How Geothermal Heat Pumps Can Soar Like Solar
Tom Konrad CFA Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP) are a niche market. They shouldn’t be. Disclosure: Long WFIFF, short LXU puts (a net long position.) A Better Mousetrap? Ralph Waldo Emerson never said “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” The mousetrap that likely inspired the misquote was invented seven years after his death. Unfortunately, many people take it literally. GHPs have all the hallmarks of a better mousetrap: They do the job of heating and cooling a building more efficiently than any other option. Despite...
Five Green REITs
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Why Green Buildings are Profitable Buildings
Buildings are responsible for approximately a third of greenhouse gas emissions, so making buildings more efficient and switching them to renewable sources of energy is an essential part in addressing climate change.
Fortunately, new technologies such as cold climate heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, as well as the ever falling cost of renewable electricity and improvements to insulation and building envelopes often provide opportunities to improve buildings while achieving extremely attractive investment returns from the energy and maintenance savings alone.
Because of the great financial returns, building owners who...
Wise Energy Use Stocks for Troubled Times
Part 1: Introduction In a financial world where there seems to be little hope, I see a bright spot in energy efficiency. This is because energy efficiency improvements pay for themselves in a very short time, in addition to being the best thing we can do for energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Given the current financial crisis, I also believe that investors should focus on companies with strong balance sheets, which will be able to internally fund their investment needs for the next couple years. While I was making the above case, Energy Tech Stocks introduced their...
Lighting Science Group Introduces R30 Led Floodlights with Breakthrough Performance in Energy Efficiency and...
Lighting Science Group Corp. (LSGP.OB) unveiled an LED R30 floodlight which provides the equivalent light output of a 65 watt incandescent floodlight but uses up to 80% less energy over a lifetime that is up to 50 times longer. The new floodlight, powered by Optimized Digital Lighting(TM) (ODL(TM)) technology, is designed for use both indoors and outdoors, in recessed cans and other applications that require a standard screw base socket. The R30 floodlight is one of the most widely used bulbs today, typically found in large quantities in commercial, industrial, retail, educational and hospitality facilities.
Geothermal Heat Pump Stocks
Geothermal heat pumps (GHP), also know as Geoexchange, or ground-source heat pumps have been recognized by both the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy as the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to heat and cool a building available. The downside of GHPs has always been the large up-front cost associated with the cost of the ground loop. With Obama promising a massive energy efficiency overhaul of federal buildings, the up-front cost is unlikely to be important so long as the expected returns on the investment are sufficient to pay for the upgrade. Since geothermal...
FLIR: Another Dividend-Paying Energy Efficiency Stock
Tom Konrad CFA FLIR Systems' (FLIR) IR cameras save energy not just by spotting leaks, but by spotting intruders in the dark. When I published my list of dividend paying energy efficiency stocks in January, I missed one, and it is a long-time favorite. FLIR Systems (FLIR) business is focused around thermography, and I picked FLIR as a stock likely to benefit from the stimulus in March 2009 because FLIR's cameras are used by energy raters. FLIR did benefit from the stimulus, rising 56% by the end of 2009 from the $21 price when I...
Two High Yield Energy Efficiency Stocks with a Free Call Option on Housing
Tom Konrad CFA It's no secret that the housing market is in the doldrums. New housing starts in August fell to an annual rate of 571,000, and fewer homes were under construction since record keeping began in 1970. This has taken a toll on energy efficiency stocks in the housing sector, leading to some very attractive pricing in two of my favorites. Waterfurnace Renewable Energy (WFI.TO / WFIFF.PK) I've long been fan of Waterfurnace, an Indiana-based manufacturer of ground source and water-source heat pumps. A note from a reader Wednesday prompted me to poll...
Space Cannon Selects Cree LEDs for All New LED Lighting Systems
Cree, Inc. (CREE) announced that major lighting designer and manufacturer Space Cannon VH S.p.A. has signed an agreement to purchase approximately $5.4 million of XLamp® power LEDs, among the industry's brightest and most efficient high power light emitting diodes (LEDs). Space Cannon plans to use Cree power LEDs exclusively for all future solid state lighting installations, including high profile projects, such as the Turin Olympics. I really like the LED and energy efficiency space and think these types of projects will become more common. The key is to get into these companies at the...
The Light at the End of the Tunnel is Energy Efficient
The Solar Investment Tax Credit has been extended, and the market for mortgage debt "rescued," but neither renewable energy nor the rest of the economy are out of the woods. We'll probably be feeling the effects of the financial imbalances which have built up in our economy for years to come. While the extension of the tax credit will help renewable energy technologies raise funding, the headwinds from the continued fallout of the structured finance and real estate bubble will be blowing in the other direction. This will be a problem both for developers of new technologies, and...
A Guide to Geothermal Heat Pump (GHP) Investing, Part II
Chris Williams
In the previous post on understanding the geothermal heat pump industry, we addressed (1) what’s driving the growth in the GHP industry, (2) the advantages of GHPs and (3) what market segments are adopting the technology the fastest. In this article we will continue the discussion and address:
4. The bottleneck’s to GHP continued and faster growth
5. Possible Investment targets within GHP
6. The 2 best opportunities for investment in public equities.
4. Bottlenecks: There are two major things holding back the GHP industry.
1. Technical knowledge. IGSHPA, The International Ground Source Heat Pump Association, has created a training certification to...
Smart Grid Stocks For The Obama Stimulus Package
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how a new Obama administration would renew with Keynesianism (i.e. large-scale counter-cyclical infrastructure spending) but with a green twist to: (a) get the US economy out of its funk and (b) propel America into the 21st Century by providing a massive push for its green industries. I discussed certain rail stocks and electric grid stocks that could benefit as a result. By-and-large, I've been right on both counts about the President-elect's strategy (i.e. Keynesian and green), but I did forget to mention an important part of the plan's focus:...
EE=C
Tom Konrad, CFA Apple takes on Google in Silicon Valley rivalry to save the world... first. Recently appointed Apple (NASD:AAPL) senior VP of Energy Lester Coulson is unimpressed by Google's (GOOG) efforts to solve climate change. "Google has been trying to make renewable energy cheaper than coal for more than three years now, and we haven't even seen a Beta version!" Coulson admonishes. "Sure, they've made a few headlines by investing in EGS and planning to string wires up and down the Atlantic coast, but after investing $100 million, is renewable energy cheaper than...
GE’s big bet on natural gas
Marc Gunther General Electric Co. (GE) is betting big on natural gas. The $150-billion a year company, whose power plants generate about one-fourth of the world’s electricity, today announced a new natural-gas power plant that it says is more efficient and flexible than any other in the market. By phone from Paris, where the announcement was made, Steve Bolze, president of GE Power & Water, told me: “This is about transforming the industry over the next five or 10 years.” GE says it invested more than $500 million in the new plant development. It will be manufactured in...
Investing in Efficient Homes: Energy Star, Built Green, and Beyond
This article is part of a series on the WGA Energy Efficient Buildings Workshop. Sam Rashkin One highlight of the conference was Sam Raskin's (the National Director a.k.a. "Scary Man" of the US EPA Energy Star program.) I recommend his presentation for graphic infrared images of poorly sealed homes, showing how little the insulation is doing to retain heat or cold if the building envelope is not tight. It will make you think twice about buying a home that hasn't been checked to be tightly sealed. Rashkin believes that the growing affordability of infrared cameras will allow...
How to Build a Cleantech Company Without Huge Investment Capital: A Case Study
David Gold While many cleantech companies require very large amounts of capital in order to get to market, there is a quiet group of cleantech companies bucking that trend. Companies like Heartland Biocomposites (Green Building Materials), RealTech (Water Testing) and TerraLUX (LED Lighting) all built significant and growing businesses with compelling intellectual property and did so initially without multi-millions in capital from venture funds (let alone tens or hundreds of millions). Because TerraLUX is one of our portfolio companies and I therefore know them best, their story is one I am able to share. TerraLUX boasts...
FLIR: The (IR) Image of a Stimulus Stock
I highlighted FLIR Systems (NASD:FLIR) as a way to participate in the growth of the energy auditing industry in late 2007. I was ambivalent about it at the time: I very much liked the potential growth story, but felt the stock was overvalued. Flir has fallen about 35% since late 2007, and 50% since its peak in July 2008 (while revenues have grown about 50%), prompting me to give it another look. Infrared Stimulus Weatherization of low income housing and Federal building retrofits are a major component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka "Stimulus Package.") ...
