and pollution prevention.
Companies held by the fund are primarily small-cap companies with an average market cap of $3.4 billion. So this ETF is not for the faint of heart. Expect returns to be volatile. While year-to-date returns according to Morningstar are 25.64%, you must expect wild swings because the benchmark for this ETF has only 42 stocks.
The fund is managed by PowerShares Capital Management, which was founded in 2002. It's lead portfolio manager is John Southard Jr., who worked at Chicago Investment Analytics (bought by Charles Schwab) before joining PowerShares Capital. The five largest stock holdings in the fund include: SunPower Corporation, American Superconductor Corporation, Suntech Power Holdings Co., First Solar, and Yingli Green Energy Holdings Company.
full article at Wilder Hill Clean Energy Fund
by Lita Epstein, GreenDaily.com
Want to invest in a portfolio that focuses on clean and renewable energy providers? Take a look at the ETF, PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (AMEX: PBW) based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, which has signifcant holdings in solar power companies, as well as other renewable energy products. An ETF is a basket of stocks that is traded on a stock exchange as one entity. You can buy and sell this basket of stocks just as you would a company's stock using the symbol PBW.
The Wilderhill Clean Energy Index includes companies that seek to benefit from a transition toward the use of cleaner energy. Stocks chosen for this index include companies that focus on clean energy technology and pollution prevention.
Companies held by the fund are primarily small-cap companies with an average market cap of $3.4 billion. So this ETF is not for the faint of heart. Expect returns to be volatile. While year-to-date returns according to Morningstar are 25.64%, you must expect wild swings because the benchmark for this ETF has only 42 stocks.
The fund is managed by PowerShares Capital Management, which was founded in 2002. It's lead portfolio manager is John Southard Jr., who worked at Chicago Investment Analytics (bought by Charles Schwab) before joining PowerShares Capital. The five largest stock holdings in the fund include: SunPower Corporation, American Superconductor Corporation, Suntech Power Holdings Co., First Solar, and Yingli Green Energy Holdings Company.
full article at Wilder Hill Clean Energy Fund
global addiction to oil may be reaching the point of no return
war is over, if you want it - john and yoko
article from:
http://www.thestar.com
As demand threatens to outpace supply, our global addiction to oil is fast reaching the point of no return
David Olive, Toronto Star
Business Columnist
The hastening end of the Petroleum Age, a scenario that always has been confidently rejected by the global oil industry, is becoming harder to ignore.
This has little if anything to do with a world crude oil price poised to cross the $100 (U.S.) per barrel threshold. Oil, which closed last week at $98.18, is still below its all-time inflation-adjusted high of $102 per barrel set in April 1980. Which means it has taken 27 years for oil to recover to its previous peak price – six years longer than it took for stock prices to regain their losses during the Great Depression.
If anything, the sticker shock motorists have experienced at the pumps in recent years doesn't yet reflect the enormity of a crisis in oil that even industry and pro-industry government agencies are beginning, finally, to acknowledge.
The world is not running out of oil. But, sooner than expected, it will run short of the kind that is easily and cheaply tapped, a day of reckoning some experts predict will be upon us early next decade – in the blink of an eye for a capital-intensive industry that thinks decades into the future.
Long before that point, before pools of conventional oil already in decline are depleted altogether, consumers, governments and the industry will have to make some very tough decisions (see "What"). We are close to a tipping point.
What are the alternatives to our global oil addicion?
What are our options, considering the remaining oil supplies are increasingly located in politically unstable regions?
Military: Do we contemplate the use of military force to ensure our continued access to the fuel of modern capitalism?
Unconventional: Do we more heavily commit to "unconventional" oil, extracted from tar sands (bitumen), coal, natural gas and oil shale? These are vastly more complex and costly to extract and process than conventional oil. And developing them contributes far more to global warming than does conventional-oil production.
Alternatives: Do we kick our fossil-fuel habit, massively scaling up production of energy from alternatives such as wind and solar power, ethanol and other biofuels, biodiesel (largely derived from soybeans) and nuclear power? Each of these remedies has its own drawbacks, including limited research to date, lack of commercial viability, inadequate distribution networks, impact on food prices and the NIMBY syndrome (especially applicable to wind-power farms and nuclear-waste sites).
Conserve: Do we embrace conservation with much more vigour, trading private transportation for public transit at the cost of our cherished freedom of mobility, and slashing consumption of electric power mostly generated by nuclear and oil-, coal- and natural-gas-fired plants – bearing in mind that the Internet and other elements of the Information Age are voracious consumers of electricity?
full article at:
David Olive article on global addiction to oil
article from:
http://www.thestar.com
As demand threatens to outpace supply, our global addiction to oil is fast reaching the point of no return
David Olive, Toronto Star
Business Columnist
The hastening end of the Petroleum Age, a scenario that always has been confidently rejected by the global oil industry, is becoming harder to ignore.
This has little if anything to do with a world crude oil price poised to cross the $100 (U.S.) per barrel threshold. Oil, which closed last week at $98.18, is still below its all-time inflation-adjusted high of $102 per barrel set in April 1980. Which means it has taken 27 years for oil to recover to its previous peak price – six years longer than it took for stock prices to regain their losses during the Great Depression.
If anything, the sticker shock motorists have experienced at the pumps in recent years doesn't yet reflect the enormity of a crisis in oil that even industry and pro-industry government agencies are beginning, finally, to acknowledge.
The world is not running out of oil. But, sooner than expected, it will run short of the kind that is easily and cheaply tapped, a day of reckoning some experts predict will be upon us early next decade – in the blink of an eye for a capital-intensive industry that thinks decades into the future.
Long before that point, before pools of conventional oil already in decline are depleted altogether, consumers, governments and the industry will have to make some very tough decisions (see "What"). We are close to a tipping point.
What are the alternatives to our global oil addicion?
What are our options, considering the remaining oil supplies are increasingly located in politically unstable regions?
Military: Do we contemplate the use of military force to ensure our continued access to the fuel of modern capitalism?
Unconventional: Do we more heavily commit to "unconventional" oil, extracted from tar sands (bitumen), coal, natural gas and oil shale? These are vastly more complex and costly to extract and process than conventional oil. And developing them contributes far more to global warming than does conventional-oil production.
Alternatives: Do we kick our fossil-fuel habit, massively scaling up production of energy from alternatives such as wind and solar power, ethanol and other biofuels, biodiesel (largely derived from soybeans) and nuclear power? Each of these remedies has its own drawbacks, including limited research to date, lack of commercial viability, inadequate distribution networks, impact on food prices and the NIMBY syndrome (especially applicable to wind-power farms and nuclear-waste sites).
Conserve: Do we embrace conservation with much more vigour, trading private transportation for public transit at the cost of our cherished freedom of mobility, and slashing consumption of electric power mostly generated by nuclear and oil-, coal- and natural-gas-fired plants – bearing in mind that the Internet and other elements of the Information Age are voracious consumers of electricity?
full article at:
David Olive article on global addiction to oil
Alternative Energy Stocks Coverage List
info from: http://www.alternativeenergyinvesting.net
Coverage List
The following is a short-list of alternative energy companies that form the central focus of our market research:
Distributed Generation
Ballard Power Systems, Capstone Turbine, Distributed Energy Systems, Daystar, Energy Conversion Devices, Evergreen Solar, FuelCell Energy, Hydrogenics, Millennium Cell, Plug Power, Vestas Wind Energy, Gamesa
Clean Fuel & Combustion Technology
Catalytica Energy Systems, Fuel Tech N.V., Headwaters, Methanex Corp., Quantum Fuel Systems Tech, Syntroleum Corp, Pacific Ethanol, International Fuel Technology, IMPCO Technologies
Energy Storage
Active Power, Arotech Corp., Beacon Power Corp., C&D Tech, EnerSys, Medis Technologies, Ultralife Batteries, Valence Technology, Maxwell Technologies, Exide
Power Electronics
Artesyn Tech., Magnetek, PECO II, Power-One, SatCon Technology, UQM Technologies, Vicor Corp.
Power Quality
American Power Conversion, American Superconductor, Intermagnetics
Energy Information Technology
Itron, Badger Meter
Coverage List
The following is a short-list of alternative energy companies that form the central focus of our market research:
Distributed Generation
Ballard Power Systems, Capstone Turbine, Distributed Energy Systems, Daystar, Energy Conversion Devices, Evergreen Solar, FuelCell Energy, Hydrogenics, Millennium Cell, Plug Power, Vestas Wind Energy, Gamesa
Clean Fuel & Combustion Technology
Catalytica Energy Systems, Fuel Tech N.V., Headwaters, Methanex Corp., Quantum Fuel Systems Tech, Syntroleum Corp, Pacific Ethanol, International Fuel Technology, IMPCO Technologies
Energy Storage
Active Power, Arotech Corp., Beacon Power Corp., C&D Tech, EnerSys, Medis Technologies, Ultralife Batteries, Valence Technology, Maxwell Technologies, Exide
Power Electronics
Artesyn Tech., Magnetek, PECO II, Power-One, SatCon Technology, UQM Technologies, Vicor Corp.
Power Quality
American Power Conversion, American Superconductor, Intermagnetics
Energy Information Technology
Itron, Badger Meter
Google (GOOG) launches RE < C, funding clean power
RE < C (Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal)
Clean and affordable energy is a growing need for our company, so we’re excited about launching RE < C, a strategic initiative whose mission is to develop electricity from renewable sources cheaper than electricity produced from coal. Initially, this project to create renewable energy cheaper than coal will focus on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems – but we’ll explore other potential breakthrough technologies too.
We’re busy assembling our own internal research and development group and hiring a team of engineers and energy experts tasked with building 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. (That’s enough electricity to power a city the size of San Francisco.) Google’s R&D effort will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas.
Supporting Breakthrough Technologies
In conjunction with the RE < C major research and development initiative, Google.org will make strategic grants and investments in organizations working to produce renewable energy at a cost below that of coal-fired power plants.
Google.org is already working with two innovative corporations who are building potentially breakthrough technologies, and we look forward to collaborating with other members of the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities.
eSolar Inc. specializes in solar thermal power. Solar thermal technology replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy, and has great potential to produce utility-scale power that is cheaper than coal.
Makani Power Inc. is developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the world’s most powerful wind resources. Capturing just a fraction of available high-energy wind would be sufficient to supply current global electricity needs.
Google's Green Commitment
This current initiative is just the next step in Google’s continuing commitment to a clean and green energy future. We have been working hard on energy efficiency and making our business environmentally sustainable.
Last spring we announced that we would be carbon neutral for 2007 and beyond, and we’re on track to meet this goal. We’ve taken concrete steps to reduce our carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology. For example, through design improvements and the adoption of power-saving technologies, such as evaporative cooling, we have made great strides to bolster the efficiency of our data centers – the facilities that store the computers that enable Google to deliver accurate search results at lightning speed. We’ve also reduced the carbon footprint of our building and office operations - for example, by replacing incandescent bulbs with higher-efficiency lighting, and maximizing the use of natural light. And earlier this year we flipped the switch at our Mountain View headquarters on one of the largest corporate solar panel installations in the United States.
In addition to “greening” our own business, we’re also cooperating with members of the tech community to improve efficiency on a broader scale. In 2007, we teamed with Intel and other industry partners to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a group which advocates the design and adoption of less wasteful computing infrastructure. (In November 2007, CSCI achieved a new milestone when we signed on our very first public sector partners, the state governments of Minnesota and Kansas.)
Clean and affordable energy is a growing need for our company, so we’re excited about launching RE < C, a strategic initiative whose mission is to develop electricity from renewable sources cheaper than electricity produced from coal. Initially, this project to create renewable energy cheaper than coal will focus on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, and enhanced geothermal systems – but we’ll explore other potential breakthrough technologies too.
We’re busy assembling our own internal research and development group and hiring a team of engineers and energy experts tasked with building 1 gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. (That’s enough electricity to power a city the size of San Francisco.) Google’s R&D effort will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas.
Supporting Breakthrough Technologies
In conjunction with the RE < C major research and development initiative, Google.org will make strategic grants and investments in organizations working to produce renewable energy at a cost below that of coal-fired power plants.
Google.org is already working with two innovative corporations who are building potentially breakthrough technologies, and we look forward to collaborating with other members of the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities.
eSolar Inc. specializes in solar thermal power. Solar thermal technology replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy, and has great potential to produce utility-scale power that is cheaper than coal.
Makani Power Inc. is developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the world’s most powerful wind resources. Capturing just a fraction of available high-energy wind would be sufficient to supply current global electricity needs.
Google's Green Commitment
This current initiative is just the next step in Google’s continuing commitment to a clean and green energy future. We have been working hard on energy efficiency and making our business environmentally sustainable.
Last spring we announced that we would be carbon neutral for 2007 and beyond, and we’re on track to meet this goal. We’ve taken concrete steps to reduce our carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology. For example, through design improvements and the adoption of power-saving technologies, such as evaporative cooling, we have made great strides to bolster the efficiency of our data centers – the facilities that store the computers that enable Google to deliver accurate search results at lightning speed. We’ve also reduced the carbon footprint of our building and office operations - for example, by replacing incandescent bulbs with higher-efficiency lighting, and maximizing the use of natural light. And earlier this year we flipped the switch at our Mountain View headquarters on one of the largest corporate solar panel installations in the United States.
In addition to “greening” our own business, we’re also cooperating with members of the tech community to improve efficiency on a broader scale. In 2007, we teamed with Intel and other industry partners to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a group which advocates the design and adoption of less wasteful computing infrastructure. (In November 2007, CSCI achieved a new milestone when we signed on our very first public sector partners, the state governments of Minnesota and Kansas.)
Raser Tech (RZ) and FEV Engine Technology in hybrid vehicle venture
JV wants to build SUV That Gets More Than 100 Miles Per Gallon and Reduces Emissions
Raser Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with a global automotive manufacturer in its effort to produce a plug-in-hybrid electric demonstration vehicle incorporating Symetron™ electric motor and electronic drive technology.
Raser also announced previously that it teamed with FEV Engine Technology, Inc., one of the world’s leading developers of advanced powertrain and vehicle technologies, as the integrator for this plug-in-hybrid vehicle project. The vehicle is targeted to achieve more than 100 mpg for the typical American driver with improved acceleration while dramatically reducing harmful exhaust emissions.
FEV has previously supported this undisclosed OEM as an engine, powertrain and vehicle developer, and system integrator. FEV works with OEMs worldwide to develop new powertrain and vehicle integration designs into prototypes that can be integrated into OEM production vehicles.
Gary Rogers, President and CEO of FEV Engine Technology remarked concerning this agreement, "We have considerable experience in working with this OEM and we are excited about the chance to exhibit our advanced hybrid powertrain design and development capabilities on this program."
Jim Spellman, Raser Technology’s Vice President of Transportation stated, “By combining the strengths of the three companies in this project, Raser plans to demonstrate the plug-in-hybrid benefits for improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. We believe that this vehicle can be designed to recharge from a regular 110V or 220V outlet and driven in excess of 400 miles using stored grid power and its onboard generation capability.”
Patrick J. Schwartz, President of Raser Technology stated, “We are very pleased with the alliance that is now complete. We look forward to completing this project and to the exciting opportunities it should bring for both Raser and the industry as plug-in-hybrid vehicles enter the market over the next few years.”
About FEV
FEV is an internationally recognized powertrain and vehicle engineering company that supplies the global transportation industry. FEV offers a complete range of engineering services, providing support across the globe to customers in the design, analysis, prototyping, powertain and transmission development, as well as vehicle integration, calibration and homologation for advanced internal combustion gasoline-, diesel-, and alternative-fueled powertrains. FEV also designs, develops and prototypes advanced vehicle / powertrain electronic control systems and hybrid-electric engine concepts that address future emission and fuel economy standards. FEV Test Systems, Inc. is a global supplier of advanced test cell, instrumentation and test equipment. FEV employs a staff of over 1,400 highly skilled specialists at advanced technical centers on three continents.
About Raser Technologies
Raser (NYSE Arca: RZ) is an environmentally focused technology licensing and development company operating in two business segments. Raser’s Transportation and Industrial Technology segment focuses on using Raser’s award-winning Symetron™ technology to improve the efficiency of electric motors, power electronic drives and other applications. Raser’s Power Systems segment is seeking to develop clean, renewable geothermal electric power plants and bottom-cycling operations, incorporating licensed heat transfer technology and Raser’s Symetron™ technology. Further information on Raser may be found at: www.rasertech.com.
Raser Technologies, Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with a global automotive manufacturer in its effort to produce a plug-in-hybrid electric demonstration vehicle incorporating Symetron™ electric motor and electronic drive technology.
Raser also announced previously that it teamed with FEV Engine Technology, Inc., one of the world’s leading developers of advanced powertrain and vehicle technologies, as the integrator for this plug-in-hybrid vehicle project. The vehicle is targeted to achieve more than 100 mpg for the typical American driver with improved acceleration while dramatically reducing harmful exhaust emissions.
FEV has previously supported this undisclosed OEM as an engine, powertrain and vehicle developer, and system integrator. FEV works with OEMs worldwide to develop new powertrain and vehicle integration designs into prototypes that can be integrated into OEM production vehicles.
Gary Rogers, President and CEO of FEV Engine Technology remarked concerning this agreement, "We have considerable experience in working with this OEM and we are excited about the chance to exhibit our advanced hybrid powertrain design and development capabilities on this program."
Jim Spellman, Raser Technology’s Vice President of Transportation stated, “By combining the strengths of the three companies in this project, Raser plans to demonstrate the plug-in-hybrid benefits for improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. We believe that this vehicle can be designed to recharge from a regular 110V or 220V outlet and driven in excess of 400 miles using stored grid power and its onboard generation capability.”
Patrick J. Schwartz, President of Raser Technology stated, “We are very pleased with the alliance that is now complete. We look forward to completing this project and to the exciting opportunities it should bring for both Raser and the industry as plug-in-hybrid vehicles enter the market over the next few years.”
About FEV
FEV is an internationally recognized powertrain and vehicle engineering company that supplies the global transportation industry. FEV offers a complete range of engineering services, providing support across the globe to customers in the design, analysis, prototyping, powertain and transmission development, as well as vehicle integration, calibration and homologation for advanced internal combustion gasoline-, diesel-, and alternative-fueled powertrains. FEV also designs, develops and prototypes advanced vehicle / powertrain electronic control systems and hybrid-electric engine concepts that address future emission and fuel economy standards. FEV Test Systems, Inc. is a global supplier of advanced test cell, instrumentation and test equipment. FEV employs a staff of over 1,400 highly skilled specialists at advanced technical centers on three continents.
About Raser Technologies
Raser (NYSE Arca: RZ) is an environmentally focused technology licensing and development company operating in two business segments. Raser’s Transportation and Industrial Technology segment focuses on using Raser’s award-winning Symetron™ technology to improve the efficiency of electric motors, power electronic drives and other applications. Raser’s Power Systems segment is seeking to develop clean, renewable geothermal electric power plants and bottom-cycling operations, incorporating licensed heat transfer technology and Raser’s Symetron™ technology. Further information on Raser may be found at: www.rasertech.com.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) enters alternative energy business
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal is hiring engineers and energy experts to lead its research and development work, which will begin with a significant effort on solar thermal technology, and will also investigate enhanced geothermal systems and other areas. In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy. As part of its capital planning process, the company also anticipates investing hundreds of millions of dollars in breakthrough renewable energy projects which generate positive returns.
“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”
Page added, “There has been tremendous work already on renewable energy. Technologies have been developed that can mature into industries capable of providing electricity cheaper than coal. Solar thermal technology, for example, provides a very plausible path to providing renewable energy cheaper than coal. We are also very interested in further developing other technologies that have potential to be cost-competitive and green. We are aware of several promising technologies, and believe there are many more out there.”
Page continued, “With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades.” (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)
“If we meet this goal,” said Page, “and large-scale renewable deployments are cheaper than coal, the world will have the option to meet a substantial portion of electricity needs from renewable sources and significantly reduce carbon emissions. We expect this would be a good business for us as well.”
Coal is the primary power source for many around the world, supplying 40% of the world’s electricity. The greenhouse gases it produces are one of our greatest environmental challenges. Making electricity produced from renewable energy cheaper than coal would be a key part of reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions.
“Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind,” added Sergey Brin, Google Co-founder and President of Technology.
Strategic Investments and Grants
“Lots of groups are doing great work trying to produce inexpensive renewable energy. We want to add something that moves these efforts toward even cheaper technologies a bit more quickly. Usual investment criteria may not deliver the super low-cost, clean, renewable energy soon enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” said Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. “Google.org’s hope is that by funding research on promising technologies, investing in promising new companies, and doing a lot of R&D ourselves, we may help spark a green electricity revolution that will deliver breakthrough technologies priced lower than coal.”
Working with Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, Google.org will make strategic investments and grants that demonstrate a path toward producing energy at an unsubsidized cost below that of coal-fired power plants. Google will work with a variety of organizations in the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities. For example, Google.org is working with two companies that have promising scalable energy technologies:
* eSolar Inc., a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar’s technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/esolar.pdf.
* Makani Power Inc., an Alameda, CA-based company developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the most powerful wind resources. High-altitude wind energy has the potential to satisfy a significant portion of current global electricity needs. For more information on Makani Power, please visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/makani.pdf.
Ongoing Commitments
Today’s announcement represents just the latest steps in Google’s commitment to a clean and green energy future.
Google has been working hard on energy efficiency and making its business environmentally sustainable. Last spring the company announced its intention to be carbon neutral for 2007, and is on track to meet that goal. To this end, the company has taken concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology, including:
* Developing cutting-edge energy efficiency technology to power and cool its data centers in the U.S. and around the world.
* Generating electricity for its Mountain View campus from a 1.6 Megawatt corporate solar panel installation, one of the largest in the U.S.
* Accelerating development and adoption of plug-in vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative, including a $10 million request for investment proposals (http://www.google.org/recharge/)
* Joining with other industry leaders in 2007 to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium that advocates the design and use of more energy-efficient computers and servers (http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/).
* Working on policies that encourage renewable energy development and deployment, such as a U.S. Renewable Energy Standard, through Google.org.
For more information on Google’s commitment to a clean energy future, see http://www.google.com/renewable-energy
For broadcast-standard video and other multimedia files for the announcement, see http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/index.html
For more information on recruitment for Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, see http://www.google.com/jobs/energy/
“We have gained expertise in designing and building large-scale, energy-intensive facilities by building efficient data centers,” said Larry Page, Google Co-founder and President of Products. “We want to apply the same creativity and innovation to the challenge of generating renewable electricity at globally significant scale, and produce it cheaper than from coal.”
Page added, “There has been tremendous work already on renewable energy. Technologies have been developed that can mature into industries capable of providing electricity cheaper than coal. Solar thermal technology, for example, provides a very plausible path to providing renewable energy cheaper than coal. We are also very interested in further developing other technologies that have potential to be cost-competitive and green. We are aware of several promising technologies, and believe there are many more out there.”
Page continued, “With talented technologists, great partners and significant investments, we hope to rapidly push forward. Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades.” (One gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco.)
“If we meet this goal,” said Page, “and large-scale renewable deployments are cheaper than coal, the world will have the option to meet a substantial portion of electricity needs from renewable sources and significantly reduce carbon emissions. We expect this would be a good business for us as well.”
Coal is the primary power source for many around the world, supplying 40% of the world’s electricity. The greenhouse gases it produces are one of our greatest environmental challenges. Making electricity produced from renewable energy cheaper than coal would be a key part of reducing global greenhouse-gas emissions.
“Cheap renewable energy is not only critical for the environment but also vital for economic development in many places where there is limited affordable energy of any kind,” added Sergey Brin, Google Co-founder and President of Technology.
Strategic Investments and Grants
“Lots of groups are doing great work trying to produce inexpensive renewable energy. We want to add something that moves these efforts toward even cheaper technologies a bit more quickly. Usual investment criteria may not deliver the super low-cost, clean, renewable energy soon enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change,” said Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. “Google.org’s hope is that by funding research on promising technologies, investing in promising new companies, and doing a lot of R&D ourselves, we may help spark a green electricity revolution that will deliver breakthrough technologies priced lower than coal.”
Working with Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, Google.org will make strategic investments and grants that demonstrate a path toward producing energy at an unsubsidized cost below that of coal-fired power plants. Google will work with a variety of organizations in the renewable energy field, including companies, R&D laboratories, and universities. For example, Google.org is working with two companies that have promising scalable energy technologies:
* eSolar Inc., a Pasadena, CA-based company specializing in solar thermal power which replaces the fuel in a traditional power plant with heat produced from solar energy. eSolar’s technology has great potential to produce utility-scale power cheaper than coal. For more information, please visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/esolar.pdf.
* Makani Power Inc., an Alameda, CA-based company developing high-altitude wind energy extraction technologies aimed at harnessing the most powerful wind resources. High-altitude wind energy has the potential to satisfy a significant portion of current global electricity needs. For more information on Makani Power, please visit http://www.google.com/corporate/green/energy/makani.pdf.
Ongoing Commitments
Today’s announcement represents just the latest steps in Google’s commitment to a clean and green energy future.
Google has been working hard on energy efficiency and making its business environmentally sustainable. Last spring the company announced its intention to be carbon neutral for 2007, and is on track to meet that goal. To this end, the company has taken concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint and accelerate improvements in green technology, including:
* Developing cutting-edge energy efficiency technology to power and cool its data centers in the U.S. and around the world.
* Generating electricity for its Mountain View campus from a 1.6 Megawatt corporate solar panel installation, one of the largest in the U.S.
* Accelerating development and adoption of plug-in vehicles through the RechargeIT initiative, including a $10 million request for investment proposals (http://www.google.org/recharge/)
* Joining with other industry leaders in 2007 to form the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a consortium that advocates the design and use of more energy-efficient computers and servers (http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/).
* Working on policies that encourage renewable energy development and deployment, such as a U.S. Renewable Energy Standard, through Google.org.
For more information on Google’s commitment to a clean energy future, see http://www.google.com/renewable-energy
For broadcast-standard video and other multimedia files for the announcement, see http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/index.html
For more information on recruitment for Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal, see http://www.google.com/jobs/energy/
Tom Konrad of AltEnergyStocks.com picks Green Investments for Holydays
Give the Gift of a Future This Christmas: Five Sustainable Companies For Your Kids and Grandkids
A Carbon Conundrum for Christmas, by Tom Konrad, AltEnergyStocks.com
Do we have to choose between happy kids this Christmas, and a happy future for those kids? Practically everything we buy has a negative environmental impact. If green consumption is an oxymoron, so is green giving. Are we left with only greener giving? It often seems that the only way to be truly green is to be like the Grinch (before his heart-enlargement) and not give anyone anything. And skip the tree while you're at it.
It's a hard decision, and while there are many Green Shopping Advisories telling us that we can buy and still feel we're doing something good for the planet, it usually ends up being "less bad" and the green claims are not always as strong as we would hope.
The Gift of a Bright Green Future
The sad truth is, as successful investors know, we nearly always must choose between immediate gratification and long term gain. The whole debate about Global Warming is basically a choice between long term well-being and instant gratification. If you come down on the long term well-being side of the debate, prepare yourself for sighs and disappointed looks from the little ones, and give the gift of stock in a sustainable company that's working to make the place they live a better place to be.
Which stock to choose? Here are a few criteria I think are important:
Stability: We should probably stay away from companies aren't likely to be in business when the kids grow up.
Greenness: As I noted last week, investing in green companies, like buying presents is often a compromise between greenness and practicality. The profit motive can make a company less brown, but it is unlikely to make it very green (at least until we have stronger environmental regulation.)
Educational: Most people give stocks to kids hoping to teach them about the market. This will probably work better if the company they own also has a brand they'll see on a regular basis.
For the stocks I've picked below, I rate them on each of these factors on an A-F scale, to help you pick the one or ones you think will be best for your soon-to-be environmentally aware kid.
Top Five Stocks for a Green Christmas
#5. Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE),
Stability C, Greenness B, Educational C.
You may have never heard of Cree, but they are a world leader in making ultra-bright LED lights, as well as high current power controllers which can significantly increase the performance and efficiency of products that incorporate them. I call LED's the Compact Fluorescent light bulb of the future (they're still too expensive for most residential uses,) but they are getting rapidly brighter and cheaper. Although the company is profitable, they have been the subject of takeover rumors, and if they were bought for cash, it might be profitable for your little munchkin, but the lesson in green investing would probably be over.
On the other hand, if you also use energy efficient LED Christmas lights, you might just have the company's products on hand at the moment of gift-giving (if the LEDs involved happen to be made by another company, who is to know?) Cree will also provide effects lighting for the Beijing Olympics.
#4. The ABB Group (NYSE: ABB)
Stability A, Greenness C, Educational C.
ABB is a bit less fun than Cree, but they're in great shape in terms of long term profitability, and their expertise in efficient electricity transmission and distribution make them a good long term hold. While they don't have a lot of consumer awareness among us grownups, I bet your little one will have a lot of fun playing "Spot the ABB logo" in back alleys. I bet you'll be surprised at how often you see it yourself (see my profile of ABB for details.)
#3. General Electric (NYSE: GE)
Stability A, Greenness D, Educational A.
It's hard to beat GE for consumer awareness, and the strong marketing push behind their EcoMagination initiative is sure to keep the company in the little one's mind, even if they missed an entire week of green programming on GE's NBC TV Network. On the other hand, GE is so gigantic, they get less than 10% of their revenues from EcoMagination products (despite the apparent 90% of their marketing budget devoted to Green.) Nevertheless, I believe that Jeffrey Immelt is serious about green, so green revenues are likely to grow quickly in the future.
#2. Ormat (NYSE:ORA).
Stability B, Greenness A, Educational F.
I know, you've never heard of Ormat (unless you've been reading the recent spate of articles about Geothermal Power, including the one I wrote.) Ormat is widely recognized as a leader in Geothermal, both in technology, and their ability to run plants well. They are also just about as Pure-Green as any consistently profitable company I know of in the Renewable Energy space. On the downside, you'll probably never see one of their power plants, although you can always take the kids on a trip to Yellowstone and talk about all the untapped geothermal potential there (long may it remain untapped.)
#1. Sharp (Pink Sheets ADR: SHCAY)
Stability A, Greenness C, Educational B.
While you may not associate Sharp with Greenness, they are the world's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic panels. The electronics they are more known for seem, from my unscientific sampling, to have a larger proportion of Energy Star qualified products than other manufacturers. I give them the top slot here because photovoltaic solar panels are the first type of Renewable Energy most people think of, and while many of the pure-play PV manufacturers will survive, any particular one could go broke or be bought out in the near future.
Don't like these? We at AltEnergyStocks.com would love to hear about your picks in the comments... We'll publish the top reader picks in a couple weeks... still in time for the Christmas Shopping shopping procrastinators.
DISCLOSURE: Tom Konrad and/or his clients have positions in all the stocks mentioned here: CREE, ABB, GE, ORA, SHCAY.
DISCLAIMER: The information and
A Carbon Conundrum for Christmas, by Tom Konrad, AltEnergyStocks.com
Do we have to choose between happy kids this Christmas, and a happy future for those kids? Practically everything we buy has a negative environmental impact. If green consumption is an oxymoron, so is green giving. Are we left with only greener giving? It often seems that the only way to be truly green is to be like the Grinch (before his heart-enlargement) and not give anyone anything. And skip the tree while you're at it.
It's a hard decision, and while there are many Green Shopping Advisories telling us that we can buy and still feel we're doing something good for the planet, it usually ends up being "less bad" and the green claims are not always as strong as we would hope.
The Gift of a Bright Green Future
The sad truth is, as successful investors know, we nearly always must choose between immediate gratification and long term gain. The whole debate about Global Warming is basically a choice between long term well-being and instant gratification. If you come down on the long term well-being side of the debate, prepare yourself for sighs and disappointed looks from the little ones, and give the gift of stock in a sustainable company that's working to make the place they live a better place to be.
Which stock to choose? Here are a few criteria I think are important:
Stability: We should probably stay away from companies aren't likely to be in business when the kids grow up.
Greenness: As I noted last week, investing in green companies, like buying presents is often a compromise between greenness and practicality. The profit motive can make a company less brown, but it is unlikely to make it very green (at least until we have stronger environmental regulation.)
Educational: Most people give stocks to kids hoping to teach them about the market. This will probably work better if the company they own also has a brand they'll see on a regular basis.
For the stocks I've picked below, I rate them on each of these factors on an A-F scale, to help you pick the one or ones you think will be best for your soon-to-be environmentally aware kid.
Top Five Stocks for a Green Christmas
#5. Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE),
Stability C, Greenness B, Educational C.
You may have never heard of Cree, but they are a world leader in making ultra-bright LED lights, as well as high current power controllers which can significantly increase the performance and efficiency of products that incorporate them. I call LED's the Compact Fluorescent light bulb of the future (they're still too expensive for most residential uses,) but they are getting rapidly brighter and cheaper. Although the company is profitable, they have been the subject of takeover rumors, and if they were bought for cash, it might be profitable for your little munchkin, but the lesson in green investing would probably be over.
On the other hand, if you also use energy efficient LED Christmas lights, you might just have the company's products on hand at the moment of gift-giving (if the LEDs involved happen to be made by another company, who is to know?) Cree will also provide effects lighting for the Beijing Olympics.
#4. The ABB Group (NYSE: ABB)
Stability A, Greenness C, Educational C.
ABB is a bit less fun than Cree, but they're in great shape in terms of long term profitability, and their expertise in efficient electricity transmission and distribution make them a good long term hold. While they don't have a lot of consumer awareness among us grownups, I bet your little one will have a lot of fun playing "Spot the ABB logo" in back alleys. I bet you'll be surprised at how often you see it yourself (see my profile of ABB for details.)
#3. General Electric (NYSE: GE)
Stability A, Greenness D, Educational A.
It's hard to beat GE for consumer awareness, and the strong marketing push behind their EcoMagination initiative is sure to keep the company in the little one's mind, even if they missed an entire week of green programming on GE's NBC TV Network. On the other hand, GE is so gigantic, they get less than 10% of their revenues from EcoMagination products (despite the apparent 90% of their marketing budget devoted to Green.) Nevertheless, I believe that Jeffrey Immelt is serious about green, so green revenues are likely to grow quickly in the future.
#2. Ormat (NYSE:ORA).
Stability B, Greenness A, Educational F.
I know, you've never heard of Ormat (unless you've been reading the recent spate of articles about Geothermal Power, including the one I wrote.) Ormat is widely recognized as a leader in Geothermal, both in technology, and their ability to run plants well. They are also just about as Pure-Green as any consistently profitable company I know of in the Renewable Energy space. On the downside, you'll probably never see one of their power plants, although you can always take the kids on a trip to Yellowstone and talk about all the untapped geothermal potential there (long may it remain untapped.)
#1. Sharp (Pink Sheets ADR: SHCAY)
Stability A, Greenness C, Educational B.
While you may not associate Sharp with Greenness, they are the world's largest manufacturer of photovoltaic panels. The electronics they are more known for seem, from my unscientific sampling, to have a larger proportion of Energy Star qualified products than other manufacturers. I give them the top slot here because photovoltaic solar panels are the first type of Renewable Energy most people think of, and while many of the pure-play PV manufacturers will survive, any particular one could go broke or be bought out in the near future.
Don't like these? We at AltEnergyStocks.com would love to hear about your picks in the comments... We'll publish the top reader picks in a couple weeks... still in time for the Christmas Shopping shopping procrastinators.
DISCLOSURE: Tom Konrad and/or his clients have positions in all the stocks mentioned here: CREE, ABB, GE, ORA, SHCAY.
DISCLAIMER: The information and
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
RBC backs $100 mil Geothermal Infrastructure Project in Toronto
article from TheStar.com
Geothermal technology is great, but why is nothing being done?
Tyler Hamilton, Energy Reporter
There was an informal lunch last week in the executive dining room of RBC Financial, organized by Corporate Knights editor Toby Heaps. The purpose of the small get-together was to discuss ways to spur the large-scale deployment of geo-exchange energy systems for the heating and cooling of buildings.
A number of stakeholders were represented, among them RBC, Manitoba Hydro and Hydro One, but commercial builder The Remington Group, geothermal utility start-up GeoXperts and carbon offset champion Zerofootprint also shared their views.
As discussion unfolded, one thing became clear: All saw the tremendous potential for mass deployment of geo-exchange technology, both as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario and as a way to save owners of buildings and homes a bundle of money over time.
Geo-exchange technology, also known as low-temperature geothermal, provides heating and cooling by taking advantage of constant temperatures two metres or more below the Earth's surface. It's renewable and free of greenhouse gas emissions, and while it requires electricity to operate, it considerably reduces the fossil fuels or power required to operate conventional heating and cooling systems.
"I think we're on to something, and I think it's the way of the future," said Richard Tripodi, vice-president of Remington's high-rise division.
Ron Dembo, founder and chief executive of Zerofootprint, said there are 140,000 new buildings being constructed in Canada each year and about 700,000 homes in Ontario still heated with electricity, making them prime candidates for geothermal.
Locally, hundreds of schools across the GTA have a mandate to be green and a need for energy savings – which could be in the order of 30 per cent a year if existing systems were enhanced with geothermal technology.
"They would do geothermal now if the ducks were lined up, and there's no good reason the ducks aren't lined up," said Dembo.
Commercial buildings in general are a massive opportunity. There are 395,000 commercial buildings across Canada that together account for about 15 per cent of energy use nationwide, according to a report released Friday by Sustainable Development Technology Canada. We're talking schools and universities, office buildings, retail outlets, warehouses, hospitals and restaurants.
About 40 per cent of those buildings were built more than 35 years ago based on construction techniques, technologies and standards that would never pass muster today in terms of energy efficiency. More than two-thirds of the energy used in these buildings – largely electricity and natural gas – goes toward space heating, cooling and hot water.
If embracing geothermal is a no-brainer, then why isn't it happening? Why all the talk, all the agreement, but no action?
"It's because of institutional barriers," said Dembo, explaining that a combination of government bureaucracy and a lack of access to capital tend to block or discourage action.
You can add lack of political will, outdated building codes and standards and inertia to the list. Major stakeholders – property developers and financial institutions and governments – are also working in silos and not properly communicating their needs to each other.
"People continue to sell what they know. There's a huge knowledge gap here," said Dembo.
Ojan Jamkhou, vice-president of business development at RBC, and Nelson Switzer, the bank's senior manager of corporate environmental affairs, were hearing the message and agreeing. It was an important issue for RBC, they said. They want to play a role. They welcomed the opportunity.
Their response intrigued Tripodi. "It's a funny thing, you mention you are into this business but we don't know about it," he said, speaking on behalf of Remington and other developers in the market. "You have to educate builders."
The session ended with a challenge. Dembo proposed that RBC back a $100 million pilot project that would aim to retrofit 30 schools in Toronto with geothermal systems.
The point of the exercise would be to test a funding model that would provide easy and cheap access to retrofit capital and prove to the bank that it's a business opportunity that could be replicated and expanded into billion-dollar funds aimed at different sectors.
RBC accepted the challenge. "Let's make it happen," said David Moorcroft, senior vice-president of corporate communications at the bank. "That's the bottom line."
It was a short, insightful and productive session, the kind of constructive gathering that should be happening in offices across the country, and should be expanded to include ways of renewing our aging municipal infrastructure in sustainable ways.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities announced last week that 79 per cent of our roads, bridges, water systems and other vital infrastructure have exceeded their rated service life. Fixing them will come with a $123 billion price tag, the federation argued. It warned that "signs of collapse" are all around us and "catastrophic failures" are an ongoing risk.
Now, this seems like a gloomy, depressing report – if you choose to view it that way. But if we're forced to act, why not see it as a tremendous opportunity? If we have to replace this infrastructure, let's use the greenest and cleanest of technologies. Let's make what we refurbish and rebuild as efficient and sustainable as possible, and let's create local, high-paying jobs and markets in the process.
The economic upside isn't lost of the nation's top CEOs.
"Meeting the climate change challenge will impose significant costs on Canadians, but also offers huge opportunities," according to a policy directive released last month by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, representing a list of high-profile CEOs too long to mention.
"The key is to make the right decisions about what investments in the short term will produce the greatest returns both now and over the long haul, for Canada's economy and for the global environment."
What's needed, they said, was clear and consistent policy and quick action. There's no room anymore for dithering. No time for political games.
More of us should be issuing challenges to government and the private sectors. And like RBC, more powerbrokers of our economy need to be taking those challenges on.
Geothermal technology is great, but why is nothing being done?
Tyler Hamilton, Energy Reporter
There was an informal lunch last week in the executive dining room of RBC Financial, organized by Corporate Knights editor Toby Heaps. The purpose of the small get-together was to discuss ways to spur the large-scale deployment of geo-exchange energy systems for the heating and cooling of buildings.
A number of stakeholders were represented, among them RBC, Manitoba Hydro and Hydro One, but commercial builder The Remington Group, geothermal utility start-up GeoXperts and carbon offset champion Zerofootprint also shared their views.
As discussion unfolded, one thing became clear: All saw the tremendous potential for mass deployment of geo-exchange technology, both as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario and as a way to save owners of buildings and homes a bundle of money over time.
Geo-exchange technology, also known as low-temperature geothermal, provides heating and cooling by taking advantage of constant temperatures two metres or more below the Earth's surface. It's renewable and free of greenhouse gas emissions, and while it requires electricity to operate, it considerably reduces the fossil fuels or power required to operate conventional heating and cooling systems.
"I think we're on to something, and I think it's the way of the future," said Richard Tripodi, vice-president of Remington's high-rise division.
Ron Dembo, founder and chief executive of Zerofootprint, said there are 140,000 new buildings being constructed in Canada each year and about 700,000 homes in Ontario still heated with electricity, making them prime candidates for geothermal.
Locally, hundreds of schools across the GTA have a mandate to be green and a need for energy savings – which could be in the order of 30 per cent a year if existing systems were enhanced with geothermal technology.
"They would do geothermal now if the ducks were lined up, and there's no good reason the ducks aren't lined up," said Dembo.
Commercial buildings in general are a massive opportunity. There are 395,000 commercial buildings across Canada that together account for about 15 per cent of energy use nationwide, according to a report released Friday by Sustainable Development Technology Canada. We're talking schools and universities, office buildings, retail outlets, warehouses, hospitals and restaurants.
About 40 per cent of those buildings were built more than 35 years ago based on construction techniques, technologies and standards that would never pass muster today in terms of energy efficiency. More than two-thirds of the energy used in these buildings – largely electricity and natural gas – goes toward space heating, cooling and hot water.
If embracing geothermal is a no-brainer, then why isn't it happening? Why all the talk, all the agreement, but no action?
"It's because of institutional barriers," said Dembo, explaining that a combination of government bureaucracy and a lack of access to capital tend to block or discourage action.
You can add lack of political will, outdated building codes and standards and inertia to the list. Major stakeholders – property developers and financial institutions and governments – are also working in silos and not properly communicating their needs to each other.
"People continue to sell what they know. There's a huge knowledge gap here," said Dembo.
Ojan Jamkhou, vice-president of business development at RBC, and Nelson Switzer, the bank's senior manager of corporate environmental affairs, were hearing the message and agreeing. It was an important issue for RBC, they said. They want to play a role. They welcomed the opportunity.
Their response intrigued Tripodi. "It's a funny thing, you mention you are into this business but we don't know about it," he said, speaking on behalf of Remington and other developers in the market. "You have to educate builders."
The session ended with a challenge. Dembo proposed that RBC back a $100 million pilot project that would aim to retrofit 30 schools in Toronto with geothermal systems.
The point of the exercise would be to test a funding model that would provide easy and cheap access to retrofit capital and prove to the bank that it's a business opportunity that could be replicated and expanded into billion-dollar funds aimed at different sectors.
RBC accepted the challenge. "Let's make it happen," said David Moorcroft, senior vice-president of corporate communications at the bank. "That's the bottom line."
It was a short, insightful and productive session, the kind of constructive gathering that should be happening in offices across the country, and should be expanded to include ways of renewing our aging municipal infrastructure in sustainable ways.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities announced last week that 79 per cent of our roads, bridges, water systems and other vital infrastructure have exceeded their rated service life. Fixing them will come with a $123 billion price tag, the federation argued. It warned that "signs of collapse" are all around us and "catastrophic failures" are an ongoing risk.
Now, this seems like a gloomy, depressing report – if you choose to view it that way. But if we're forced to act, why not see it as a tremendous opportunity? If we have to replace this infrastructure, let's use the greenest and cleanest of technologies. Let's make what we refurbish and rebuild as efficient and sustainable as possible, and let's create local, high-paying jobs and markets in the process.
The economic upside isn't lost of the nation's top CEOs.
"Meeting the climate change challenge will impose significant costs on Canadians, but also offers huge opportunities," according to a policy directive released last month by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, representing a list of high-profile CEOs too long to mention.
"The key is to make the right decisions about what investments in the short term will produce the greatest returns both now and over the long haul, for Canada's economy and for the global environment."
What's needed, they said, was clear and consistent policy and quick action. There's no room anymore for dithering. No time for political games.
More of us should be issuing challenges to government and the private sectors. And like RBC, more powerbrokers of our economy need to be taking those challenges on.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Publicly-traded Solar Energy Companies
Solar power Stocks List:
Akeena Solar, Inc. [AKNS OTC Bulletin Board] Designer, installer, marketer, and seller of solar power systems for residential and small commercial customers.
ARISE Technologies Corporation [APV.V Canadian Venture Exchange] Exclusive Canadian distributor of the MSK Just Roof [TM] BIPV [Building Integrated Photovoltaic] system.
Canadian Solar (CSIQ) [NASDAQ] Involved in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar module products
Carmanah Technologies Corporation [CMH.TO Toronto Stock Exchange] Supplier of solar-powered LED lighting, solar power systems & equipment and LED-illuminated signage.
DayStar Technologies (DSTI) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of Photovoltaic Foil products that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Deli Solar [USA], Inc. (DLSL) [OTC Bulletin Board] Designer, manufacturer, and seller of solar hot water heaters, coal-fired boilers, and space heating products.
Energy Conversion Devices. (ENER) [NASDAQ] Designer, developer, and seller of materials, products, and production processes for the alternative energy generation, energy storage, and information technology markets.
ErSol Solar Energy AG (ERSLF Pink Sheets) Producer of solar cells.
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar power products in Germany and the United States.
First Solar (FSLR) [NASDAQ] Designs and manufactures solar modules through its proprietary thin film semiconductor technology.
Hoku Scientific, Inc. (HOKU) [NASDAQ] develops polysilicon-based photovoltaic modules for solar power systems. Also develops other clean energy technologies.
ICP Solar Technologies Inc. [ICPR OTCBB] Develops, manufactures and markets of solar cells and products.
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) [NYSE] Produces wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries.
SES Solar Inc. (SESI) [OTCBB] Involved in the production of solar photovoltaic modules and roof tiles from silicon cells.
Solar Night Industries [SLND Pink Sheets] Global manufacturer and distributor of solar products.
Solar Thin Films, Inc. [SLTF Pink Sheets] Develops industrial thin film solar cell manufacturing equipment.
Spire (SPIR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar equipment, solar systems, biomedical, and optoelectronics.
Sunpower Corporation (SPWR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar electric power products.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) [NYSE] Designs, develops, manufactures, and markets photovoltaic cells and modules.
Sustainable Energy Tech. [STG.V Canadian Venture Exchange] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of advanced power inverters for the renewable energy industry.
TrendSetter Solar Products, Inc. (TSSP Pink Sheets) Manufacturer of solar hot water heating and storage systems in the United States.
WorldWater & Power (WWAT.OB) [OTC Bulletin Board] Solar engineering and project management company.
Xantrex Technology Inc. [XTX.TO Toronto Stock Exchange] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of advanced power electronic products and systems for the renewable, portable, mobile, and programmable power markets.
XSunX (XSNX) [OTC Bulletin Board] Developer of the commercialization and licensing of processes for the manufacture of semitransparent photovoltaic technologies.
Akeena Solar, Inc. [AKNS OTC Bulletin Board] Designer, installer, marketer, and seller of solar power systems for residential and small commercial customers.
ARISE Technologies Corporation [APV.V Canadian Venture Exchange] Exclusive Canadian distributor of the MSK Just Roof [TM] BIPV [Building Integrated Photovoltaic] system.
Canadian Solar (CSIQ) [NASDAQ] Involved in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar module products
Carmanah Technologies Corporation [CMH.TO Toronto Stock Exchange] Supplier of solar-powered LED lighting, solar power systems & equipment and LED-illuminated signage.
DayStar Technologies (DSTI) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of Photovoltaic Foil products that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Deli Solar [USA], Inc. (DLSL) [OTC Bulletin Board] Designer, manufacturer, and seller of solar hot water heaters, coal-fired boilers, and space heating products.
Energy Conversion Devices. (ENER) [NASDAQ] Designer, developer, and seller of materials, products, and production processes for the alternative energy generation, energy storage, and information technology markets.
ErSol Solar Energy AG (ERSLF Pink Sheets) Producer of solar cells.
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar power products in Germany and the United States.
First Solar (FSLR) [NASDAQ] Designs and manufactures solar modules through its proprietary thin film semiconductor technology.
Hoku Scientific, Inc. (HOKU) [NASDAQ] develops polysilicon-based photovoltaic modules for solar power systems. Also develops other clean energy technologies.
ICP Solar Technologies Inc. [ICPR OTCBB] Develops, manufactures and markets of solar cells and products.
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR) [NYSE] Produces wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries.
SES Solar Inc. (SESI) [OTCBB] Involved in the production of solar photovoltaic modules and roof tiles from silicon cells.
Solar Night Industries [SLND Pink Sheets] Global manufacturer and distributor of solar products.
Solar Thin Films, Inc. [SLTF Pink Sheets] Develops industrial thin film solar cell manufacturing equipment.
Spire (SPIR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar equipment, solar systems, biomedical, and optoelectronics.
Sunpower Corporation (SPWR) [NASDAQ] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of solar electric power products.
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (STP) [NYSE] Designs, develops, manufactures, and markets photovoltaic cells and modules.
Sustainable Energy Tech. [STG.V Canadian Venture Exchange] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of advanced power inverters for the renewable energy industry.
TrendSetter Solar Products, Inc. (TSSP Pink Sheets) Manufacturer of solar hot water heating and storage systems in the United States.
WorldWater & Power (WWAT.OB) [OTC Bulletin Board] Solar engineering and project management company.
Xantrex Technology Inc. [XTX.TO Toronto Stock Exchange] Developer, manufacturer, and marketer of advanced power electronic products and systems for the renewable, portable, mobile, and programmable power markets.
XSunX (XSNX) [OTC Bulletin Board] Developer of the commercialization and licensing of processes for the manufacture of semitransparent photovoltaic technologies.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Alternative Energy attracts $180 billion: Solar $80 bil, Wind $50 bil
Green energy technology: Serious greenbacks hunt for clean power ideas
article from:
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4142278
By Leon Marshall
Any bright ideas out there on ways to curb greenhouse gases or to otherwise protect the environment? Come up with one and it could make you or your company rich, very rich indeed.
The world over, growing piles of money are searching for just such opportunities.
There may still be those who scoff at climate change as an anti-corporate scare story, or who dismiss conservation as a hindrance to development.
But investment markets are starting to suggest otherwise.
For all its socioeconomic challenges and related development priorities, South Africa has not been slow in grasping the shift in attitude.
The department of trade and industry launched an environmental goods and services forum in August to help local business tap into the world's multibillion-dollar green industry and steer the country towards meeting international environmental standards.
Already three years ago South Africa's demand for environmental goods and services was estimated at between R14.5 billion and R23.2 billion, and imports constituted a considerable portion of this.
Now a global perspective on the scale of the sector's growth has come from Paolo Pietrogrande, a leading businessman. Pietrogrande is the chairman of Atmos, an Italian company dedicated to innovation in the field of clean technologies and the financial aspects of greenhouse gas reductions.
He calculates that this year alone about $9 billion (R61 billion) of institutional funds has been scanning the globe for investment opportunities in clean technology. He believes the amount will grow rapidly as awareness takes hold of the need for industrial society to change its ways.
Pietrogrande, who has served with major firms such as Ryanair and Ducati, gave his prognosis earlier this month to an international group of journalists who met at Villa Mondragone, a Renaissance palace overlooking Rome. Environmental issues were discussed under the banner of the Italian Greenaccord Media Forum.
According to Pietrogrande, venture capitalists and other investors are starting to recognise the potential of the clean energy and clean technology sectors.
Real money is being invested, not just corporate social responsibility funds. These are serious investors who do due diligence studies and take expert advice. They expect good and dependable returns, and they have not been disappointed.
Renewable energy stocks have grown in value by about 250 percent over the past two years and have been noticeably unaffected by market downturns. Returns may still not be among the highest, but these tend to be seen as long-term investments.
The sentiment underlying the trend is inspired by growing public awareness of global climate change as well as the mounting energy crisis. Pietrogrande charges that the media is not appreciating the true scale of change happening in global markets and industry, and that journalists tend not to dig deep enough.
By the nature of his company's business, Pietrogrande may have a vested interest in talking up the green market. But his assessment is not disproportionate to that of, for instance, the South African trade and industry department, which sets the industry's global worth at $600 billion and growing at about 45 percent a year.
By Pietrogrande's calculations, European investors have already put e200 billion (R2 trillion) into clean technology. Europe is the trend setter in carbon trading, which is now a e20 billion a year business.
And alternative energy is gaining ground on world stock markets. Solar power has attracted $80 billion in funds, wind power $50 billion and biofuels another $50 billion.
Another statistic from Pietrogrande that shows the growing global awareness is that the term "climate change" has appeared no fewer than 130 000 times in English-language newspapers this year.
Published on the web by Business Report on November 23, 2007.
article from:
http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4142278
By Leon Marshall
Any bright ideas out there on ways to curb greenhouse gases or to otherwise protect the environment? Come up with one and it could make you or your company rich, very rich indeed.
The world over, growing piles of money are searching for just such opportunities.
There may still be those who scoff at climate change as an anti-corporate scare story, or who dismiss conservation as a hindrance to development.
But investment markets are starting to suggest otherwise.
For all its socioeconomic challenges and related development priorities, South Africa has not been slow in grasping the shift in attitude.
The department of trade and industry launched an environmental goods and services forum in August to help local business tap into the world's multibillion-dollar green industry and steer the country towards meeting international environmental standards.
Already three years ago South Africa's demand for environmental goods and services was estimated at between R14.5 billion and R23.2 billion, and imports constituted a considerable portion of this.
Now a global perspective on the scale of the sector's growth has come from Paolo Pietrogrande, a leading businessman. Pietrogrande is the chairman of Atmos, an Italian company dedicated to innovation in the field of clean technologies and the financial aspects of greenhouse gas reductions.
He calculates that this year alone about $9 billion (R61 billion) of institutional funds has been scanning the globe for investment opportunities in clean technology. He believes the amount will grow rapidly as awareness takes hold of the need for industrial society to change its ways.
Pietrogrande, who has served with major firms such as Ryanair and Ducati, gave his prognosis earlier this month to an international group of journalists who met at Villa Mondragone, a Renaissance palace overlooking Rome. Environmental issues were discussed under the banner of the Italian Greenaccord Media Forum.
According to Pietrogrande, venture capitalists and other investors are starting to recognise the potential of the clean energy and clean technology sectors.
Real money is being invested, not just corporate social responsibility funds. These are serious investors who do due diligence studies and take expert advice. They expect good and dependable returns, and they have not been disappointed.
Renewable energy stocks have grown in value by about 250 percent over the past two years and have been noticeably unaffected by market downturns. Returns may still not be among the highest, but these tend to be seen as long-term investments.
The sentiment underlying the trend is inspired by growing public awareness of global climate change as well as the mounting energy crisis. Pietrogrande charges that the media is not appreciating the true scale of change happening in global markets and industry, and that journalists tend not to dig deep enough.
By the nature of his company's business, Pietrogrande may have a vested interest in talking up the green market. But his assessment is not disproportionate to that of, for instance, the South African trade and industry department, which sets the industry's global worth at $600 billion and growing at about 45 percent a year.
By Pietrogrande's calculations, European investors have already put e200 billion (R2 trillion) into clean technology. Europe is the trend setter in carbon trading, which is now a e20 billion a year business.
And alternative energy is gaining ground on world stock markets. Solar power has attracted $80 billion in funds, wind power $50 billion and biofuels another $50 billion.
Another statistic from Pietrogrande that shows the growing global awareness is that the term "climate change" has appeared no fewer than 130 000 times in English-language newspapers this year.
Published on the web by Business Report on November 23, 2007.
Friday, November 23, 2007
FistHand Capital Green Fund to benefit wildlife
Firsthand Introduces Alternative Energy Fund and Collaboration with Environmental Groups
Shareholders to Direct Quarterly Contributions to Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute
(from CSRwire) SAN JOSE, CA - November 19, 2007 - Silicon Valley-based investment management firm Firsthand Capital Management today announced the launch of the Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund (Nasdaq: ALTEX), a no-load fund investing in U.S. and international alternative energy and clean technology companies. In collaboration with Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute, Firsthand will contribute a portion of its management fees for the Fund each quarter to these organizations in a proportion determined by the Fund's shareholders.
"We're all aware of the challenges that face us as we witness dramatic increases in energy consumption around the world and continued dependence on fossil fuels to satisfy that demand," said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer of Firsthand Capital Management. "These challenges can only be met with significant private-sector investment in developing alternative energy sources and advocacy to bring about changes in our consumption patterns. We've designed Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund to take advantage of the opportunities available to investors while contributing to raising awareness of the benefits of sustainable energy technologies."
"Investment will drive the innovation needed to transform the energy economy, and Silicon Valley has its sights set on making that transformation a reality," said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. "Even as our members work to drive political support for a new energy course, we can invest in technologies that make real change possible, technologies that are commercially viable now and growing more attractive to market players with each uptick in the price of oil."
Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund seeks long-term growth of capital by investing in alternative energy and energy technology companies of any size, in both the U.S. and international markets. Alternative energy includes energy generated through solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, biofuel, and biomass. Energy technologies include technologies that enable energies to be tapped, stored, or transported, such as fuel cells; services or technologies that conserve or enable more efficient utilization of energy; and technologies that help minimize the harmful by-products of existing energy sources, such as helping reduce carbon emissions.
Firsthand will donate a portion of its advisory fees for the Fund, amounting to 0.20% of the Fund's average daily net assets, to non-profit organizations including Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute, in a proportion determined by Fund shareholders. Shareholders may select the organization of their choice, with the donation allocated annually on an asset-weighted basis. The participating organizations support a wide range of environmental causes, from land and habitat conservation to animal rights and renewable energy.
About Audubon
Now in its second century, the National Audubon Society is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation. More information is available at: www.audubon.org.
About Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than one million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. More information is available at: www.defenders.org.
About National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation is America's conservation organization, inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future. NWF unites individuals from diverse backgrounds through a grassroots network of four million members, supporters, and volunteers. NWF programs educate and inspire people from all walks of life to conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat. More information is available at: www.nwf.org.
About Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization working to protect our communities and our planet. Founded in 1892 by John Muir, today the Sierra Club has over 750,000 members and 450 local chapters and groups across the country. More information is available at: www.sierraclub.org.
About World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. WRI's mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. More information is available at: www.wri.org.
About Firsthand Capital Management and Firsthand Funds
Established in 1993 and based in San Jose, California, Firsthand Capital Management manages approximately $800 million on behalf of institutional and individual investors and serves as investment adviser to the Firsthand Funds family of sector-focused mutual funds. Firsthand industry experience is a key element of the investment process for all of the Firsthand Funds, including its five existing technology funds, each of which follows a distinct investment style and/or strategy within the technology sector. More information on Firsthand Funds, including a prospectus with detailed information on charges, expenses, and risks of investing, is available by phone at (888) 884-2675 or online at www.firsthandfunds.com. Firsthand Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Shareholders to Direct Quarterly Contributions to Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute
(from CSRwire) SAN JOSE, CA - November 19, 2007 - Silicon Valley-based investment management firm Firsthand Capital Management today announced the launch of the Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund (Nasdaq: ALTEX), a no-load fund investing in U.S. and international alternative energy and clean technology companies. In collaboration with Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute, Firsthand will contribute a portion of its management fees for the Fund each quarter to these organizations in a proportion determined by the Fund's shareholders.
"We're all aware of the challenges that face us as we witness dramatic increases in energy consumption around the world and continued dependence on fossil fuels to satisfy that demand," said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer of Firsthand Capital Management. "These challenges can only be met with significant private-sector investment in developing alternative energy sources and advocacy to bring about changes in our consumption patterns. We've designed Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund to take advantage of the opportunities available to investors while contributing to raising awareness of the benefits of sustainable energy technologies."
"Investment will drive the innovation needed to transform the energy economy, and Silicon Valley has its sights set on making that transformation a reality," said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. "Even as our members work to drive political support for a new energy course, we can invest in technologies that make real change possible, technologies that are commercially viable now and growing more attractive to market players with each uptick in the price of oil."
Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund seeks long-term growth of capital by investing in alternative energy and energy technology companies of any size, in both the U.S. and international markets. Alternative energy includes energy generated through solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, biofuel, and biomass. Energy technologies include technologies that enable energies to be tapped, stored, or transported, such as fuel cells; services or technologies that conserve or enable more efficient utilization of energy; and technologies that help minimize the harmful by-products of existing energy sources, such as helping reduce carbon emissions.
Firsthand will donate a portion of its advisory fees for the Fund, amounting to 0.20% of the Fund's average daily net assets, to non-profit organizations including Audubon, Defenders of Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and World Resources Institute, in a proportion determined by Fund shareholders. Shareholders may select the organization of their choice, with the donation allocated annually on an asset-weighted basis. The participating organizations support a wide range of environmental causes, from land and habitat conservation to animal rights and renewable energy.
About Audubon
Now in its second century, the National Audubon Society is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Our national network of community-based nature centers and chapters, scientific and educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of areas sustaining important bird populations, engage millions of people of all ages and backgrounds in conservation. More information is available at: www.audubon.org.
About Defenders of Wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife is dedicated to the protection of all native animals and plants in their natural communities. With more than one million members and activists, Defenders of Wildlife is a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard our wildlife heritage for generations to come. More information is available at: www.defenders.org.
About National Wildlife Federation
National Wildlife Federation is America's conservation organization, inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future. NWF unites individuals from diverse backgrounds through a grassroots network of four million members, supporters, and volunteers. NWF programs educate and inspire people from all walks of life to conserve wildlife and wildlife habitat. More information is available at: www.nwf.org.
About Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization working to protect our communities and our planet. Founded in 1892 by John Muir, today the Sierra Club has over 750,000 members and 450 local chapters and groups across the country. More information is available at: www.sierraclub.org.
About World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. WRI's mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. More information is available at: www.wri.org.
About Firsthand Capital Management and Firsthand Funds
Established in 1993 and based in San Jose, California, Firsthand Capital Management manages approximately $800 million on behalf of institutional and individual investors and serves as investment adviser to the Firsthand Funds family of sector-focused mutual funds. Firsthand industry experience is a key element of the investment process for all of the Firsthand Funds, including its five existing technology funds, each of which follows a distinct investment style and/or strategy within the technology sector. More information on Firsthand Funds, including a prospectus with detailed information on charges, expenses, and risks of investing, is available by phone at (888) 884-2675 or online at www.firsthandfunds.com. Firsthand Funds are distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Geothermal Stock Investing - short list
Geothermal Stocks
Here are a few names to look into:
* Geodynamics
* Geothermal Resources
* GreenRock Energy
* Nevada Geothermal Power
* Ormat Technologies
* Petratherm
* PNOC Energy Development Corp
* Polaris Geothermal
* Torrens Energy
* Western Geopower
* WFI Industries
Here are a few names to look into:
* Geodynamics
* Geothermal Resources
* GreenRock Energy
* Nevada Geothermal Power
* Ormat Technologies
* Petratherm
* PNOC Energy Development Corp
* Polaris Geothermal
* Torrens Energy
* Western Geopower
* WFI Industries
Stock Windpower photos available online
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Windpower stock photo collection
Windpower stock photo collection
Braggone Launches New Solar-powered Product Line
Molecularly tailored materials are seen lowering manufacturing costs and providing extra capacity.
Oulu, Finland [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
Optoelectronic materials supplier Braggone announced a new product line last week that the company says increases the efficiency of solar cells and allows manufacturing facilities to cost-effectively increase their capacity.
"We are capturing as much light as possible in the cells by taming the physics. With the new materials from Braggone not only do we have the capability to reduce the optical loss in the cell or module, but we can also improve the efficiency of electrical conversion within the cell. This has the real benefit to our technology users of driving down their production cost per MW output."
--Dr. Paul Williams, VP, Business Development, Braggone
According to the company, by incorporating Braggone's materials into the manufacturing process, the costs of manufacturing solar cells can be dramatically reduced.
The basic building block of solar cells, silicon, is very shiny and reflects about 30% of sunlight back into the sky. Solar companies trap this light by putting down very thin anti-reflective coatings to reduce the reflected light. To help trap as much photo energy and convert it into as much electricity as possible, the silicon must be either of very high purity or have very few defects. Over the years, this has been accomplished by introducing hydrogen into the manufacturing process. Until now, the anti-reflective and hydrogenation for advanced cells has been done with a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process.
"These optical and electrical layers were previously integrated into components through expensive and high maintenance CVD tools," commented Dr. Yrjö Ojasaar, Braggone CEO. "Braggone can now introduce the same anti-reflective and hydrogenation techniques with a very simple and cost efficient spray coat, bake and repeat process. We are tuning the optics of the cell by introducing nanometer thick layers of our molecularly tailored materials. "
"Essentially, we are minimizing the optical loss in solar cells and modules," commented Dr. Paul Williams, VP of business development at Braggone. "We are capturing as much light as possible in the cells by taming the physics. With the new materials from Braggone not only do we have the capability to reduce the optical loss in the cell or module, but we can also improve the efficiency of electrical conversion within the cell. This has the real benefit to our technology users of driving down their production cost per megawatt output."
Oulu, Finland [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
Optoelectronic materials supplier Braggone announced a new product line last week that the company says increases the efficiency of solar cells and allows manufacturing facilities to cost-effectively increase their capacity.
"We are capturing as much light as possible in the cells by taming the physics. With the new materials from Braggone not only do we have the capability to reduce the optical loss in the cell or module, but we can also improve the efficiency of electrical conversion within the cell. This has the real benefit to our technology users of driving down their production cost per MW output."
--Dr. Paul Williams, VP, Business Development, Braggone
According to the company, by incorporating Braggone's materials into the manufacturing process, the costs of manufacturing solar cells can be dramatically reduced.
The basic building block of solar cells, silicon, is very shiny and reflects about 30% of sunlight back into the sky. Solar companies trap this light by putting down very thin anti-reflective coatings to reduce the reflected light. To help trap as much photo energy and convert it into as much electricity as possible, the silicon must be either of very high purity or have very few defects. Over the years, this has been accomplished by introducing hydrogen into the manufacturing process. Until now, the anti-reflective and hydrogenation for advanced cells has been done with a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) process.
"These optical and electrical layers were previously integrated into components through expensive and high maintenance CVD tools," commented Dr. Yrjö Ojasaar, Braggone CEO. "Braggone can now introduce the same anti-reflective and hydrogenation techniques with a very simple and cost efficient spray coat, bake and repeat process. We are tuning the optics of the cell by introducing nanometer thick layers of our molecularly tailored materials. "
"Essentially, we are minimizing the optical loss in solar cells and modules," commented Dr. Paul Williams, VP of business development at Braggone. "We are capturing as much light as possible in the cells by taming the physics. With the new materials from Braggone not only do we have the capability to reduce the optical loss in the cell or module, but we can also improve the efficiency of electrical conversion within the cell. This has the real benefit to our technology users of driving down their production cost per megawatt output."
Dubai looks into biodiesel and solar power
Roads & Transport Authority Studies Feasibility Of Use Of Green Diesel For Abras
On The Use Of Green Diesel For Operating Abras In A Bid To Minimize Pollution Associated With Diesel-Operated Abra Engines
article from: http://www.dubaicityguide.com
Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is contemplating the use of green diesel for abras, under a drive to utilize renewable & environment-friendly energy sources, in implementation of its vision aiming at providing safe & smooth transport for all.
Engineer Khalid Al Zahid, Director of Marine Projects at RTA Marine Agency, stated that the Agency is always in pursuit of multiple environment-friendly energy options for operating marine transport modes. For this end, Research & Studies Center, at RTA Marine Agency is conducting a study, in collaboration with a leading national company, on the use of green diesel for operating abras in a bid to minimize pollution associated with diesel-operated abra engines.
He commented that further studies are underway regarding adopting Hybrid Engines for marine transport modes.
Such technology envisages combination of fuel engines & electrical turbines with a view to producing environment-friendly energy to produce the same amount of power with lesser amount of pollution and efficient fuel consumption compared to traditional engines.
Recently RTA launched an initiative, with a leading establishment in the emirate (Emirates Gas Co.) to achieve the same purpose under a project aiming at switching abra engines to natural gas.
"Operating abras on natural gas will minimize pollution levels, as well as reduce fuel costs by 30%; which is equivalent to one million dirham annually. Percentage of pollution resulting from smoke columns associated with diesel operation will be cut by 66%, and emission of toxic gases from exhausts of abra engines (such as Co, CO2, Nox and So2) will also be slashed" said Al Zahid.
He pointed out that switching operation of various marine transport modes to renewable energy sources, and adoption of the best international practices leading to innovative solutions and uplifting the level of services provided to the public are among the key objectives of the Agency pursued by Marine Projects Dep’t.
"In early April 2007, Marine Agency will embark on another solar energy project aiming at cutting down pollution resulting from diesel engines of abras by 80% and reducing fuel costs by 65% from Dh3.6 million (in diesel engines) to Dh2.2 million (in solar energy engines). Such a project will also reduce emission of toxic gases from exhausts of abra engines (such as Co, CO2, Nox and So2), as well as noise pollution from 92dB (in diesel engines) to 65dB (in solar energy engines). Additionally, solar energy engines do not involve any fuel spillage, whereas diesel engines are associated with oil spills causing water pollution, environmental hazards and undermining public health.
Al Zahid added that as Marine Agency is fully aware of the role of renewable energy and its impact on environment, it will take part in a conference specialized in marine transport modes and operating them on environment-friendly energy sources, which will be organized by Dubai Maritime City at the end of this month.
On The Use Of Green Diesel For Operating Abras In A Bid To Minimize Pollution Associated With Diesel-Operated Abra Engines
article from: http://www.dubaicityguide.com
Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is contemplating the use of green diesel for abras, under a drive to utilize renewable & environment-friendly energy sources, in implementation of its vision aiming at providing safe & smooth transport for all.
Engineer Khalid Al Zahid, Director of Marine Projects at RTA Marine Agency, stated that the Agency is always in pursuit of multiple environment-friendly energy options for operating marine transport modes. For this end, Research & Studies Center, at RTA Marine Agency is conducting a study, in collaboration with a leading national company, on the use of green diesel for operating abras in a bid to minimize pollution associated with diesel-operated abra engines.
He commented that further studies are underway regarding adopting Hybrid Engines for marine transport modes.
Such technology envisages combination of fuel engines & electrical turbines with a view to producing environment-friendly energy to produce the same amount of power with lesser amount of pollution and efficient fuel consumption compared to traditional engines.
Recently RTA launched an initiative, with a leading establishment in the emirate (Emirates Gas Co.) to achieve the same purpose under a project aiming at switching abra engines to natural gas.
"Operating abras on natural gas will minimize pollution levels, as well as reduce fuel costs by 30%; which is equivalent to one million dirham annually. Percentage of pollution resulting from smoke columns associated with diesel operation will be cut by 66%, and emission of toxic gases from exhausts of abra engines (such as Co, CO2, Nox and So2) will also be slashed" said Al Zahid.
He pointed out that switching operation of various marine transport modes to renewable energy sources, and adoption of the best international practices leading to innovative solutions and uplifting the level of services provided to the public are among the key objectives of the Agency pursued by Marine Projects Dep’t.
"In early April 2007, Marine Agency will embark on another solar energy project aiming at cutting down pollution resulting from diesel engines of abras by 80% and reducing fuel costs by 65% from Dh3.6 million (in diesel engines) to Dh2.2 million (in solar energy engines). Such a project will also reduce emission of toxic gases from exhausts of abra engines (such as Co, CO2, Nox and So2), as well as noise pollution from 92dB (in diesel engines) to 65dB (in solar energy engines). Additionally, solar energy engines do not involve any fuel spillage, whereas diesel engines are associated with oil spills causing water pollution, environmental hazards and undermining public health.
Al Zahid added that as Marine Agency is fully aware of the role of renewable energy and its impact on environment, it will take part in a conference specialized in marine transport modes and operating them on environment-friendly energy sources, which will be organized by Dubai Maritime City at the end of this month.
How $100 Oil May Help Save Our Planet
Pricey crude hurts in all sorts of fiscal ways—but it could also spur crucial investment in alternative fuels
by Moira Herbst, BusinessWeek.com
Crude oil prices are again creeping toward triple digits. With the dollar hitting a new low against the euro Nov. 20 and OPEC saying it won't boost production, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate spiked $3.39, to a settlement record of $98.03. In overnight electronic trading, crude futures broke the previous trading record, reaching $99.29 a barrel. It was the third consecutive day of rising prices, which are up 61% so far in 2007.
As speculative fervor continues to test the $100 mark, fears that expensive oil could spur inflation and cripple consumer spending is spreading. Pricey oil—coupled with the subprime crash, shaky credit markets, Wall Street turbulence, tensions with Iran and a feeble dollar—could be the catalyst that topples the U.S. economy into recession.
Which Horse to Back?
But doom and gloom is not the only upshot of $100 oil. In fact, many analysts see pricey oil as the jolt the economy needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions and foster more energy efficiency. That's because as oil gets costlier, the incentives rise for new investments in energy efficiency and renewable options. Initiatives such as plug-in hybrid cars or cellulosic ethanol become more cost-competitive. Higher oil prices also ratchet up the pressure on Congress for new laws supporting renewable, cleaner energy sources on a larger scale.
"The top line point about expensive oil is that it gins up everyone's desire to do something about it," says Josh Dorner, a spokesman for the Sierra Club. "The task is to figure what [energy] policy works best for the environment and consumers alike, and to invigorate the search for alternatives."
There is wide disagreement on which alternative energies would help meet demand as oil prices remain high. Advocates of corn ethanol say it's cleaner than gasoline, and that more production can help revitalize the U.S. corn belt. But while the government has provided vigorous support of corn ethanol, it is losing ground in terms of public perception because of the fuel's economic and environmental costs. More promising, experts say, is ethanol produced from sources like sugar cane and wood chips, which is more energy efficient and better overall for the environment. Other energy alternatives that stand to gain from oil's price surge are plug-in hybrid vehicles, power co-generation (combined heat and power), and fuel cell technologies.
Which energies get support depends in part on how policy helps shape the marketplace. This summer both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed energy bills that include provisions like raising the renewable fuel standard and boosting energy efficiency. Dorner and others say those bills could win more favor in an era of $100 oil, especially as consumers are squeezed.
But experts warn against hasty and imprudent policies: "$100 creates a 'Don't just stand there, do something' attitude," says Craig Pirrong, professor of finance and energy markets at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business. "My worry is that politicians throw money at everything and lurch toward policies that aren't practicable. They could direct the money based on a political calculus, not an economic one."
Business Stays Ahead of Policy
Some advocates of renewable energies warn that staking changes in energy policy on $100 oil is impractical, given that market's volatility. "Oil prices have been perfectly random for 148 years—get used to it," says Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy research laboratory in Snowmass, Colo. "One-hundred-dollar oil would be psychologically helpful but you don't need it; we can get off the stuff at $15."
Lovins says that because businesses can profit by going greener no matter the price of oil, the most promising developments in energy efficiency and alternatives are emerging from the private sector. Companies like Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Boeing (BA) have begun trying to cut greenhouse gases through changes in supply chain management and the development of more efficient products. Overall, businesses are discovering that becoming greener benefits the bottom line. "The private sector is doing what it's good at—making money," says Lovins. "Washington will be the last to know, but business is solving these problems already."
Digging Deeper for Oil
But the search for more energy supply as oil prices rise does not end with energy efficiency and renewables. As long as oil flirts with $100, exploration for new reserves will continue to ramp up. Companies now have powerful incentives to drill into harder-to-reach supplies in tar sands or deep waters, even if the oil is heavier and of lower quality than light, sweet crude oil. Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras (PBR) for example, just announced a large crude discovery (BusinessWeek.com, 11/19/07) nearly five miles beneath the ocean surface.
"The cheap oil environment of the mid-1980s through the 1990s failed to encourage exploration and production investment," says Stephen Schork, an energy consultant in Villanova, Pa., and editor of The Schork Report, a daily energy newsletter. "As oil prices rise, we're starting to wake up from that and see a real push for other sources of crude."
Companies like ExxonMobil (XOM), BP (BP) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are already upping their investments in such difficult projects. Exxon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson advocates that the U.S. allow more domestic drilling (BusinessWeek.com, 10/26/07), pointing out that in a world of scarce oil supply and high prices, alternatives are only part of the answer. "While all economic energy sources should be pursued to meet growing demand, fossil fuels—oil, natural gas and coal—will continue to play the predominant role well into this century due to their scale, reliability and affordability," Tillerson said Nov. 12 at the World Energy Conference in Rome.
The other impact of high oil prices, of course, is that prices fall. As high prices change the decisions consumers, businesses and investors make, demand will decrease and at least some air could come out of the inflated price. "This market is unsustainable," says Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer (OPY). "When the price of anything doubles in a short period, people and economies can't adjust that quickly. The question is not if prices will come back down; it's when, and by how much."
by Moira Herbst, BusinessWeek.com
Crude oil prices are again creeping toward triple digits. With the dollar hitting a new low against the euro Nov. 20 and OPEC saying it won't boost production, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate spiked $3.39, to a settlement record of $98.03. In overnight electronic trading, crude futures broke the previous trading record, reaching $99.29 a barrel. It was the third consecutive day of rising prices, which are up 61% so far in 2007.
As speculative fervor continues to test the $100 mark, fears that expensive oil could spur inflation and cripple consumer spending is spreading. Pricey oil—coupled with the subprime crash, shaky credit markets, Wall Street turbulence, tensions with Iran and a feeble dollar—could be the catalyst that topples the U.S. economy into recession.
Which Horse to Back?
But doom and gloom is not the only upshot of $100 oil. In fact, many analysts see pricey oil as the jolt the economy needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions and foster more energy efficiency. That's because as oil gets costlier, the incentives rise for new investments in energy efficiency and renewable options. Initiatives such as plug-in hybrid cars or cellulosic ethanol become more cost-competitive. Higher oil prices also ratchet up the pressure on Congress for new laws supporting renewable, cleaner energy sources on a larger scale.
"The top line point about expensive oil is that it gins up everyone's desire to do something about it," says Josh Dorner, a spokesman for the Sierra Club. "The task is to figure what [energy] policy works best for the environment and consumers alike, and to invigorate the search for alternatives."
There is wide disagreement on which alternative energies would help meet demand as oil prices remain high. Advocates of corn ethanol say it's cleaner than gasoline, and that more production can help revitalize the U.S. corn belt. But while the government has provided vigorous support of corn ethanol, it is losing ground in terms of public perception because of the fuel's economic and environmental costs. More promising, experts say, is ethanol produced from sources like sugar cane and wood chips, which is more energy efficient and better overall for the environment. Other energy alternatives that stand to gain from oil's price surge are plug-in hybrid vehicles, power co-generation (combined heat and power), and fuel cell technologies.
Which energies get support depends in part on how policy helps shape the marketplace. This summer both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed energy bills that include provisions like raising the renewable fuel standard and boosting energy efficiency. Dorner and others say those bills could win more favor in an era of $100 oil, especially as consumers are squeezed.
But experts warn against hasty and imprudent policies: "$100 creates a 'Don't just stand there, do something' attitude," says Craig Pirrong, professor of finance and energy markets at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business. "My worry is that politicians throw money at everything and lurch toward policies that aren't practicable. They could direct the money based on a political calculus, not an economic one."
Business Stays Ahead of Policy
Some advocates of renewable energies warn that staking changes in energy policy on $100 oil is impractical, given that market's volatility. "Oil prices have been perfectly random for 148 years—get used to it," says Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an energy research laboratory in Snowmass, Colo. "One-hundred-dollar oil would be psychologically helpful but you don't need it; we can get off the stuff at $15."
Lovins says that because businesses can profit by going greener no matter the price of oil, the most promising developments in energy efficiency and alternatives are emerging from the private sector. Companies like Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Boeing (BA) have begun trying to cut greenhouse gases through changes in supply chain management and the development of more efficient products. Overall, businesses are discovering that becoming greener benefits the bottom line. "The private sector is doing what it's good at—making money," says Lovins. "Washington will be the last to know, but business is solving these problems already."
Digging Deeper for Oil
But the search for more energy supply as oil prices rise does not end with energy efficiency and renewables. As long as oil flirts with $100, exploration for new reserves will continue to ramp up. Companies now have powerful incentives to drill into harder-to-reach supplies in tar sands or deep waters, even if the oil is heavier and of lower quality than light, sweet crude oil. Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras (PBR) for example, just announced a large crude discovery (BusinessWeek.com, 11/19/07) nearly five miles beneath the ocean surface.
"The cheap oil environment of the mid-1980s through the 1990s failed to encourage exploration and production investment," says Stephen Schork, an energy consultant in Villanova, Pa., and editor of The Schork Report, a daily energy newsletter. "As oil prices rise, we're starting to wake up from that and see a real push for other sources of crude."
Companies like ExxonMobil (XOM), BP (BP) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are already upping their investments in such difficult projects. Exxon Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson advocates that the U.S. allow more domestic drilling (BusinessWeek.com, 10/26/07), pointing out that in a world of scarce oil supply and high prices, alternatives are only part of the answer. "While all economic energy sources should be pursued to meet growing demand, fossil fuels—oil, natural gas and coal—will continue to play the predominant role well into this century due to their scale, reliability and affordability," Tillerson said Nov. 12 at the World Energy Conference in Rome.
The other impact of high oil prices, of course, is that prices fall. As high prices change the decisions consumers, businesses and investors make, demand will decrease and at least some air could come out of the inflated price. "This market is unsustainable," says Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer (OPY). "When the price of anything doubles in a short period, people and economies can't adjust that quickly. The question is not if prices will come back down; it's when, and by how much."
Conservation / Energy Efficiency stocks include EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC)
Where Environmentalism Meets Capitalism... Responsibly
By Nick Hodge, GreenChipStocks.com
You've changed all your light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps. You've purchased Energy Star appliances.
The thermostat is set two degrees cooler in winter and two degrees warmer in summer. And you use the clothesline whenever you can.
Your home is properly insulated and the hot water heater is set to 120 degrees.
But what else is out there in the world of energy efficiency?
As a green--or greening--consumer, you're interested in saving energy, be it for environmental, economic or other reasons. And as a reader of Green Chip, it's likely you're interested in carrying those practices and beliefs one step further--to your portfolio.
Luckily, this transition is easier than ever, especially when it comes to investing energy efficiency stocks.
Green Investing
It takes money to make money. That's what they always say--whoever they are.
That's why you don't mind shelling out a few extra bucks for light bulbs that last longer and use less energy, or for insulation with a higher R rating, or anything else, for that matter, that ultimately is beneficial to both the earth and your bottom line.
But when it comes to investing, many people don't realize exactly where their money is. Some of the most energy- and earth-conscious consumers don't even know they're tied up in some dirty utility or invested in an oil drilling company via a fund in their IRA.
Wouldn't it make sense, then, to find out where your money is and invest it in something you believe in, especially if you can make some money in the process?
Two North American companies are setting up operations to extract precious and base metals from the largest formation in the entire world. Go here to find out how you can cash in on this opportunity.
Find out how to seize this great investment opportunity
I'm not talking about putting your life's savings in an unproven start-up or sinking your kid's college fund into some newfangled technology that will purportedly save all of mankind.
I'm talking about making money by investing in what you believe in. That's what Green Chip is all about--investing in clean power, organic food and energy savings through legitimate and profitable companies.
It only makes sense that if you're willing to spend $5,000 making your home more energy efficient, you'd be willing to invest the same amount in companies that specialize in energy efficiency rather than those whose activities go directly against what you're trying to accomplish at home.
Energy Efficiency Stocks
For example, EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) works with commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations, utilities and grid operators, regulators and policy makers to meet energy needs with demand response solutions.
Essentially, demand response is the voluntary reduction of electric demand in response to grid instability or high wholesale prices. This increases grid reliability and helps keep energy prices low by reducing demand instead of adding supply.
EnerNOC collects energy by reducing demand at thousands of end-use customer sites (commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations) to provide significant and immediate megawatt capacity when high peak demand compromises grid stability.
This alleviates grid constraints effectively, economically, efficiently and environmentally and defers or eliminates the need to build costly peaking power plants.
In fact, EnerNOC creates the equivalent of a new peaking power plant every three months--with absolutely no net increase in carbon emissions.In the past three months, EnerNOC has risen over 32%, from $32.50 to nearly $43. Compare that to Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), which rose only 3.3% in the same period. Or to ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which has taken a 1.5% loss.
You give those last two companies enough money when you go for your weekly or biweekly fill-up, which is now probably costing you in the neighborhood of $50, what with the price of gas shooting up $0.13 in the past two weeks and now averaging about $3.10 per gallon.
They just keep taking your money without giving anything back except pollution. EnerNOC actually pays qualified commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations that agree to reduce demand using their strategies.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
It gets better.
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) and Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) are two other energy efficiency companies that have given some nice returns to savvy investors. Echelon has contracted with huge companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Comverge has contracts with multiple utilities, including PG & E Corp. (NYSE: PCG), for which it will provide 50 MW of electricity through demand reduction.
And the opportunities at Green Chip continue--solar, wind, geothermal, etc. We invest only in companies that are environmentally and socially responsible. If this fits it with your belief system, shouldn't you be doing the same?
The misconceptions about being green are long gone. It's now possible to incorporate capitalism and environmentalism, responsibly. And the market is worth billions already.
We're taking advantage of it every single day.
Until next time,
Nick
Today's Headlines
2007-11-20Companies Form Joint Venture to Produce Camelina-Based BiodieselTargeted Growth, Inc. (TGI), a renewable energy bioscience company, and Green Earth Fuels, a vertically integrated renewable biodiesel energy company, have formed a joint venture called Sustainable Oils, Inc. to produce and to market up to 100 million gallons of camelina-based biodiesel by 2010.
2007-11-20New Carbon Standard Brings Integrity and Transparency to Carbon Offsets The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development launched a new global carbon offset standard at the London Stock Exchange to increase participation and confidence in the global voluntary carbon market.
2007-11-20Bayer to Spend $1.46 Billion on Climate Program Bayer has launched its Group-wide Climate Program, a multi-focus plan for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.
2007-11-20Cyprus Water Crisis Highlights Climate ChangeA small pool of water at the bottom of Cyprus's largest reservoir is shrinking by the day: without rain, the main source of surface water for most of the island will dry up by the end of the year.
2007-11-20 Germany at Odds With UK on Renewable Goals - Germany wants European states to meet their own renewable energy targets as much as possible, rather than pay other countries to do it for them, deputy environment minister Matthias Machnig said.
Fast-growing high-tech company just unlocked one of the largest sources of energy anywhere on earth.
The key? A new solar energy conversion technology that doesn't rely on installing costly and ugly solar panels. It's estimated that in the near future nearly every new home built in America with have this system.
By Nick Hodge, GreenChipStocks.com
You've changed all your light bulbs to compact fluorescent lamps. You've purchased Energy Star appliances.
The thermostat is set two degrees cooler in winter and two degrees warmer in summer. And you use the clothesline whenever you can.
Your home is properly insulated and the hot water heater is set to 120 degrees.
But what else is out there in the world of energy efficiency?
As a green--or greening--consumer, you're interested in saving energy, be it for environmental, economic or other reasons. And as a reader of Green Chip, it's likely you're interested in carrying those practices and beliefs one step further--to your portfolio.
Luckily, this transition is easier than ever, especially when it comes to investing energy efficiency stocks.
Green Investing
It takes money to make money. That's what they always say--whoever they are.
That's why you don't mind shelling out a few extra bucks for light bulbs that last longer and use less energy, or for insulation with a higher R rating, or anything else, for that matter, that ultimately is beneficial to both the earth and your bottom line.
But when it comes to investing, many people don't realize exactly where their money is. Some of the most energy- and earth-conscious consumers don't even know they're tied up in some dirty utility or invested in an oil drilling company via a fund in their IRA.
Wouldn't it make sense, then, to find out where your money is and invest it in something you believe in, especially if you can make some money in the process?
Two North American companies are setting up operations to extract precious and base metals from the largest formation in the entire world. Go here to find out how you can cash in on this opportunity.
Find out how to seize this great investment opportunity
I'm not talking about putting your life's savings in an unproven start-up or sinking your kid's college fund into some newfangled technology that will purportedly save all of mankind.
I'm talking about making money by investing in what you believe in. That's what Green Chip is all about--investing in clean power, organic food and energy savings through legitimate and profitable companies.
It only makes sense that if you're willing to spend $5,000 making your home more energy efficient, you'd be willing to invest the same amount in companies that specialize in energy efficiency rather than those whose activities go directly against what you're trying to accomplish at home.
Energy Efficiency Stocks
For example, EnerNOC, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) works with commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations, utilities and grid operators, regulators and policy makers to meet energy needs with demand response solutions.
Essentially, demand response is the voluntary reduction of electric demand in response to grid instability or high wholesale prices. This increases grid reliability and helps keep energy prices low by reducing demand instead of adding supply.
EnerNOC collects energy by reducing demand at thousands of end-use customer sites (commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations) to provide significant and immediate megawatt capacity when high peak demand compromises grid stability.
This alleviates grid constraints effectively, economically, efficiently and environmentally and defers or eliminates the need to build costly peaking power plants.
In fact, EnerNOC creates the equivalent of a new peaking power plant every three months--with absolutely no net increase in carbon emissions.In the past three months, EnerNOC has risen over 32%, from $32.50 to nearly $43. Compare that to Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), which rose only 3.3% in the same period. Or to ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which has taken a 1.5% loss.
You give those last two companies enough money when you go for your weekly or biweekly fill-up, which is now probably costing you in the neighborhood of $50, what with the price of gas shooting up $0.13 in the past two weeks and now averaging about $3.10 per gallon.
They just keep taking your money without giving anything back except pollution. EnerNOC actually pays qualified commercial, institutional and industrial businesses and organizations that agree to reduce demand using their strategies.
Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
It gets better.
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) and Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) are two other energy efficiency companies that have given some nice returns to savvy investors. Echelon has contracted with huge companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Comverge has contracts with multiple utilities, including PG & E Corp. (NYSE: PCG), for which it will provide 50 MW of electricity through demand reduction.
And the opportunities at Green Chip continue--solar, wind, geothermal, etc. We invest only in companies that are environmentally and socially responsible. If this fits it with your belief system, shouldn't you be doing the same?
The misconceptions about being green are long gone. It's now possible to incorporate capitalism and environmentalism, responsibly. And the market is worth billions already.
We're taking advantage of it every single day.
Until next time,
Nick
Today's Headlines
2007-11-20Companies Form Joint Venture to Produce Camelina-Based BiodieselTargeted Growth, Inc. (TGI), a renewable energy bioscience company, and Green Earth Fuels, a vertically integrated renewable biodiesel energy company, have formed a joint venture called Sustainable Oils, Inc. to produce and to market up to 100 million gallons of camelina-based biodiesel by 2010.
2007-11-20New Carbon Standard Brings Integrity and Transparency to Carbon Offsets The Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development launched a new global carbon offset standard at the London Stock Exchange to increase participation and confidence in the global voluntary carbon market.
2007-11-20Bayer to Spend $1.46 Billion on Climate Program Bayer has launched its Group-wide Climate Program, a multi-focus plan for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment.
2007-11-20Cyprus Water Crisis Highlights Climate ChangeA small pool of water at the bottom of Cyprus's largest reservoir is shrinking by the day: without rain, the main source of surface water for most of the island will dry up by the end of the year.
2007-11-20 Germany at Odds With UK on Renewable Goals - Germany wants European states to meet their own renewable energy targets as much as possible, rather than pay other countries to do it for them, deputy environment minister Matthias Machnig said.
Fast-growing high-tech company just unlocked one of the largest sources of energy anywhere on earth.
The key? A new solar energy conversion technology that doesn't rely on installing costly and ugly solar panels. It's estimated that in the near future nearly every new home built in America with have this system.
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WARNING: Investing in common equity of public companies is a high risk, high potential reward activity. Owning investments in individual alternative energy companies is for high risk investors only, and medium risk investors should consider green mutual funds, clean energy funds, renewable power index funds and other sector plays. Even then, these should be owned as part of a widely diversified portfolio. There is a gathering mania for investing in publicly-traded alternative energy companies, similar to the computer, technology, internet and banking / real estate booms of the past two decades. There will be some nasty corrections along the way, and some years from now when they come crashing down en masse, the world will still benefit from all the amazingly advanced clean and efficient energy technology created during the bull run. (Above note re-written March 2009 as my earlier prediction of a market top and a crash in the sector starting in August '09 was hastened by the credit markets collapse and began in August 2008, before the bubble had fully formed. Of all the sectors in the equity markets, clean energy has the best prospects to assume market leadership and public favour; we are bouncing aong the bottom still, and those who have followed our guidance to begin including (in a judiciously blended portfolio of cash, bonds, stocks and yes, um... real estate) green energy investment funds dollar-cost-averaging programs in Winter and Spring of 2009 are well positioned for longterm capital growth.)
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