Alternative Energy Stocks

The logic behind Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) is that they combine the best characteristics of a Electric Vehicles (EVs), most importantly efficiency, which brings with it much lower operating costs and lower net emissions and no tailpipe emissions, with the benefits of a liquid fuel vehicle, mainly the range available with energy-dense liquid fuels. But how important is range to car buyers?  PHEV advocates say that 80% of all daily car use is less than 50 miles, which is easily achievable with today's electric vehicle (EV) technology.  The freeway-capable EVs being developed today have a range between 100 and...

The Economist recently had a story on how the cement industry is beginning to confront the fact that the industry produces 5% of the world's emissions of greenhouse gasses.  Carbon dioxide is emitted not only by the fossil fuels used to create the heat used in the creation of cement, and by the chemical reaction in that process. Unfortunately for us, cement is a remarkably useful building material, not least as a structural material which can also serve as thermal mass in passive solar buildings.   All the large cement firms: Lafarge, Holcim, and Cemex (NYSE:CX) have joined a voluntary...

It's that time of year again.  I've started studying for the third (and final) CFA® exam, and my readers are "treated" to my theories of the market and trading.  No stock picks today; put your thinking caps on!  CAPM: Nice Theory, Too Bad About the Market In Level II of the exam, we studied efficient-market theories, such as CAPM and APT.  I actually like an elegant theory (I spent nearly decade of my life studying mathematics), but as a market practitioner, I know the market doesn't work that way.  I learned this lesson the hard way.   Early in my...

Commodities investing site HardAssetsInvestor has published an interview with me from the start of December.  We covered a broad swathe of the clean (and not so clean) energy.   If you're wondering why my top stock pick from the article was ABB, and not one from my recent 10 Speculations series, it's because all of those are too risky to be my top picks.  I like risk, but not with the largest part of my portfolio... stocks like ABB that let me sleep at night. Major topics we touched on: Ethanol (both corn and cellulosic) Cost comparisons in electricity...

Many readers write me with questions relating to my articles.  At first, I would respond directly, but eventually the calls on my time became too great.  I instituted a policy: I would respond to comments on the blog, but would redirect people emailing me to put there comments there, allowing me to answer many readers' questions at the same time. In that spirit, here are some recent questions from readers others may find useful as well. Questions about My Reasoning: Why are so many greens against Fuel Cell Vehicles? (On 10 Most Blogged Cleantech Stories of 2007) ...

Technology Review, my favorite science publication, gave us last week a wrap-up of the year in energy. It's a recap of the main energy-related stories the magazine published in 2007, and is well-worth a read if you want to start 2008 up-to-date on where the science is on most issues of relevance to alt energy investors. On Monday, Jerome Ball at Alternative Energy Trading argued that the solar PV industry would veer into oversupply in 2008. This is one of the most cogent analysis of the solar PV market I have read in a while, and it takes...

This article is a continuation of my Ten Alternative Energy Speculations for 2008, with picks #8, 9, and10 published last Thursday.  If you haven't already, please read the introduction to that article before buying any of the stock picks that follow.  These companies are likely to be highly volatile, and large positions are not appropriate for many investors.   My least risky picks are part of that same article linked to above; the moderately risky picks are here.  This article contains the most speculative three picks. #3 Nevada Geothermal Power (OTCBB:NGLPF or Toronto:NGP.V) US$1.29 or CAD$1.26 Geothermal first started catching...

When I first got wind (no pun intended) of Finavera Renewables (TSX:FVR or FNVRF.PK), I did not make too much of it because my view was that commercial exploitation of wave power - which is the banner under which Finavera has decided to promote itself to the investor community - was a few years away at best. Then, upon hearing that the company had managed to get a prototype in the water (PDF document), I decided to do a bit more digging. After all, if the technology worked, the economics of the business model would closely resemble those...

I'm collecting some info to test an idea I have about human behavior... this is fodder for a future article. web surveys - Please take 30 seconds to respond to the poll. Thanks. Happy New Year!

The AltEnergyStocks.com team would like to thank all of our readers for a great 2007 and wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008. Our New Year resolution is to continue delivering top-quality content that we hope you will find valuable. On behalf of Brian, Tom and myself, Happy New Year!!

This article is a continuation of my Ten Alternative Energy Speculations for 2008, with picks #8, 9, and10 published last Thursday.  If you haven't already, please read the introduction of that article before buying any of the stock picks that follow.  These companies are likely to be highly volatile, and large positions are not appropriate for many investors.   My least risky picks (#8,9, and #10) are part of that same article; my most speculative plays (#1-3) will are here. #7 Electro Energy, Inc. (NasdaqCM:EEEI) $0.68 Electro Energy has risen 36% in the month and a half since I last...

What were Cleantech bloggers blogging about in 2007?  We don't have to wonder... instead, I asked Brian, AltEnergyStocks.com's web guru, to do a special run of our Cleantech News Algorithm. The Cleantech News Algorithm automatically by scans nearly 300 cleantech blogs and news sources, selected for their cleantech content. It takes three main criteria into account: 1) what other bloggers are saying about a news item, 2) how users across the Internet prefer a news item (which we call 'social popularity'), and when the item was written.  Normally it gives high priority to fresh news items, but this...

Investing in Renewable Energy Stocks seldom fails to be exciting, although it can lead to crushing losses as well as mouthwatering gains (Think Ethanol stocks and Thin Film Solar in 2007.)  With this in mind, I usually emphasize that the majority of most investors portfolios should be targeted towards larger, profitable companies, especially those focused on Energy Efficiency rather than the more sexy Renewable Energy technologies.  This is the philosophy behind Alternative Energy Stocks' Blue Chip Portfolio: companies which aren't sexy, but which still are well positioned to take advantage of rising oil prices and increasing efforts to reduce...

For the holiday season, we at Alternative Energy Stocks are taking the opportunity to wrap up the year with musical review... In the twelve months of 2007, Alternative Energy Stocks gave to me,  Twelve(ish) transportation fuels compared,  Ten (and a Bonus) Insights into Greenhouse Gas Regulation, Ten Thouseand Cellulosic Miles per Acre,  Nine Solar applications,  Eight Barriers to Energy Efficiency,  Seven new developments in Geothermal Power,  Six weaknesses of number-crunching money managers,  Five Sustainable Companies for Gifts,  Four Ways to Avoid Being a Sucker,  Three Dictators to Bribe with Renewable Energy,  Two Independent Power Producers, And Cleantech...

Over the Weekend, Craig Mackintosh at Celsias struck a note of cautious optimism about the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali. Jim Fraser at the Energy Blog transmitted the findings of a study of interconnected wind as baseload power. On Monday, The Biopact team reported on as study the potential for bio-based bulk chemicals to cut the consumption of non-renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions. On Tuesday,  Rachel Barron at Greentech Media splashed the news of PG&E's agreement to purchase wave power from Finavera Renewables...

The same Fortune interview with Jim Rogers, which I referenced yesterday also contains an excerpt from his new book, A Bull in China.  In it, he goes over a few stock picks, including one I thought worth bringing to the attention of investors interested in profiting from rising CAFE standards and other increases in vehicle efficiency:  Jim says: Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) (NYSE: ACH). Three year trend: profits up 86.7%, revenues up 88.8%. Chalco is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the world's fastest-growing aluminum market.  Established in 1999 out...