Political Developments in Energy Efficiency
This article is part of a series on the WGA Energy Efficient Buildings Workshop. Governor Ritter After arriving slightly late (a gunman had been shot by state troopers outside his office the day before.) Bill Ritter kicked off the workshop with his thoughts on energy efficiency. Other than the Governator, I don't know of any other state governor in the US who understands renewable energy as well as Governor Ritter. And he's dedicated to learning more; when I attended a fundraiser early in his campaign last year, he had not yet heard about plug-in hybrids, but in a...
A Clean Energy REIT: Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure
Tom Konrad CFA On April 18th, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE:HASI) IPOed on the New York Stock Exchange. HASI is one of only two publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) dedicated to sustainable infrastructure. The other such sustainable REIT is Power REIT (NYSE:PW), which I have written about extensively. PW is both illiquid and involved in significant litigation, two factors which may put off the conservative investors who gravitate towards REITs. In December, Power REIT purchased the land...
Force in Name Only
by Debra Fiakas CFA One of the companies in our novel alternative energy indices is Forcefield Energy, Inc. (FNRG: Nasdaq). For a time it was listed as among alternative chemical products and now is included among waste-to-energy developers, but it could be as easily included in our data base among sellers of LED lighting products. The identify confusion is due in part to Forcefield’s own description, which includes a laundry list of capabilities and technologies. The company lays claim to proprietary products for heat recovery and the conversion of waste heat to useful purpose. Forcefield comes by...
You Call This Cleantech?
David Gold Invest in a solar, biofuels, or LED lighting company, and nobody will question the company’s cleantech pedigree. Invest in a manufacturer of network switch upgrades for telephone companies, then call it “cleantech” and you’ll see a lot of raised eyebrows. I know, because we did just that. We are investors in Aztek Networks, a company that makes replacements for the TDM switches that handle much of the phone traffic from standard landline phones. Telecom companies are excited about Aztek’s product because it enables them, for the first time, to incrementally switch out their old...
Baldor Electric (BEZ): Efficient Motors Drive Profits
Tom Konrad, CFA Baldor Electric Company stands to benefit from new Federal energy efficiency standards and other efforts to improve industrial energy efficiency. One of the lesser-known provisions of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) will be to require efficiency standards for the majority of industrial electric motors. This will be a boon for motor manufacturers when EISA comes into effect in December 2010: efficient motors require higher quality materials and manufacturing, and so can be sold for higher margins. A major beneficiary of this transition will be Baldor Electric (NYSE:BEZ). Baldor is...
Five Green REITs
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Why Green Buildings are Profitable Buildings
Buildings are responsible for approximately a third of greenhouse gas emissions, so making buildings more efficient and switching them to renewable sources of energy is an essential part in addressing climate change.
Fortunately, new technologies such as cold climate heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, as well as the ever falling cost of renewable electricity and improvements to insulation and building envelopes often provide opportunities to improve buildings while achieving extremely attractive investment returns from the energy and maintenance savings alone.
Because of the great financial returns, building owners who...
The Big Win You Missed
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
My friend Jan Schalkwijk, CFA of JPS Global Investments just asked me if I had any thoughts on Kontrol Energy (KNR.CN, KNRLF), a Canadian smart building firm I had never heard of. (I just added it to AltEnergyStocks.com's Energy Efficiency and Smart Grid stock lists.)
The stock had just shot up after the client sold and went on a kayaking trip. It had disclosed a sensor for detecting COVID-19 from the air.
While I didn't have anything to say about the company, I did have some thoughts on dealing with the emotions around missing out. Since it's...
DIY Energy Audit, and Energy Star Summit Stocks
Last week, I attended the 2007 Energy Star Summit to keep up with what is going on in home energy efficiency, and, with luck, find a new public company or two to recommend. After several workshops for home energy raters, I came away with an idea for an article to help people concerned about home safety and efficiency look for new places to live. Because it was off-topic for Alternative Energy Stocks, I offered it to my friend Preston at Jetson Green, and he has published it here. Back on the subject of financial (As opposed to real-estate)...
