Hither and Yon: Transmission and Biofuels
In the most recent two installments of Energy Tech Stocks' interview with me cover my views on transmission stocks, and biofuel stocks. Readers of AltEnergyStocks know that I am a big fan of electricity transmission, a theme I keep coming back to. You also know that I have a very ambivalent relationship with both ethanol and biodiesel. So I liked Bill's transmission article, but I just wasn't able to convey to him the subtleties of how I feel about biofuels. But he got one thing right: the owners of biofuel feedstock are likely going to be the biggest winners....
Interview on the Bigger Than Us Podcast
Here's an interview https://bit.ly/3dv5ywg I did for the Bigger Than Us podcast. I'm very impressed with Raj Daniels, the interviewer... he saw patterns in my approach to investing (and life in general) that, before he drew them out of me and put them into words, I had not even recognized myself.
https://anchor.fm/nexuspmg/episodes/74-Tom-Konrad-Ph-D---CFA--is-an-investment-analyst-and-writer-focused-on-clean-energy-stocks-eftq3v/a-a2i8ffh
Money Managers See Value in Clean Energy Sector, but Hesitate to Call the Bottom
Tom Konrad CFA Three green stock specialists see individual stocks at attractive values, but think it's too soon to call the bottom for the sector as a whole. Last month, I wrote that I'm again finding clean energy stocks that I think are bargains, and listed ten. I was not ready to call a bottom for clean energy, and in fact said I expected the market to get worse before it gets better, so investors should keep some money on the sidelines to wait for more opportunities to emerge. In a little over a month...
US Yieldcos Will Survive
by Susan Kraemer As unrealistic expectations of dividend growth are scaled back, yieldcos are now on a more sustainable path. Weaknesses in the US yieldco model came into sharp relief this summer as share prices fell along with oil and gas stocks. This was in part due to investor confusion about energy stocks but also in response to a flaw in US yieldco expectations. Manager of the Green Global Equity Income Portfolio and AltEnergyStocks.com editor Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA had warned of the looming potential for exactly this kind of market correction in a conversation a...
ETS Interview: LEDs and Energy Efficiency
Today, Energy Tech Stocks has the fifth installment from our interview, outlining my LED stock picks. He quotes me at the start saying that it's "going to be a gigantic market" about LEDs. It is, but only when compared to the current size of the market... you can ramp up a lot from a very small base. LED bulbs are increasing in brightness and decreasing in price rapidly. It's these quickly improving economics that make me bullish about LEDs. Unlike many energy efficiency technologies, LEDs are a product that a business can sell. Much of energy efficiency involves...
EATV: An ETF for Investing in the Agricultural Transition (Interview)
I met VegTech™ Invest CEO, Elysabeth Alfano at the 2023 ESG for Impact Conference, where she made a strong case for investing in food and agricultural systems innovation as a method for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental harms. I wanted to learn more about the specific innovative companies she thinks are worth investing in, and so I interviewed her and VegTech™ Invest Chief Investment Officer, Dr. Sasha Goodman about these themes. The interview follows.
Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA -
Editor
Q: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me. To begin with, can you tell us what VegTech™...
Stock Picks for US Energy Dominance
Tom Konrad, Ph.D. CFA Thursday night (Friday morning in Sinapore) CNBC Asia's Street Signs program must have had an interview cancellation, because they needed someone to give them 3 energy stock picks in response the Trump's "Energy Dominance" speech on last minute notice. They sent me (and probably a bunch of other people) an email two and a half hours before air. I did not see it until 20 minutes before the actual interview. I warned them that I do clean energy, not fossil fuels, but apparently they had no other takers who were awake and able to...
They’ll Put the Cellulose in Cellulosic Ethanol
One of the keys to staying ahead of the game in money management is lateral thinking. I start with the trend, and then try to think of industries or companies that might benefit, but are not on everyone else's radar. With Peak Oil-driven demand for biofuels, regular readers know that I consider the people who produce the feedstock (farmers, and industries whose waste can fairly easily be converted into biofuel) to be the most certain winners. One direction this chain of logic has taken me is to forestry companies. I'm far from a forestry analyst, so I decided to...
Three Money Managers See LED Industry Shining in 2013; Their Stock Picks
Tom Konrad LED lights on an outdoor tree. Photo by author This is the third article in my series based on my panel of green money managers’ predictions for 2013. The first article looked at what they expect 2013 holds for the Solar industry, and the second looked at their predictions for the Smart Grid. This installment focuses on the LED industry. Jeff Cianci: Faster than Anyone Expects Jeff Cianci is Chief Investment Officer at equity investment fund Green Science Partners. Cianci says “The trend toward LED lighting for...
Are the Declines in Solar and Wind Stocks Structural, or Cyclical?
Tom Konrad, CFA Last week, I asked three green money managers if they thought cleantech stocks, especially solar and wind sectors were near a bottom. While they did tell me about eight cleantech value stocks, they were not ready to call the bottom. Commoditization in Clean Energy In response to my questions, Rafael Coven, the manager of the Cleantech Index (^CTIUS), which is the index behind the Powershares Cleantech Portfolio ETF (PZD,) ...
Cleantech Venture Capital – Still Rising
As part of our ongoing series on stories on investment in the cleantech sector, we had a chance to discuss the sector with one of the venture capitalists at Emerald Technology Ventures. Scott MacDonald is an Investment Director with Emerald Technology Ventures, a global leader in cleantech venture capital. Founded in 2000 under the name SAM Private Equity, Emerald is a pioneer in this rapidly emerging sector and is focused on innovative technologies in energy, materials and water. With offices in Zurich, Switzerland and Montreal, Canada, Emerald manages three venture capital funds and two venture capital portfolio mandates...
Live Interview/Call in on Denver PBS Station KBDI 12
A quick note to Denver area readers: AltEnergyStocks.com Analyst Tom Konrad will be a guest on local PBS show Studio 12 from 8-9PM CDT Wednesday, September 2. This will be a panel discussion on Alternative Energy, and other guests are likely to be a representative of the natural gas industry, and one of the authors of Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat for the United States of America from the Nature Conservancy. They're also trying to get local environmental bête noire, Stan Lewandowski. Viewers will be able to call in and ask questions of...
Energy Tech Stocks Interview- Utility Scale Batteries
Two weeks ago I did a phone interview with Bill Paul of Energy Tech Stocks. Bill's a long time WSJ reporter who got out in time before Rupert Murdoch swooped in, as well as a long time environmental journalist. As such he interviews those of us whose job it is to have views about what's going on in Cleantech and presents those opinions in a readable and engaging way. He also has this addictive trick of breaking up interviews into several parts and leaving you with a cliffhanger. Bill's first installment showed up in my feed reader last...
Commodities Specialists Ask About Alternative Energy
Commodities investing site HardAssetsInvestor has published an interview with me from the start of December. We covered a broad swathe of the clean (and not so clean) energy. If you're wondering why my top stock pick from the article was ABB, and not one from my recent 10 Speculations series, it's because all of those are too risky to be my top picks. I like risk, but not with the largest part of my portfolio... stocks like ABB that let me sleep at night. Major topics we touched on: Ethanol (both corn and cellulosic) Cost comparisons in electricity...
Royalties: a Financial Innovation for Renewable Energy
The following interview with RE Royalties (RE.V, RROYF) CEO Bernard Tan was conducted in September by AltEnergyStocks.com Editor Tom Konrad. Links and ticker symbols were not included in his original responses, but added by AltEnergyStocks.com as a resource for readers.
Q: What exactly is a renewable energy royalty?
A renewable energy royalty is a stream of cash flows generated by a renewable energy project. When the project generates electricity and sells its electricity, we receive a percentage of the revenues from the electricity sales, otherwise known as a gross revenue royalty. We receive that gross revenue royalty, on average, for about...
The Biggest Unheard Boom of 2006 in Cleantech, Smart Metering, and Energy
Author Neal Dikeman is a founding partner at Jane Capital Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank advising strategic investors and startups in cleantech. He is the founding contributor of Cleantech Blog, and a Contributing Editor to AltEnergyStocks.com. In one of the less talked about cleantech mergers and acquisitions of 2006 (but one I think will have a deep impact on alternative energy and the smart metering and AMI market for years to come), First Data recently acquired Peace Software, an early provider of IT, billing, and CRM software to the deregulated utility sector, in a bid to get...
