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

Posted by Charles Morand at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just got back from Growing the Margins, a conference and trade show focused on the bio-mass/gas/energy/products sectors with a focus on the farm and food industries. These are not sectors I have traditionally paid a great deal of attention to, despite the fact that there are very interesting things happening in both.

The most notable contribution to alt energy from farm industry over the past five years has been corn ethanol, an enterprise I have long believed to be economically and environmentally unsustainable. To be sure, ethanol, but especially second-generation ethanol, got a fair bit of attention, as current US targets are expected to trigger significant demand over the next couple of decades. But there was also a lot of talk about a number of other lesser-known topics that gave me article ideas. Here are the three main ones:

• Farm-based and other small- and mid-scale biogas projects related to green power incentive programs and the ever widening search for carbon offsets. Although there are no direct ways for investors to play this, there may be some interesting lateral opportunities in firms providing equipment ranging from geomembranes for emissions capture to small-scale turbines.
• The emerging wood pellets for power generation industry, something Tom touched on somewhat a while back.
• The carbon offsets industry. Although I won't limit my discussion to farm- or biomass-based offset projects, I got the idea from a workshop there.   

I'm happy to entertain other ideas so feel free to send suggestions. The first of this series will be published on Monday, and I will add links to the list as articles are published.         

Posted by Charles Morand at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Kenneth Galbraith, renowned economist and author of the bestselling The Great Crash, 1929, died in 2006, and so he never saw the crash of 2008.  But he would not have been surprised.  

I just finished reading his A Short History of Financial Euphoria: Financial Genius is Before the Fall, a treatise on bubbles and busts of history, starting with the Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637 and ending with the crash of 1987. The book was written in 1989, but the message is still timely today.  Galbraith draws out the common factors of all financial bubbles; all will seem eerily familiar to the financial refugees of 2008.

These common factors are:

• Extreme brevity of financial memory.  Although the bursting of the dot-com bubble happened only seven years earlier, the most similar recent crisis in my mind was the demise of Long Term Capital Management in 1998.  But who remembered that after the dot-com bubble?  (For a refresher, I highly recommend the 2000 Nova documentary Trillion Dollar Bet.)
• The specious association of money with intelligence.  We have a tendency to think that people who have made a lot of money must be intelligent, and vice-versa.  Surely people who can understand CDOs must be blindingly brilliant and deserve the million dollar pay packages they were earning.  This association is so deep that for most of us, it is an unthinking assumption.  For instance, we might ask about people who invested with Madoff, "How could smart people be so dumb?" when we should be asking: "How could rich people be so dumb?"  This factor is the source of the book's subtitle: Financial Genius is Before the Fall.
• The thought that there is something new in the world.  By chopping and dicing mortgage risk in different ways, and parceling it off to unknown counterparties (think AIG), financial regulators were persuaded by banks that the overall risk of the system had been reduced.  But it wasn't.  In many cases, it wasn't even redistributed, with banks that had sold bad assets on to investors finding that they still were at risk because they also lent the funds which the investors used to buy the assets in the first place.  As Galbraith says, "The world of finance hails the invention of the wheel over and over again, often in a slightly more unstable version."

We All Did It

Galbraith also has something to say about who is to blame for the 2008 credit crunch:

We are to blame.  Everyone who indulged in the rush to buy into an accelerating housing market by taking out a loan which they could never pay back.  People who used their homes as ATMs, using seemingly endless home equity to finance vacations to the Caribbean.  Foundations, Charities, and Funds-of-funds blithely intrusting their money to the likes of Bernie Madoff.   Even investors who bought speculative stocks at inflated prices at the start of 2008 despite the stratospheric valuations.

Unless you took your money out of the market in 2007 or 2006, and used it to pay down your debt, you were part of the euphoria which led to the crash.  With luck, we will all learn this expensive lesson, and be able to remember it long enough not to be part of the next euphoric episode. 

History shows that most of us will forget all too soon (if we learn in the first place.)  Nevertheless, we have the power, and the ability, not to be "most people."

Tom Konrad, Ph.D.

Posted by Tom Konrad at 01:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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 year for AltEnergyStocks.com, and we look forward to a great 2009 with you!

Charles, Tom and Brian

Posted by Charles Morand at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With about a month to go to the 2008 presidential election campaign, and after two presidential and one vice-presidential debates, we have heard enough from both tickets on the issue of energy to make up our mind on an official endorsement, an issue we do not take lightly.

John McCain's and Barack Obama's stances on energy can seem very similar to the casual observer. Both candidates support a cap on carbon emissions, and both tend to argue for "All of the Above" when asked about specific forms of energy.

But there are key differences:

1. In the second presidential debate [transcript], Tom Brokaw asked each candidate to prioritize the important issues of Healthcare, Energy, and Entitlement reform. McCain avoided the question, saying that he would work on all simultaneously, while Obama put energy first and foremost. At AltEnergyStocks.com, we also believe that energy should be the new president's top priority.

2. Energy Efficiency. Despite supporting an "all of the above" approach to energy, John McCain very seldom speaks of energy efficiency, and using the energy we have more wisely. Barack Obama nearly always speaks about energy efficiency when he speaks about energy. The incident where Barack Obama truthfully said that properly inflating tires would save more oil than offshore drilling is likely to produce [video], after which McCain ridiculed him for it, is just one memorable example. Although AltEnergyStocks.com supports all forms of renewable energy, we know that energy efficiency is the cheapest and cleanest form of energy available, and so energy efficiency has to come first.

For more differences, this Wall Street Journal article explores the candidates' energy policies and voting records in more depth, and shows that Barack Obama has consistently supported renewable energy, while John McCain has sometimes been an obstacle.

For all these reasons, AltEnergyStocks.com joins other alternative energy and cleantech businesses in endorsing Barack Obama as the best candidate for the Alternative Energy Industry, and for our personal investments in the sector. But beyond immediate economic and financial considerations, we believe that a fundamental shift in the way we produce and utilize energy is a necessary condition for peace and prosperity for the generations that will follow us, and we believe that Barack Obama is the most willing and best able to ensure that this shift occurs.

Charles Morand, Partner & Editor

Tom Konrad, Ph.D., Partner & Analyst

Brian Gomes, Partner & CTO

Posted by Charles Morand at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just finished the third (of three) Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams.  I believe I passed, (results will not be available until September.)  I've taken more than my share of tests in my life, and these three exams have been the three hardest.  I decided to publish my advice for others becoming CFA Candidates because 1) my partner at Alternative Energy Stocks, Charles Morand has just become a CFA Candidate (he'll take the first exam in December), and 2) there is little advice available online.

VI. Buy two of your chosen model of calculator  The reason for this is because, if your battery happens to die in the middle of the test, you don't want to waste precious minutes trying to change it.  I never had a battery die on either of my used calculators, but why take the chance (especially when you may never use the $5 extra battery.)   The two models allowed are the HP 12C and the TI Business Analyst Plus.  The links are to eBay, where I was able to buy my calculators for less than $20 each.  

V. The CFA Institute recommends a minimum of 250 hours to study for each exam.  They are not joking.  I studied around 300 hours for each exam.  If you can only put in 200 hours, you will not pass unless you are considerably smarter than I am.  The candidate sitting next to me on level III told me he had taken off 10 days to go skiing this spring.  He didn't finish two questions on the morning portion of the exam, and I got the impression that he had trouble with the parts he did finish.  He seemed angry about how hard the exam was.

IV. Make sure your job and your family are supportive.  Ideally, you should work someplace that gives you time to study, as well as support.  If you have a wife and kids, don't plan to see them on weekends for several months each year for at least three years.  Make sure they understand that, and are supportive.  I had a study partner for level I who had kids, and frequently would miss study dates because of family obligations.  This was his third attempt to study for level one, and he was so unprepared in June that he did not even bother to take the test.

III. Do all the problems in the coursework.  If you just read the material without doing the problems, you will have no idea what they'll be asking for on many of the questions on the exam.  

II. Practice exams are also a must.  I've found that the online exams available from the CFA Institute are harder than the actual test, so I do not bother with anything but the one they give away for free.  On level III, however, the last three years of essay questions are available.  I found these extremely useful.  Exam prep providers Schweser and Stalla also offer practice exams.  For level II and III, I used the Schweser practice exam book from the previous year, which I bought on eBay, and found it very helpful.  I spoke to another candidate between sessions on level III who had used both.  He had switched providers because he was taking level III for the third time, and needed to try something different.  He thought Schweser exams are at about the same level as the real thing, while the Stalla exams are too easy.

I. Exam Prep courses and videos.  I never took an exam prep course from one of the providers, since they are quite expensive and I was paying my own way.  However, I did use year-old videos (at level one two-year old) from Schweser, and found them an excellent way to review the material over the last month of prep.  I also bought these on eBay.  Exam prep providers also offer condensed versions of the curriculum.  I never used these, so I can't recommend one over the other.  The same candidate referenced in II above said that Stalla was better at explaining the concepts than Schweser.

In short, eBay is your friend.  Practice questions are your friends. Your current friends (and possibly family) may have to be reminded of your name, you will have seen so little of them while you were studying.  

The CFA program is an incredible amount of work, but you can get a lot more out of it than just better pay or job prospects.  It has made me a better analyst.  And having missed the last three, I'll appreciate Spring more for years to come.

Tom Konrad

Posted by Tom Konrad at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (15) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Posted by Charles Morand at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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.

General Impressions

Profiting From Clean Energy covers 13 sub-sectors of the clean energy space: solar (PV and thermal); wind; fuel cells; geothermal; cleaner utilities; power efficiency; smart meters; power storage and backup; clean transportation; ethanol and biofuels; trading in biofuel feedstocks; coal; and carbon trading. The book also discusses macro-drivers for alternative energy (e.g. concerns about climate change, energy security, government incentive programs, etc.) and provides growth forecasts. Profiting From Clean Energy opens with a review of the various forms of investments one can make in alternative energy (e.g. individual stocks, mutual funds, etc).

The author takes a largely top-down approach to his analysis. He begins at the economy or even the global level, and works his way down to industry dynamics, how the technology works and who the key players are. For each sub-sector, the book provides a comprehensive list of stocks with some basic analysis. Technology discussions are at a level where individuals without engineering training can easily follow, while still providing enough depth to be well-informed when doing further research on a stock or sector.

The core audience for this book is, in my view, investors with limited knowledge of alt energy but who want to get started and need an effective way to learn a lot rapidly. That's not to say more knowledgeable folks won't get any value out of this book. For my part, I learned a fair bit in the geothermal, energy efficiency and net metering sections, as they were sectors I had not, until recently, examined very closely. But I believe this book can provide the most value if you have limited knowledge of clean energy as an industry but have a strong interest in investing in it, and are not sure where to start.

At a broad level, Profiting From Clean Energy is therefore a good resource to get you thinking about what to look for when seeking out investment opportunities in clean energy. The book does not, however, provide tools for fundamental stock analysis. Whereas certain investment books outline detailed models for analysis based on fundamentals and financials, Profiting From Clean Energy is very much about the macro-picture and does not delve deeply into technical financial concepts.

The Good

- A very good general overview of the key dynamics driving each sector and clean energy in general. Can therefore provide a good base for stock-specific analysis when assessing a company's competitive positioning.

- A comprehensive list of stocks broken down by sector, along with a wealth of external resources to help push one's research beyond the book. The accompanying website, http://www.profitingfromcleanenergy.com/ (currently under development), will soon provide a list of 50 stocks with profiles, and already has features such as a news service and a free newsletter.

- Easy to read and not overly detailed or technical, yet provides a good level of depth.

The Less Good

- Reading a book about investing in internet technology written in 1997 today would likely not be immensely useful. Similarly, because alt energy is going through a phase of rapid evolution and profound changes, this book is not timeless. Read it now and it can provide a lot of value; wait two years and things will have changed too drastically in certain sectors like solar and clean transportation (unless of course multiple editions are planned).

- In the clean transportation section, I would have liked to see a discussion of rail transportation and opportunities associated with it.

- An close follower of the alt energy space will likely not come across a great deal of new information in the book, although the website is a useful resource. I don't, however, believe that this is unique to Profiting From Clean Energy, but is rather a consequence of the choice an author makes about going for breadth (covering multiple sectors) instead depth (covering only one).

Posted by Charles Morand at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 rich multiples for most of 2007 are now priced more reasonably. In fact, for value investors, markets such as these present wonderful opportunities to get in at acceptable levels on good stocks.

At its core, the value investing approach purports that, when buying a company's equity, you should only ever pay for one of two things: (a) the replacement value of the firm's assets (including intangibles like technology and client relationships) or (b) what is affectionately referred to as "the moat", meaning some form of strategic edge that competitors cannot replicate.

With regards to replacement value of the firm's assets, this effectively means that if a stock is trading much above its book value per share plus certain adjustments (say higher than 1.4x), value investors won't find it too interesting. This metric represents what it would cost a competitor to exactly replicate the business, and so adjustments to the balance sheet include intangible items like patents and customer relations. On the second point, the moat can be thought of as a market position that is nearly untouchable for one reason or another. For example, First Solar's (NASDAQ:FSLR) trailing PE of 132x can be partially explained by the company's unchallenged manufacturing and cost leadership in the thin film PV space - investors perceive a moat and implicit in this high multiple is a belief that earnings won't come under attack from competition any time soon.

Needless to say, certain alt energy sectors such as solar PV have seen PE ratios deflate appreciably since the fall of 2007. PE ratios of 15x and under are the ideal range for value investors and, while many alt e stocks still have PEs far above that, certain good opportunities have certainly emerged in the past few months.

Now I don't want to delve too far into this just yet as I intend on doing a full value analysis of a stock I'm considering buying in a few week's time. But for those who don't know a lot about the value investing philosophy, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with it. It can be a powerful, and, if you truly follow it, disciplined approach to investing that has had a very respectable track record over the past four decades, thanks in large part to...

Warren Buffett

Mr. Buffett, the world's richest man and the most famous disciple of value investing's inventor Benjamin Graham, generally needs no introduction.

A few of my classmates and I had the extreme pleasure and honor of traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, to spend the morning and lunchtime with Mr. Buffett a couple of weeks ago. It was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. While I admire the work and talent of many people, I don't often come across individuals that I find inspirational on a personal level. Warren Buffett's thinking on many issues related to investing and business has definitely influenced my own, and it turns out that his approach to life in general makes a lot of sense to me. His most memorable advice to us: "The number one thing you should look for in a spouse is not humor or smarts, but low expectations." I've tried to convince my wife of this since to no avail.

So, as a prelude to a post dedicated to the value investing approach to security analysis in a few weeks' time, I figured I would share a few thoughts and pictures with our readers on the man who has had the most impact on the field of value investing, and, truthfully, on investing in general.

Some Pics

This sign in medium-sized letters next to an innocuous-looking door is about the only thing in the building telling you where you actually are

Lunchtime at Piccolo's Steakhouse. Mr. Buffett loves a good steak for lunch and a rootbeer float for desert

Mr. Buffett and myself after lunch

Posted by Charles Morand at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Politicians will always have an influence on the stock market, through regulation, tax policy, incentives and more.  This truism is only more certain in energy policy, where electricity markets and transport are highly regulated, and the next administration is widely expected to enact some sort of carbon regulation, if not a tax.  

Last night, I heard the head of the Colorado Governor's Energy Office speak on what the state administration is doing on energy policy.  Our current governor, Bill Ritter, ran on a three part platform: working to fix Colorado's healthcare, transportation, and energy policies.  Last year, the administration mostly focused on energy, and although healthcare and transportation will get more attention this year, there are already several energy bills on the legislative slate.  This is because "Nobody is certain what to do about transportation or health care, but we do know what to do about Energy."   This scenario may also be familiar to residents of California.

Since we do know what to do about energy, do the remaining US presidential candidates?  From the news coverage, I have to admit I'm far from certain.  My impression has been that most of the Democrats and John McCain among the Republicans have been talking a good game, but repeated mentions of potentially problematic technologies and policies such as "Clean Coal," Biofuels, Carbon Cap'N Trade, Nuclear power, and even Coal to Liquids, leave me wondering if even the best of intentions might lead to bungled energy policy.

If I Were President...

There is no doubt that energy policy is complex.  Nevertheless, energy policy much more tractable than solving our nation's healthcare crisis, the looming unfunded costs of entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security, or even what to do about the mess in Iraq.  In short, I feel I know why Al Gore isn't running for President again.  

It is true that many of the candidates have health care plans as well as energy plans. but until some other unsuccessful presidential candidate reinvents himself (or herself) by trudging around the nation with a slideshow about healthcare, I doubt our next President will be able to do more than apply a band-aid to any of these problems.  (I sincerely hope to be wrong on this.)

In contrast, Energy policy, while complex, provides clear opportunities for improvement.  

1. Improved energy efficiency provides winners all around. 
2. Strengthening our national grid is essential to large-scale renewable energy development.  
3. If a Carbon cap is chosen over a carbon tax, it needs to be carefully designed to avoid rewarding polluters without significantly reducing pollution.  
4. The entire life-cycle of transport fuels needs to be considered to ensure they don't do more harm than good.  
5. All externalities of transport solutions need to be considered to avoid unintended consequences, such as higher fuel economy encouraging driving and hence contributing to congestion and accidents.  We need better transportation systems and smart growth more than we need better cars.  
6. "Clean Coal" and ...
7. Nuclear are likely to be much more expensive when true costs are taken into account than cleaner options with less active lobbyists. 

Admittedly, several of my above points are controversial, but they're less controversial than turning off life support on a brain-dead Florida woman.  And they're orders of magnitude more important. 

Grading the Candidates

I'm doing this exercise partly for my own benefit; I don't know how the candidates are stack up against each other, and I still have a caucus to participate in.  What follows are my grades of the remaining candidates on each of the seven above criteria.  Keep in mind that I give candidates low grades on "Clean Coal" and Nuclear if they support subsidies for these technologies.   I assume that the candidates who are not currently talking about energy policy will not attempt to do anything about energy policy.  

Democrats:

All of the democrats have put real effort into their proposed energy policies, but only Obama considers it one of his highest priorities.  Links are to sources other than the candidates policy statements.

Republicans

Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee seem to consider energy independence (a chimera) more important than reducing carbon emissions.  Ron Paul shifts the subject to property rights, while Mitt Romney waffles about whether climate change is caused by human action.  Given this backdrop, I cannot take any of their energy policies seriously.

While John McCain also emphasizes energy security, he puts priority on combating climate change.  If you are a Republican who cares about this issue, he is the only one likely to take any meaningful action.

Conclusions

I'm surprised to find that Barak Obama is the best candidate for the Clean Energy voter.  I started this project remembering the furor he aroused with his support of Coal-to-Liquids technology, but his subsequent "clarification" that he was only interested in low-carbon coal to liquids seems to have taught him a lesson about transport fuels, and that early misstep may have led to a more comprehensive look at the tricky issues of transport fuels.  This may be why he now takes the lifecycle costs of transport fuels seriously, while they aren't really on other candidates' radar.

Obama is also the only candidate who explicitly calls energy one of his highest priorities.  I can't say I'm in love with any of the candidates (note the almost total lack of "A" grades.)   John Edwards earned the sole "A" because he panders towards interest groups.  On energy efficiency, he managed to hit one of my hot-button issues squarely, but then he went and blew it by pandering to the ethanol and "Clean Coal" lobbies.  

A major part of Clinton's platform involves forcing oil companies to invest in renewable energy, an idea that does not fit into my rating schema.  I think this is a bad idea, because reluctant investors are unlikely to make intelligent investments.  Even without Clinton's paln, oil companies that understand peak oil will invest in alternatives, and oil companies that do not will decline along with their reserves.  

With my discomfort with Obama's initial endorsement of Coal-to-Liquids, and Edwards' habit of pandering to every interest group at the expense of his own coherence, I used to lean towards Hillary.  I'm now convinced that Barak has the best grasp of the issues involved. 

Republican Clean Energy voters have a much easier choice: only John McCain is willing to confront Climate Change.

Posted by Tom Konrad at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

The most recent issue of Fortune has an excellent interview with Jim Rogers, of Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist fame, as well as an excerpt from is new book, A Bull in China.  Jim saw the start of the current commodities supercycle early (peak oil is just one driving force for this cycle), but it still has a long way to run, in my opinion, as well as Jim's.   Almost everything has some dependence on energy prices, because of either the embodied energy, or because if the embodied energy of substitutes.   As Jim says in the interview,

Cotton is a good way to buy oil-- hear me out.  Much apparel has been made from synthetics.  Synthetics come from oil.  So many textile makers are converting back to natural fibers because oil is at an all-time high.  So if you want to buy oil, buy sugar [because it is easy to turn into ethanol], or buy cotton.  What I'm buying right now is agriculture.

I hadn't thought of this cotton-oil connection before, and it's drawing these connections before others do that makes a great investor.  Incidentally, cotton and oil are also connected more directly via the use of oil to make pesticides and fertilizer, and indirectly when land formerly used to grow cotton is shifted to grain production because of rising ethanol prices, but I think the substitution effect Jim talks about is likely to be strongest.

Tomorrow I'll share with you one of Jim's stock picks that I think fits well into an Alternative Energy portfolio.

Posted by Tom Konrad at 03:56 PM | Permalink

Altenergystocks.com frequently receives requests to provide links to other websites and/or to join services where several blogs are featured together in one platform (see an example here). As our regular readers have probably noted, our blog rolls (Tom's and mine) are not especially extensive. We thought at this point that it might make sense to let our readers know how we go about selecting sites for inclusion in our blog rolls and what our policy is with regards to giving out links to other sites.

Blog Roll

Our approach to adding links to our blog rolls is very simple. Blogs/sites must:

(a) Be of enough interest to us that we follow them regularly

(b) Post often

(c) Provide real value-added for our readership

Of course there are plenty of blogs/websites out there that meet these criteria, but we also believe that blog rolls should not be so long as to make them overwhelming for site users. Our blog rolls are also not static - for instance, I recently made certain changes to mine to reflect what I've been paying attention to lately.

Yes, this may all sound very subjective, but devising a truly "objective" way of populating our blog rolls would negate the true intent of a blog roll, which is to indirectly give you our opinion on what is worth reading.

You may have also noticed that our blog roll is broken down into 3 sections: (a) Charles' favorites, (b) Tom's favorites and (c) Two thumbs up. The last category contains sites/blogs that we both think are worth your while.

Blog Aggregation Services

Blog aggregation and other types of social sites often ask us if we are interested in being featured as part of their services. We do not mind, as long as it requires no commitment and no extra work on our part.

Altenergystocks.com is not interested, at this point in time, in becoming affiliated with other services. In short, if you wish to add us to your service, you may do so after having notified us and received approval. We are not, however, interested in relationships that: (a) require exclusivity agreements, (b) require us to link over to you, (c) require us to alter our content in any way, (d) entail an appreciable amount of extra work on our part.

Charles' shared items: A New Feature!

Some of you may have noticed a new feature called "Charles' shared items" on the right side navigation bar, above the Archives.

The items shown in this window are blog posts and media stories that I flag as worthy of your attention as I go through my RSS reader (Goolge Reader) daily. Unlike the Week in Cleantech, this feature is dynamic and I add new links to it a few times each day. We therefore encourage you to use this if you want up-to-date info on what is going on in the world of cleantech.

Happy alt energy investing everyone!

Posted by Charles Morand at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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

Posted by Charles Morand at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For this post, a tad bit of shameless promotion for a friend.

My former grad school roommate and good friend Brad Parks, who works at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in DC, co-authored a book on the asymmetry that exists between emerging countries' share of global greenhouse gas emissions and the price those countries will have to pay, not only monetarily but also in terms of health and quality of life, as the effects of climate change materialize.

Brad put a tremendous amount of work into this and the few chapters that I had a chance to read were excellent. If you have an interest in international development and the environment, this is a timely and critical piece of work.

The Book

A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy
J. Timmons Roberts and Bradley C. Parks
MIT Press, December 2006
$26.00/£16.95 (PAPER)

The global debate over who should take action to address climate change is extremely precarious, as diametrically opposed perceptions of climate justice threaten the prospects for any long-term agreement.

Poor nations fear limits on their efforts to grow economically and meet the needs of their own people, while powerful industrial nations, including the United States, refuse to curtail their own excesses unless developing countries make similar sacrifices. Meanwhile, although industrialized countries are responsible for 60% of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, developing countries suffer the "worst and first" effects of climate-related disasters, including droughts, floods, and storms, because of their geographical locations. In A Climate of Injustice, J. Timmons Roberts and Bradley Parks analyze the role that inequality between rich and poor nations plays in the negotiation of global climate agreements.

Roberts and Parks argue that global inequality dampens cooperative efforts by reinforcing the "structuralist" worldviews and causal beliefs of many poor nations, eroding conditions of generalized trust, and promoting particularistic notions of "fair" solutions. They develop new measures of climate-related inequality, analyzing fatality and homelessness rates from hydrometeorological disasters, patterns of "emissions inequality," and participation in international environmental regimes. Until we recognize that reaching a North-South global climate pact requires addressing larger issues of inequality and striking a global bargain on environment and development, Roberts and Parks argue, the current policy gridlock will remain unresolved.

Reviews

"This is a remarkable book. In applying a wide variety of disciplinary approaches – empirical and theoretical, qualitative and quantitative – the authors provide a thorough and truly global understanding of the structural inequalities and injustice that come with contemporary climate politics and disasters. A rich, sophisticated, and balanced study that moves beyond structural explanations and opens horizons for change."

--Arthur P. J. Mol, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

"Roberts and Parks have written an outstanding book that highlights the deep structures of inequality and mistrust that pervade every aspect of the climate regime. It will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why the South is increasingly reluctant to join up with the post-Kyoto process."

--Clark A. Miller, Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, Arizona State University, and editor of Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance

“This book is a significant contribution, both in addressing questions of justice in the climate change debate and in providing new perspectives on the prospects for successful negotiation.��?

--Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy, New York University

The Authors

Timmons Roberts is James Martin 21st Century Professor at the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University, UK, and Professor of Sociology at the College of William and Mary, US.

Bradley C. Parks is a Development Policy Officer in the Department of Policy and International Relations at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Washington, DC, and Senior Researcher at The Center for International Policy Research at the College of William and Mary.

Posted by Charles Morand at 06:59 PM | Permalink

A while back, Jeff, one of our readers pointed me to an announcement on ammonia fuelled irrigation pumps. Late last week, Jeff sent me another link to Market Watch's coverage of the Ammonia Conference in Algona, Iowa.

In the article, Ted Hollinger, President of Hydrogen Energy Center (HYEG.OB), outlines the company's efforts to produce ammonia fueled engines. From the article:

HEC projects their ammonia-fueled engines will produce 2.33 times more horsepower than a gasoline-fueled engine and plan to have finalized systems ready for sale in 2008.

"Ted Hollinger's presentation was one of the highlights of the conference. If the Hydrogen Engine Center ammonia fueled commercial internal combustion engines are as high in efficiency (50%) as Ted Hollinger indicates, it will be difficult for fuel cells to compete," commented Norm Olsen, P.E., Manager of Iowa State University's BECON (Biomass Energy Conversion) Facility in Nevada, IA.

That certainly is very interesting and presents a great opportunity for the company if his projections are correct.

I had a look at 1-year performance of the stock and it has just been hammered since June of this year with a precipitous drop since late August. Does anyone have an explanation to that recent performance?

Posted by Brian Gomes at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 technologies and investments in those clean technologies. The analogy between adoption and investment shows that these two things will ultimately have similiar paths.

For clean technologies to be adopted, they must be supported by economic benefits to the end users of those technologies. They must strengthen the business case for the customer. If the economic benefits are not there, the usage of these technologies cannot be sustainable. Goodwill runs out when the money runs out.

The lack of adoption of a clean technology will of course impact an investment in the company. When we invest in a company, we own a piece of that company. Over the long term, if the company is not profitable because its products are not being adopted, our investment in that company will reflect the performance of its products. If you are investing in alternative energy companies because it is the right thing to do, but you are continually losing money, there is just so long that can last despite all your good intentions. The profits of a company or lack thereof will bring that reality home to you as an investor.

The adoption of clean technologies and the investment in clean technologies both must be justified by economic benefits - it cannot just be the right thing to do. If economic benefits are not there, the adoption and investment in these technologies cannot be sustainable.

Here's to saving the world by investing in profitable clean tech companies!

At some point later in time, I would like to add a forum to this site to facilitate interaction amongst the readers and to create a community. Right now, I just have the comments section of this blog.

For today, I am asking that you use the comment section below if you would like to tell us about an alternative energy (or clean technology/environmentally friendly) company that you are excited about. Tell us what the company does, why you like them and the potential of the company and their products.

Of course, your comments on the post itself are always welcome.

Posted by Brian Gomes at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

TreeHugger.com points out that Ceres.org has sent out petitions and letters to Fidelity, Vanguard, and American Funds asking them to begin addressing the economic risks of climate change by supporting global warming shareholder resolutions filed with U.S. companies.

"In 2005, none of the three mutual fund companies supported such resolutions, which typically request that firms disclose the financial risks and opportunities of global warming and describe their strategies for managing those challenges" [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) received an order for a D-VAR® voltage regulation system from Econnect Construction, a U.K. company specializing in grid connection for renewable energy sources. The D-VAR system will be installed in Scotland where it will provide voltage support and power factor regulation in a mixed hybrid solution designed by Econnect Construction for a 35 megawatt (MW) wind farm. AMSC expects to commission the D-VAR system in October 2006. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 07:42 AM | Permalink

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management, Inc., announced the upcoming launch of the no-load Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund, which will invest in companies involved in the production, distribution or storage of alternative energy, including energy conservation. The fund is designed as a vehicle for investors seeking to profit from and participate in the shift from conventional fuels to alternative energy sources.

The fund will invest primarily in companies that produce 50 percent or more of revenues from alternative energy and will be managed with an emphasis on value. Lead manager of the fund will be Tim Guinness, Chief Investment Officer of Guinness Atkinson, who also manages the Guinness Atkinson Global Energy Fund.

Guinness Atkinson has produced an in-depth, eight page research report called the Alternative Energy Revolution. This report provides an analysis of various alternative energy technologies and includes a discussion of the shift underway from conventional to alternative energy.

The anticipated launch date for the Fund is March 31. Investors wishing to learn more can request a prospectus and a copy of the Alternative Energy Revolution by calling 800 915-6565 or by visiting the GA Funds website. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As promised earlier this week, I have been given permission to post the abstract of the ChangeWave Research Alternative Energy Trends report. I work for the publishing company that produces the ChangeWave services and have been involved with ChangeWave from the beginning. I am also an Alliance member. The ChangeWave Alliance is a group of about 5,000 industry insiders and professionals that are regularly surveyed to track economic and investment trends in various sectors of the market. You can learn more about ChangeWave at their newly redesigned website.

If you are currently an alternative energy professional and want to learn more about joining the ChangeWave Alliance, please feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment below.

And the Winner Is? Hybrid/Electric Leads for 2006 while Solar Shows Momentum - But 5 Years Out it's Fuel Cells

Overview: During the week of February 7-10, 2006 we conducted a survey of Alliance members who work for companies involved in the Alternative Energy industry or who are knowledgeable in the field. A total of 121 Alternative Energy Industry members participated, along with 804 members knowledgeable about the industry.

Bottom Line: Alternative Energy Industry respondents still believe Hybrid/Electric Vehicles will experience the most rapid economic growth over the next two years, but the current results show the Solar Sector ranks second and has picked up the most momentum since our October 2005 survey.

What about 5 years out? Industry respondents believe the Fuel Cell sector will experience the most rapid economic growth over the next five years - with once again the Solar Sector ranking second.

We asked industry respondents to identify the fastest growing mid-tier companies within various alternative energy sectors for the next 12-24 months. Here are the leading companies identified by sector:

Hybrid/Electric Sector: Energy Conversion Devices (ENER);
Fuel Cell Sector: Fuel Cell Energy (FCEL) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER);
Solar Sector: Evergreen Solar (ESLR);
BioMass Sector: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).

We also asked industry members how long they believe it will take for key Alternative Energy breakthroughs to reach commercial viability. Here are the consensus estimates:

Other Key Findings:

• Most Rapid Economic Growth - Past 12 Months. Alternative Energy Industry respondents cited Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (60%) as having experienced the most rapid economic growth over the past 12 months - up 7-pts since our previous survey. Importantly, number two Solar Energy (34%) has more than doubled during this time.
• Impact of Rising Energy Costs during 2006. Not surprisingly, the vast majority (92%) of industry respondents think rising energy costs will drive significantly more investment to alternative energy in 2006 - with Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (28%), Solar (27%) and Biomass (26%) benefiting most.
• Higher Fossil Fuel Price Assumptions. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Industry Respondents report their company's business plan now assumes Significantly Higher fossil fuel prices for the next 5 years - up 8-pts since October 2005. Another 41% say their company assumes Somewhat Higher fossil fuel prices.
• Biggest Technology Breakthroughs - Next 12-24 Months. Industry Respondents believe Fuel Cells (27%) and Hybrid/Electric Vehicles (27%) will experience the biggest new technology breakthroughs over the next 12-24 months.

Summary of Key Findings

Alternative Energy Sectors - Most Rapid Economic Growth

Past 12 Months
Hybrid/Electric (60%; up 7-pts)
Solar (35%; up 19-pts)

Next 12-24 Months
Hybrid/Electric (49%; up 1-pt)
Solar (39%; up 12-pts)

Next 5 Years
Fuel Cells (25%; down 6-pts)
Solar (22%; up 10-pts)

Breakthroughs Closest to Reaching Commercial Viability
Dramatic Expansion in Ethanol Production - 2011
Development of Highly Advanced Battery - 2012
Solar Cells Become Affordable Enough to Be Commercially Viable - 2014
Development of Mass Produced Hydrogen-Fuel Cars - 2018
Rising Energy Costs Driving Investment into Alternative Energy in 2006

Who Will Benefit Most?
Hybrid/Electric (28%)
Solar (27%)
Biomass (26%)

Fastest Growing Mid-Tier Alternative Energy Companies

Hybrid-Electric Sector: Energy Conversion Devices (ENER)

Fuel Cells Sector: Fuel Cell Energy (FCEL), Energy Conversion Devices (ENER)

Solar Sector: Evergreen Solar (ESLR)

BioMass Sector: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may have noticed that I have not been posting to this website very frequently for the last couple of weeks. During this time I have been working very hard at my day job launching a redesigned website. Working 12+ hour days for the last couple of weeks has put a toll on my free time. But I'm glad to say that we launched the new site yesterday and I should be able to pick backup again soon.

For those of you interested, here is a link to the new site that has taken all of my time. [ more ]

I also have some additional good news, the site mentioned above has created some special reports on Alternative Energy Investing and I have been given permission to post the findings here next week. So stay tuned.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 02:46 PM | Permalink

Joel Makower points to a special report published by Wells Fargo Private Client Services "Identifying the Opportunities in Alternative Energy" (PDF.)

It is a good primer on alternative energy resources (hydro, wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass, and -- yes -- nuclear), along with an analysis of their respective advantages, disadvantages, and outlooks. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world"

Thanks to Mr. Bush's state of the union address last night, we should see some nice gains across the board in the Alternative Energy sector.

Some of the big winners may be the Ethanol companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX).

The EnergyStockBlog.com has a nice write up on the potential for ADM. [ more ]

GreenCarCongress.com has a nice summary of the important parts of the speech.

In his State of the Union 2006 address, President Bush announced the Advanced Energy Initiative�a 22% increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy (DOE).

The Initiative is intended to focus on providing breakthroughs in two areas: power for homes and businesses; and transportation. [ more ]

Update: Well the market is now open and shares of ADM and PEIX are trading down. But shares of Fuel Cells and Solar companies are up.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Energy Stock Blog points to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency list of the current top 25 purchasers of renewable energy, and their suppliers. From the release:

Top 25 Partners are Partners whose annual green power purchase is the largest, and whose green power purchase has been completed. Their actions are helping drive the development of new renewable energy sources for electricity generation. Combined, their purchases amount to 3.3 million megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, which is approximately 75 percent of the green power commitments made by all Partners. These Top 25 Partners provide an example to their peers, customers, and community.

Here are the top 5

1. U.S. Air Force
2. Whole Foods Market
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
4. Johnson & Johnson
5. U.S. Department of Energy

You can view the complete list at the Energy Stock Blog website. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I read several financial sites and feeds throughout the day and I have an entire section devoted to various stock blogs in my Bloglines feed reader account. A post on Andrew Tobias's website today really caught my attention where he was talking about his $100,000 “idea� contest.

In response to the $100,000 “idea� contest, Alan Q writes: “Here’s mine and it’s a damn fine idea. Building on the success of the X Prize in reusable spacecraft: Expand government funded X Prizes in areas where innovation is vital to the nation's economic future and national security. For example:

• $40 billion in cash and 20-year federal tax forgiveness (both can be adjusted) to the first automobile company that puts a million hydrogen-based cars in the hands of consumers. The company must demonstrate that it is covering the cost of production in the price it charges.
• $10 billion in cash and 20-year federal tax forgiveness to the first developer that builds and fills (at least) a 500-home development that is completely powered through renewable energy (solar, wind, etc). Again, it must be shown that the price of the homes truly reflects costs.

“These are just a couple of ideas where these kinds of prizes would spur innovation, yet the cost to the government would be, relatively speaking, pocket change. I can imagine a blue-ribbon panel that identifies which of these contests would be the most useful. (Remember, these are just examples.)� [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PowerShares (the maintainers of the Alternative Energy ETF) are coming out with a new exchange traded fund that focuses on a Water Resources Portfolio.

The PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio is based on the Palisades Water Indexâ„¢. The objective of the Palisades Water Indexâ„¢ is to capture the substantial economic value of water that will inevitably be unlocked as the global population adjusts to the linkage between human health, economic development and resource sustainability. [ more ]

This new ETF is set to launch sometime in December and is expected to trade with the ticker symbol PHO. While this EFT is not related to Alternative Energy, I wanted to point it out that it many be an excellent vehicle to own for the future. Also water stocks typically fit into most Socially Responsible Investment portfolios.

I will most likely be adding this ETF to one of my other personal portfolios when the fund starts to trade. I have been very happy with the entire PowerShares ETF product line and have shares in the Dividend Achievers ETF, China ETF, Zacks Microcap ETF, Nanotech ETF, and Alternative Energy ETF in my personal portfolios.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple of weeks back the Treehugger.com website had a link to a company called Green Field paper that makes recycled holiday cards. [ more ]

Well I needed to purchase some cards to send out to clients. So I decided to give them a try.

I went to the website and was amazed at all the different choices in recycled card stock. But the cards that suprised me the most are the Grow-a-Note cards. These cards are made from handmade paper and are embedded with a variety of wildflower seeds. So the receipient of the card can just plant it in the soil and wild flowers will bloom the following spring. I thought that was a very novel idea.

When I ordered, I had a slight problem with my order and I had the opportunity to talk with the owner Rick Smith via e-mail. He was very attentive and the company and service has been great. The cards arrived in the mail today and the quality of the printing is outstanding and compares to something you would see in your local Hallmark. This is an unpaid endorsement and I just wanted to spread the word about the company. Please consider Greenfield Paper for your holiday card needs (or anytime of the year for your paper needs.)

P.S. If your one of my clients, you will be receiving this card in the mail soon :-)

Posted by Mark Anderson at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some companies have send out stock promotion faxes that people think are coming from Alt Energy Stocks.

We don't send out any faxes. If another company is using our name, they are they are doing so without our knowledge or permission.

If you did receive a fax, please use the following information so that you can report the company.

How the FCC Can Help

The FCC has taken numerous enforcement actions, including the issuance of citations and fines, against companies for violations and suspected violations of the TCPA’s prohibition against unsolicited faxes. If you have received unsolicited faxes you are encouraged to contact the FCC regarding the incident(s). You may need to provide documentation in support of your complaint, such as copies of the fax(es) you received.

If you have received an unsolicited fax or received a fax from someone who does not have a business relationship with you or who has not received your prior express permission, you may file a complaint by completing the FCC’s on-line Consumer Complaint Form at: www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html, or by calling the FCC’s Consumer Center at 888-CALL-FCC (888-225-5322) voice or 888-TELL-FCC (888-835- 5322) TTY.

You can also send a letter summarizing the complaint to:

Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554.

Your Complaint Should Include:
your name, address, and a telephone number where you can be reached during the business day;
the telephone number through which you received the fax advertisement;
the property, goods, or services that are advertised on the fax; the name of the business offering such property, goods, or services, if included in the fax; and any telephone numbers or addresses included in the fax;
a copy of the fax advertisement, if possible, or confirmation that you have retained a copy of the fax;
as much specific information as possible, including whether you ever gave the advertiser permission to send faxes or ever did business or have had any other contacts with the advertiser.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

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. [ more ]

Investment into this sector is growing at a very fast pace and I feel that investors that join in early will reap some nice rewards in the years to come.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The more you search, the more you find. Actually right now everyone is asking the question, should I be investing in alternative energy stocks? This is because of the renewed level of intrest brought on by higher gas prices and additional external forces like Katrina and Rita.

As I stated in the past, you need to be careful during times like these. If your a trader, than feel free to play as much as you want.

MarketWatch had an article yesterday where they interview Rob Wilder the creator of the WilderHill Clean Energy index.

Fuel to the Fire
In a mark of how much interest is being given to this often volatile and speculative sector, the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio almost tripled in assets, to $150 million from $55 million, since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast three weeks ago and energy prices shot higher.
. . .
As for investing in the sector, Wilder himself is quick to point out that investors should be aware of some important caveats. For example, high oil prices tend to cause a rush to alternative energy companies, but that can reverse when prices ease.

"We're tracking a very volatile sector, with lots of small caps that are in very emerging technologies," he said. "Wind is here now, solar is getting there, too, in terms of economic viability. Still way speculative are hydrogen fuel cells. [ more ]

I agree with many of his points. Sector investing (which is what I'm doing with Alt E) is risky business. I feel like the long term rewards are worth it, but I'm not dumping a bunch of money into the market right now in my personal or mutual fund portfolio in this sector. I feel the risk/reward ratio is heavily waited in the risk category. I prefer to find good entry points in stocks at reasonable levels. These entry points maybe occurring now, or several months from now. I'm in this for the long term and I'm on the constant lookout for these entry points.

p.s. Keep in mind I also thought it was stupid to be buying Google at $200 and it now sits at over $300, so do your own due diligence and keep in mind this is only one person's opinion.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 10:50 AM | Permalink

A reader recently submitted the following comment that I felt would be ideal to talk about here.

I am wondering if you have any opinions (hopefully informed ones) about how Katrina, and now Rita, have/will affect PBW's profitability in the near and/or long term? I'm thinking of moving a few thousand I currently have in US savings bonds into a green energy fund.

I can't address whether you should or shouldn't invest your money into PBW since every person has a specific tolerance to risk and I'm not a registered investment advisor. What I can do is try to provide information so you can make your own intelligent choice of what to do.

The first step to answer this question is to find out what companies are in the PowerShares Clean Energy ETF (PBW.) This fund was created using the Wilderhill Clean Energy index. A quick stop at Yahoo!Finance allows you to look up that particular index: THE WILDERHILL CLEAN ENERGY IND (^ECO). One nice feature of Yahoo is that they list all the components that make up the various indexes they track: ^ECO Components.

A look at the PowerShares ETF prospectus shows that they attempt to keep an equal weighting for all the holdings.

So if you take the ^ECO component stocks and break them down into say 7 sub-sectors (Power Supply/Batteries, Chemical Suppliers, Fuel Cell, LED, Solar, Alt Fuel, Wind, GeoThermal) you can try to get a breakdown of what sub-sectors will either go up or down based on this short term news in the market.

Here is how I feel these various sub-sectors will be affected by Katrina-Rita. Keep in mind this is my short-term estimation on these sub-sectors. I'm bullish on all these sectors when you look out over a multiple-year time horizon.

You will see spikes up in the power backup, battery suppliers. Companies like ACPW, CPST, ULBI, APCC (which I may argue shouldn't be in the Clean Energy Index), and others should see some spikes as investors look at ways to keep the power running when the hurricane blackouts hit. Everytime there are major power outages somewhere in the world , the facilities managers throughout the country look at their own power needs. The interest in these power backup solutions increases in the short term. However, in the long term these are all very capital intensive projects and the interest fades away when they look at the costs involved. Since the majority of the capital budgets for most companies are based on the calendar year, you may see capital budgets include these items for next year and may see a pickup in contracts in the first quarter of 2006.

You will also get a similar spike when you look at the fuel cell power backup suppliers. Companies like BLDP, HYGS. But once again these projects are even more capital intensive and real contracts are harder to get.

Overall all alternative energy companies will see some spike up as people look at our reliance on the traditional petroleum based power generation solutions. So you will see renewed and continued interest in solar, wind, geothermal, etc.

Toyota is also reporting increased demand for hybrid cars because of Katrina.

Toyota Motor Corp. has seen a rise in demand for hybrid vehicles in the United States in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as consumers seek more mileage out of $3-gallon gasoline, a top official said on Thursday.

"At the end of last month, we had a 20-hour supply of the Prius (hybrid sedan)," Jim Press, head of Toyota's U.S. operations, said at the Reuters Autos Summit, held in Detroit. "We no longer count in days." [ more ]

The companies in this index that will be adversely affected are the actual chemical suppliers: APD, BOX, PX. A large amount of all the Hydrogen that is produced in this country comes from the gulf. So this will be bringing these companies down. A side effect of the hydrogen shortfall is that many of the chip manufactures will be hit hard.

Disruptions seen for epi wafers
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. is still unable to fulfill its orders for hydrogen gas products, which is having an impact on the epitaxial wafer supply chain.

As reported, Hurricane Katrina caused the outage of a New Orleans facility, which is owned by Air Products & Chemicals. The facility produces hydrogen used in the manufacturing of epitaxial films deposited on silicon substrates. These films mainly are used for the manufacturing of discrete, higher-voltage semiconductors employed in power-management applications. [ more ]

This means you will see hits to many of the power control suppliers and chip makers like CREE, IRF, CY, and even KYO will be adversely affected.

One of my hosting clients BillCara.com had a very astute comment posted about this particular problem.

Hydrogen and chips alert, Thurs., Sept. 22, 2005, 7:29 AM
Dear Bill, I am a semiconductor research engineer.

While small amounts of hydrogen are used in most chip process sequences, the hydrogen shortage alluded to will seriously affect only those companies that use epiwafers to make discrete, higher-voltage semiconductors employed in power-management applications.

The power semiconductor group is a fast growing but relatively small part of the overall semiconductor complex. The major companies include Cree, Diodes, International Rectifier, IXYS, On Semiconductor and Fairchild. Of these, Cree would be the worst affected in my opinion since making epiwafers is a huge part of their business. [ more ]

So if you believe my analysis above and take a look at the specifics of PBW you have a rough breakdown of about 6 companies that will be heading lower, and possibly 30 companies heading higher in the short term on this news driven story. A month or two from now, the story will be gone and we are back to the fundamentals of each one of these companies (are they meeting estimates, getting contracts, etc.) Traders may look at this as an opportunity, investors should be careful.

I know that this is not a complete answer to whether you should or shouldn't be investing in PBW. I just wanted to give you some background, because ANY investment has inherent risk. The more you know, the more you can lessen or at least confront that risk. I just caution people that see that this is an ideal time to try and time this sector by jumping in before the news hits. The problem is the jump in point was weeks (if not months ago.)

If you feel as I do that this entire Alternative Energy sector has a long term future, then you always have the option of stepping into a position over time as well to lessen the impact of short term events in the marketplace.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This has nothing to do with energy efficiency or anything else pertaining to this website. But while doing some additional research on LED's this morning I stumbled onto this amazing use of LED technology. These are manufactured by Generate and they have several LED based products for the home. (Thanks to Strange New Products)

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another excellent resource for investment information for Alternative/Clean/Green investing is Clean Break. If you haven't added Tyler's blog to your RSS aggregator, then you should.

I point this out since there is a very interesting snippet in one of his recent posts about future projections for investment by the VC community.

Cleantech Venture Network released its latest data on cleantech investing. In the second quarter of 2005 investments in cleantech grew to $369 million (U.S.), up 9 per cent from the first quarter. In the first half of 2005, investments have jumped 21 per cent to $705 million compared to last year. The venture network is forecasting that more than $1.5 billion will be invested in cleantech deals by year end, a 25 per cent year-over-year increase, due to rising energy prices, after-effects of Hurricane Katrina and cleantech-friendly energy legislation. Indeed, energy-specific cleantech investments in the second quarter amounted to a little more than half of all investments. [ more ]

The VC investment community are usually the front runners to the typical Wall Street investment houses. When the VC's pickup a hot trend, the major brokerages get interested in a hurry, but don't start putting their client's money until it has pr oven itself to be more than a fad. I see the increase in the investments in this space as the first phase to what I feel are the beginnings of a long term bull market in this sector. Time will tell if we (as investors) are correct.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 now also a portfolio link. Details about the future of this link will be coming soon. One section that has gone away is the resources section. I never really had the time to add to or keep up with this content. The old content is still available via the archives for those that are interested.

More changes are on the way and I will soon be able to start adding some real content rather than this misc stuff about the website.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently received an e-mail question from Don that asked,

Have you come across any mutual funds that invest in alt. energy stocks?

Here was my response,

Don,

You should really look at the PowerShares Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). An ETF works just like a mutual fund, but trades like a stock. The Power Shares Clean Energy ETF (Ticker Symbol PBW) is one of the only fund like investment tools I have found that follows this sector. More information can be found here: http://www.powershares.com/. This ETF can be purchased from any brokerage account.

I'm including this Q&A here for all to share. If you have any additional information, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I wanted to extend my thanks to all of the people that want me to keep this website alive. I have been reviewing many of the comments and plan to incorporate many of these changes very soon.

My plan is to have a re-launch of the website with all of the changes by September 1st. My goal is to become more focused on investment ideas, rather than just a press release news source. I think many of you will be very happy with the final results.

Thanks for your patience.

Mark

p.s. The call for help is still out there for those that are interested in providing editorial assistance. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you are interested.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 that end I started this site to gave you ideas on where you can put your money in this sector.

Well for 90% of the people looking to add alternative energy stocks in their portfolio, you should just put the money into the PowerShares Clean Energy ETF (PBW). PBW will give you some good exposure into this sector. In my personal portfolio I have allocated 25% of my money into this sector (my holdings in PBW are 20% of that total.)

For the last couple of months this site has basically degraded into a news aggregation service for Alternative Energy Stocks. That was not my original intention, and keeping it updated with all the news stories has become a burden for me since I currently manage 20 investment sites for my current company, and about 5 other websites for my side hosting business. I also maintain 2 other personal blogs. All of this means I have little time to maintain this website.

I know that there are readers to this website because of the amount of traffic it generates. I also receive frequent press releases and personal requests from some of these public companies to make sure they are mentioned.

So here are my questions to the readers of this website.

1. Do these news stories provide any value to your investing?
2. Have you learned anything new by coming to this site?
3. Is there an audience out there that is interested in investing in these companies rather than the PBW ETF?
4. Are you looking for specific buy/sell/hold advice for these companies?
5. How can this site be changed/updated to better suit your needs?
6. Finally, is there anyone interested in becoming a contributing editor? This is your chance to be part of the blogging revolution. Without some help soon, this site will probably linger in obscurity for sometime.

Please feel free to submit a comment using the form below, or send me an e-mail.

p.s. I just realized I have maintained this site for 1 year. Happy Anniversary to altenergystocks.com.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There are several newsletter editors that are floating the idea that the next G7 conference will have some significant announcements concern the requirement for its members to use alternative energy. The next scheduled meeting is on Friday with a meeting of the G7 finance ministers and central bankers. I doubt anything will be announced at this time.

But any announcement by the G7 concerning alternative energy will help to propel the AltE stocks.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) will launch trading in options on Thursday, March 3, 2005 on the underlying shares of

The PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW) will open with strike prices of 10-20 with one-point increments and position limits of 1,350,000 shares. The options will trade on the March expiration cycle with initial expirations in March, April, June and September. The specialist will be LaBranche Structured Products, LLC. PowerShares Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio is a closed-end fund incorporated in the USA. The Fund's investment objective seeks to correspond to the price and yield of the Wilderhill Clean Energy Portfolio. [ more ]

I purchased shares in PBW on the first trading day of this new ETF for one of my long term buy and hold accounts. I also trade options and was pleased to learn I can now either hedge my holdings, or try to accelerate my gains with this new tool.

This morning on CNBC Jerry Castellini was talking about the real possiblity of $80 a barrel oil. If this ever happens, the future of AltE stocks is looking very good.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been on a brief hiatus from posting to the website. My other projects and real job have been taking a large portion of my time. I was also recently down two employees at my company, so I was doing triple the amount of my normal work. I’m making an offer to one person today so I'm able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will be trying to catch up on many of the missed press releases today. I will also be switching the intra day graphic to the new Alternative Energy ETF (PBW) sometime this week as well.

Another reason I have been busy is that my hosting business has just recently completed the launch of two new stock blog websites. Both of these have been keeping me up late at night so that I can get them completed.

If you have time, check these sites out as well.

BillCara.com: Capital Markets and Social Equity.

JohnMugarian.com: Investor Alert.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Thursday, PowerShares Capital Management LLC, will introduce a new exchange traded fund (ETF) based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, the first index comprised of companies focused on developing renewable sources of energy, clean energy technologies and environmentally-friendly technologies within the energy sector. The "PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio" (PBW) will begin trading on the American Stock Exchange March 3, 2005 and will replicate the WilderHill Clean Energy Index. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A quick diversion from the normal content.

If your planning on buying some items on Amazon.com, please lend me a hand by clicking on one of the links below.

I also always have a link to Amazon.com at the top of this page. Your orders through these links help to fund this website.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 06:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are seeing this post, that means this website has been successfully moved over to the new server.

As you may (or may not know) I run a hosting business on the side. This website is more of a hobby for me. This is in addition to my REAL fulltime job.

One positive about maintaining this website is it has brought me more clients for my hosting business.

I recently added a new client that is now getting some decent traffic. So I purchased some servers and I'm in the process of relocating all my websites to this new server hardware.

Hopefully this move should provide better service to my AltEnergy investing audience. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be making some additional updates to the website as well. I'm also thinking about breaking up the stock listings into sectors.

Please feel free to comment on this (or any) article and let me know how I'm doing. Just click on the comment link below (signup for TypeKey if you haven't already.) I know from my traffic reports, that there are at least 1,000 of you out there that visit on a regular basis.

All I ask is for some feedback.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The new Alternative Energy ETF, which will be managed by PowerShares Capital Management, will track the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, a benchmark calculated by the Amex that was launched in August. The Amex collaborated with index provider WilderShares, LLC in developing the index. It will start trading on the AMEX on February 4th.

The index contains 37 companies that use greener and renewable energy alternatives such as wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells. I'm searching for a ticker and will post it once I can find it. Post a comment if you find it before I do.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At my real job, a group of us have a yearly stock picking contest. Some years I have performed well, others have been terrible (last year my total performance for my picks was a miserable -13%.) The winner of 2004 was up over 50%. Her method, spread out the newspaper, take 3 M&M candies and throw them up in the air. She picked the 3 stocks the candies landed on.

The rules of our little contest are simple. Pick three stocks that trade for over $5. We buy at the close on the first trading day of the year (yesterday) and sell at the close on the last trading day of the year. We then average the performance of the 3 stock picks and don't count dividends.

This year I decided to pick only AltE stocks and here are my picks for 2005.

Mechanical Technology Inc (MKTY) is primarily engaged in the development and commercialization of direct methanol micro fuel cells (DMFCs) through its subsidiary, MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. (MTI Micro) and in the design, manufacture and sale of high-performance test and measurement instruments and systems through its subsidiary, MTI Instruments, Inc. MTI also co-founded and retains an interest in Plug Power Inc., a designer and developer of onsite energy systems based on proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Syntroleum Corp (SYNM) is engaged in the research and development of the syntroleum process, a process designed to convert natural gas or synthesis gas into synthetic liquid hydrocarbons, and activities related to commercialization of the syntroleum process.

Fuelcell Energy Inc (FCEL) is engaged in the development and commercialization of carbonate fuel cell technology for stationary power generation.

As in years past I purchased shares in each of these stocks (I already own FCEL and bought more.)

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rona Fried at SustainableBusiness.com has written a good article on how to get started on building a Green portfolio. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AltEnergyStocks.com is taking a holiday vacation and will resume posting the first week of January.

I wish you a safe and happy holiday.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MIT and Columbia University students and researchers have begun operation of a novel experiment that confines high-temperature ionized gas, called plasma, using the strong magnetic fields from a half-ton superconducting ring inside a huge vessel reminiscent of a spaceship. The experiment, the first of its kind, will test whether nature's way of confining high-temperature gas might lead to a new source of energy for the world. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I stumbled onto an Alternative Energy Gadget site today. I personally love gadgets and frequent some of the well known sites like Engadget, Gizmodo, and Cool Tools.

I just added Treehugger.com to my list of daily gadget reads.

The article that sparked my attention is the review of the Power House from Mindware. [ more ]

This project looks like an great way to introduce my daughter into the world of Alternative Energy.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 burning plasma—the substance necessary for nuclear fusion to take place—for significant periods of time. [ more ]

They don't expect to have a working demonstration until 2050. I feel that Fussion is the future for our energy needs, but we are a long way away from that reality. This is why we need to look for options like hydrogen or other renewables that can hold us over until then.

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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 fusion was unconvincing. Clearly, something important has changed to grab the department's attention now." [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 08:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The US is halting its own national nuclear fusion energy project and is joining the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project team to find a way to use neclear fusion as an inexhaustible and clean energy source. [ more ]

Posted by Mark Anderson at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)