The Alt Energy Stocks Blog
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Large-scale Energy Storage In Focus
I recently came across an interesting report released in June by the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based environmental think-tank, on large-scale electricity storage. The ability (or lack thereof) of the grid to take in all that new renewable power ranks as one of the main near-term risks to the...
Is There Any Hope For The Big Three?
Two related pieces of news yesterday, one that was the day's headline and the other that drew a little less attention.
First, the big news: auto makers, especially US-based ones, got hammered by their product mixes. As expected, Americans are responding to a rise in gasoline prices by turning...
New Wind ETF FAN Cools Off Sunburned Portfolios
Since I last covered clean energy mutual funds and ETFs, the sector has seen the launch of two solar ETFs (KWT the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF from VanEck, and TAN, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF.) Continuing in the tradition of cute ticker symbols, First Trust's new...
The Week In Cleantech (Jun 22 to Jun 28) - More Oil Sands, Please...
On Sunday, Ed Pilkington at The Guardian informed us that a leading climate scientist was going to push for oil company leaders to be tried. I'm not sure one will ever be able to draw exact parallels between fossil energy and cigarettes, seeing as the latter had no bearing on industrialization and...
Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations for State Legislators
On Monday, I had one of my favorite sorts of opportunities, which was a chance to influence future energy legislation. The National Conference of State Legislators invited me to give a short presentation as part of a two-day energy efficiency workshop for interested legislators from...
Why The McCain Proposal Will Do Nothing For Battery Technology
On Monday, John McCain, in a drive to build his environmental credentials, pledged that if he were elected he would initiate a contest to come up with a car battery design that leapfrogs current technology and makes electric car and plug-in hybrids a reality. The winner would get a $300 million...
Is There Any Value In Stella Jones?
Value Investing
A few months ago, I discussed my encounter with Warren Buffett, and promised that I would eventually analyze a stock using the value investing (VI) approach.
While I can`t say that I qualify as a hardcore value investor, there are many things about the VI approach that have...
The Week In Cleantech (Jun 15 to Jun 21) - Incentive Instability Rears Its Head Again In America
On Sunday, Andrew Williams at Red, Green and Blue told us about one senator's attacks on the solar industry. Surprising for someone from a state with such a vast solar potential, but in line my claim that politics remains one of the biggest risks facing the sector.
On Monday, Lou Schwartz &...
Solar Investing: Where Politics & Finance Come Together
Most solar sector watchers will remember the second half of May 2008, when the solar world collective held its breath awaiting to find out what German policy-makers were going to decide about solar subsidies in that country. All this commotion was caused by the fact that Germany, despite lacking...
Performance Update: 10 Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap
Unlike my Ten Speculations for 2008, my Solid Clean Energy Companies series will be much more difficult to benchmark. The intent of the series was to list some "stocks to buy when you think we've hit bottom." Since I obviously don't know when you think we've hit bottom (My...
Are Solar PV and Wind Incompatible with Nuclear and IGCC?
Paul Denholm, a Senior Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), sees an upcoming struggle between renewable sources of electricity such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind with low-carbon baseload alternatives for space on the low carbon grid of the future. These baseload alternatives...
The Week In Cleantech (June 8 - June 14) - Are Large Industrials Going to Consolidate Solar?
On Tuesday, Eize de Vries at Renewable Energy World described the challenges of growth for us. A very detailed article on where the main tension points are in the global wind value chain.
On Tuesday, Tate Dwinnell at Self Investors told us that wind ETFs were coming. At last North American can...
Six Tips for CFA Candidates
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...
Performance Update: Ten Speculations for 2008
This is the first of a short series of articles I plan, reviewing how my stock recommendations have been doing this year. I started the year bringing you 10 Alternative Energy Stocks I thought were worth speculating on for 2008, and I'll start this review with those articles, and also give...
