Misc

by Debra Fiakas CFA The most recent report by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives a grade D+ for U.S. infrastructure as of the end of 2013.  Not a very good grade, but an improvement over the plain D grade that had been handed out four years earlier.  With the travesty of the water contamination in Flint, Michigan during 2014 to 2015, the ASCE report should carry special interest.  The threat to the health of the Flint community could be found in anywhere in the U.S. The executive summary of the ASCE 2013 report does...

I received, about a month ago, a complimentary copy of Profiting From Clean Energy, a recent book on investing in alternative energy by investment analyst Richard W Asplund. I will do a short review of the book here, as it may be of interest to some of our readers. Just so that there are no doubts lingering in your minds as you read through my review, neither AltEnergyStocks.com nor I is receiving any compensation for doing this other than a free book. Should you want your book reviewed here, feel free to contact us and make a request....

Dear Readers, You can now keep up with AltEnergyStocks.com on Twitter by visiting our Twitter page. We will post updates when we blog as well as other useful info about what we're up to and relevant news stories. Be sure to check us out! All the best, The AltEnergyStocks.com Team

The U.S. Department of Energy chose Princeton's Plasma Physics Laboratory to lead the United States' participation in an international fusion energy project known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). "We wanted to do it because it gives us an intellectual role in planning this experiment and making sure it succeeds," said Robert Goldston GS '77, director of the plasma physics lab. "This is very important for the future of fusion energy." In what Goldston described as an "amazing step" towards the development of nuclear fusion, ITER aims to construct the first device capable of producing self-sustaining...

I have been recently thinking to myself, "What is the purpose of this site." Originally I had grand plans about introducing people to this particular sector of stock investing. I think that alternative energy investing should be a part of your portfolio for several reasons. I feel we should support these companies so they can continue to grow and provide alternative ways to provide energy. I also feel that these companies are ideally poised for tremendous growth in the future as the technology matures. This growth usually means growth in the stock (and profits in your portfolio.) To...

Tom couldn't attend to his usual Monday column this week so he asked me to step in. My own investing has been partially on hold over the past couple of months as I have been watching developments in the markets, so I figured I would open the week with something a little lighter albeit not entirely unrelated to alt energy and cleantech investing. Deflating Valuations = Happy Value Investors One of the good things about the current state of equity markets for alt energy investors is that several great company's stocks that had been trading at...

SatCon Technology Corporation (SATC) announced that it received a $1.8 million purchase order for an initial installation of a 2.2 megawatt Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply (RUPS). Included in the purchase order is an option for a second UPS for $1.5 million. Baldwin Technologies in College Park, Maryland served as the engineering and manufacturer's representative for this sale and the final customer is the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. Delivery of the first unit is expected in the first calendar quarter of 2005.

A quick note to wish AltEnergyStocks.com Analyst Tom Konrad the best of luck with his CFA Level III exam today. We also want to wish good luck to all of our readers who are also taking one of the CFA exams today, break a leg! We will be taking a break from The Week In Cleantech this week and will be back on Monday with a special feature.

IEEE has written an article about the resurgence of Cold Fusion research. "Later this month, the U.S. Department of Energy will receive a report from a panel of experts on the prospects for cold fusion��?the supposed generation of thermonuclear energy using tabletop apparatus. It's an extraordinary reversal of fortune: more than a few heads turned earlier this year when James Decker, the deputy director of the DOE's Office of Science, announced that he was initiating the review of cold fusion science. Back in November 1989, it had been the department's own investigation that determined the evidence behind cold...

James over at the Alternative Energy blog has started a new series of reports based on the next generation of alternative energy solutions. His first edition discusses Anti-Matter.

Joel Makower has posted a link to the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century report on his website. Joel sums the report up nicely: All told, it's an upbeat and encouraging assessment that renewable energy around the world is being embraced by an audience far more important than environmentalists, technologists, or even high-ranking government leaders: the big-bucks investors capable of growing the kinds of large-scale, sustainable markets we'll need to create a renewable-energy future. Investment into this sector is growing at a very fast pace and I feel that investors that join in...

A recent post by Tyler Hamilton at Clean Break brought a few things into focus for me. On cleantech investing, Tyler says: the fact remains if you want to get businesses to embrace a more sustainable way of operating and convince consumers to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle you've got to go back to basics: Will this lower costs/monthly bills? Will this improve operational efficiency? Will this lower risk? Will this give me an edge over rivals? I could not agree more. In my opinion, there is also an important analogy between the adoption of clean...

It may sound like weird science, but small tech power is being pursued in some unusual places, including your liquor cabinet and toilet. What’s more, if you thought cold fusion was so 80s, it – and a new variant called sonofusion – has bubbled back into the news.

As you can see the site is starting to show some of the changes I have planned. First off, there is a slight redesign of the website to take advantage of some new features available from the newest release of MovableType. If you currently run a blog with MT I highly recommend the upgrade. If you want to get into the world of blogging, feel free to drop me a line and I can give you some links/advice. I have updated the stocks list and refreshed some of the listings. You may also notice that there is...

I was away on holidays last week with self-imposed lack of access to email - thanks to Tom for holding the Alt Energy fort alone! Several of you sent me emails to which I haven't gotten around to responding yet. I apologize for that. I will get on that tonight and you can expect a response in the next few days at the latest. Best, Charles

The team at AltEnergyStocks.com wishes all of our readers a happy and safe holiday season 2008. In 2007, we brought you the Cleantech News service. In 2008, we were delighted to bring you individual and category stock pages. We intend to continue looking for ways to create value for our readers in 2009. As always, we invite you to submit comments and suggestions on how you think we can improve AltEnergyStocks.com. We also always love to hear from you through your comments on the site - keep them coming! You all helped make 2008 a great...