Energy Efficiency

Most studies show that the greatest potential for reducing our carbon emissions comes from energy efficiency technologies.  And, unlike many renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency is almost always less expensive than developing new energy sources, so energy efficiency businesses can be profitable now, and still have a large potential upside which will come with regulatory efforts to reduce our carbon emissions and rising energy prices. Unfortunately, the reason this free lunch exists is because selling and implementing energy efficiency technologies isn't easy.  It's also much more difficult to find companies that profit from energy efficiency than those that produce...

Tom Konrad, CFA With new climate legislation or a renewable portfolio standard unlikely now that Republicans control the US House of Representatives, progress on clean energy is likely to come mostly from action at the state level, and from regulation at agencies such as the EPA, rather than national legislation.  Why Energy Efficiency Standards Make Economic Sense One type of regulation that is fairly uncontroversial is improving energy efficiency standards, that is regulation of the amount of energy an appliance or other device can consume during normal use.  In an efficient market, regulation might bring...

David Gold While renewable energy often captures most of the cleantech headlines, if anyone doubts why energy efficiency must play a significant part in the cleantech effort – as significant, if not more so, than the role of renewable energy just examine the energy flow graphic developed by McCall and Bassett and reprinted in the June edition of Technology Review.  At least half of U.S. energy consumption goes to nothing more than creation of hot air through waste heat.  And, when one realizes that much of the 13.9% of electricity output from power plants shown in the...

The same Fortune interview with Jim Rogers, which I referenced yesterday also contains an excerpt from his new book, A Bull in China.  In it, he goes over a few stock picks, including one I thought worth bringing to the attention of investors interested in profiting from rising CAFE standards and other increases in vehicle efficiency:  Jim says: Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) (NYSE: ACH). Three year trend: profits up 86.7%, revenues up 88.8%. Chalco is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the world's fastest-growing aluminum market.  Established in 1999 out...

Cree, Inc. (CREE) announced the results of a new survey on the adoption, deployment and overall benefits of LED lighting. Conducted for Cree this week at Light+Building 2006 in Frankfurt, Germany. The survey revealed extraordinary optimism among lighting industry executives, architects, designers, engineers and other decision-makers regarding the growth of the LED lighting market. Out of 123 trade show participants polled, 50 percent of respondents stated they have seen a 20 percent to 60 percent growth rate for LED lighting applications in their businesses over just the past six months. Looking forward, 50 percent of those polled...

Lighting Science Group Corp. (LSGP.OB) announced that it entered into an agreement with OptiLED Holdings Co. Ltd. ("OptiLED(TM)") for distribution of Lighting Science's Optimized Digital Lighting(TM) (ODL(TM)) Low Bay fixtures in the People's Republic of China (including the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions), Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. The terms of the agreement include payment by OptiLED to Lighting Science of a royalty fee per unit sold within the countries covered by the agreement. The Low Bay LED fixtures replace a wide range of older, inefficient lighting technologies in many types of commercial, industrial, educational,...

Lighting Science Group Corp. (LSGP.OB) announced an order for 1,000 of Lighting Science's Optimized Digital Lighting(TM) (ODL(TM)) Low Bay lighting fixtures from Amtech Lighting Services, an ABM Industries Incorporated subsidiary, which is one of the nation's largest lighting management companies. Lighting Science expects to begin shipping the products during the second quarter for installation in select garages operated by AMPCO System Parking, another ABM subsidiary, and in AMPCO client garages. The nation's estimated 40,000 garage facilities provide an excellent platform for Lighting Science to launch their low bay fixtures given the high cost of electricity and the demand...

One the biggest problems facing North American power markets is the age of, and lack of investment in, power grids. Over the next few years, we can likely expect some major investments going into refurbishing and expanding North American electricity distribution networks. As an alternative energy investor, you probably want to have the grid issue on your radar. The reason is that as new money pours into this sector, certain firms with interesting technologies to make the grid more efficient could see some substantial upside. The DOE announced, two days ago, that it had awarded funding for...