Alternative Energy Stocks

In my article about electrical transmission, I mentioned that I liked Composite Technology Corp. (CPTC.OB). I became increasingly bullish on this stock as a result of my changing understanding while I was researching the article. The article then initiated an email conversation with a long-time investor, where I learned more about the company's business. As a result, I just purchased more of the stock (at $1.33, using a limit order), quadrupling my initial position (acquired in February at $.91. My current average cost basis is $1.23.) Several of my clients also own...

Last week, Charles told us to expect wind power industry suppliers to benefit from shortages in wind turbine components. Owens Corning (NYSE:OC) which I mentioned in my Blue Chip Alternative Energy Portfolio fits nicely into this category with their composites for turbine blades, as do the power converter stocks I mentioned two weeks ago. As essential to wind power as any of these is improved power transmission. The National Wind Coordinating Collaborative states, Electrical transmission facilities connecting windy areas and load centers are sometimes non-existent or minimal. Even in cases where a good wind resource has...

The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don't hesitate to let us know! This week, we particularly liked... On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change issued its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). Here's an overview by the Green Car Congress. On Tuesday, Himanshu Pandya at Financial Nirvana informed us that certain Chinese solar companies believe that the silicon shortage is easing up. He shorted MEMC...

The polysilicon shortage in the solar industry is, by now, a well-known fact, and most investors are aware of the scale and probable duration of that shortage, as well as of what companies are positioned to benefit from a tight polysilicon market. A similar situation is currently unfolding in the wind industry. We have discussed the very bright prospects for the wind sector here before. In the US, the American Wind Energy Association forecasts that installed capacity could grow from 11,603 MW today to around 100,000 MW by 2020. In Canada, Emerging Energy Research predicts that installed wind...

Things got a little tougher for the Bush White House yesterday, when the Supreme Court effectively slapped it on the wrist for its position on climate change by ordering the EPA to justify its lack of action on the climate file with substantive arguments (i.e. the Court buys the IPCC's story rather than Bush's). Things Just Keep On Piling This ruling adds to a long list of recent events that render it increasingly difficult for climate nay-sayers to hold the fort. The most significant such events are: (a) one of the top Republican politicians...

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

Garey Vasey, Ph.D. at Risk Center brings us a cautionary warning from the U.K. Financial Services Authority about the increasing risks of commodity investing, largely due to greater investor interest (at all levels from individuals to banks to hedgefunds) without enough true experience in this sector. I feel this same lesson applies to Renewable Energy investing. The higher these stocks rise on a tide of investor enthusiasm (as opposed to earnings fundamentals), the greater the potential for a fall. Among his other points, he says: The best and most knowledgeable energy trading talent was picked off...

The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don't hesitate to let us know! This week, we particularly liked... On Sunday, Marc Gunther told us all about the greening of Goldman Sachs. As our regular readers know, Wall Street's involvement in environmental finance is one of our preferred topic of discussion. On Monday, Dana Childs at Inside Greentech told us that there might be some good...

This poll opened on March 29, 2007 and closed on March 30, 2007. How do you promote alternative energy? Check all that apply. Total voters for this poll: 46 invest in alternative energy stocks 18% (38 votes) support regulation of carbon emissions 13% (26 votes) support renewable energy standards 13% (27 votes) live an energy efficient lifestyle 15% (30 votes) vote for candidates who support alternative energy 13% (27 votes) buy green power 8% (16 votes) use alternative...

Avoiding the Rush Whenever there is a gold rush, the people who make the real money are seldom the gold miners, but rather the suppliers to the miners that come home with the lion's share of the profits.   This is not because there is not an incredible amount of money to be made in mining gold, but because the nature of a gold rush is that too many optimistic miners are encouraged by the early profits of a few to rush to pursue too few opportunities. To many, the rush into solar stocks seems to be just...

Fuel Tech (Nasdaq: FTEK) is one of the fast growing public greentech / cleantech companies focused on cleaning up dirty coal. I have known John Norris, the CEO of Fuel Tech, and his family for years, and have had the pleasure of following his career for some time. He's one of the many former nuclear engineers that grew up in the electric utility industry. He has held utility executive positions including CEO of Duke Engineering & Services, SVP and CEO of Duke Energy Global Asset Development, and Senior Vice President, Operations and Technical Services, at American Electric Power...

An interesting bit of follow-up on my article last week about exchanges and environmental markets. Both the NYMEX and the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) have partnered up, in the past 2 weeks, with specialty cleantech and alt energy index makers to launch derivatives products. On March 14, Chicago Climate Futures Exchange (CCFE), a wholly owned subsidiary of the CCX, and WilderShares LLC, announced (PDF document) a licensing agreement to launch a futures market based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index . The ECO is also the underlying index for the Powershares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio ETF...

Today, while reading an article on cleantech ETFs by The Motley Fool, I found out that XShares Advisors LLC and the Chicago Climate Exchange were working on a carbon emissions-based ETF (PDF document). There is not a lot of info available on what exactly this ETF will track. We reported back in November that UBS had launched an index based on European carbon prices. As noted by Richard Kang at around the same time, this index is well-suited for something like an ETF. If any of our readers have any further insight on this, don't hesitate...

TheStreet.com is running a video segment on solar power as part of its Wallstrip series. The segment's date is 03/20/2007. If you're a long-term solar follower you definitely won't learn too much here. Nevertheless, the vid does a good job of outlining governmental efforts to boost the growth of solar in the US. Short and interesting. The segment is especially positive on: FirstSolar and Trina Solar . Positive on: Canadian Solar , Ascent Solar and Suntech Power . Negative on: Sunpower Corp .

Update: an expanded version of this portfolio appears here. Alternative Energy: Risky but Alluring For many of my older or more cautious clients, investment in small, profitless (or nearly so) startup alternative energy companies is inappropriate.  Even a diversified ETF such as the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy portfolio (AMEX: PBW) is too volatile due to its heavy exposure to profitless renewable energy companies such as Evergreen Solar (ESLR) (NasdaqGM: ESLR).   Because of this, in the last year PBW has been over $24, but as low as $16.24.  While such volatility can lead to supercharged profits when you are...

The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don't hesitate to let us know! This week, we particularly liked... On Monday, David Talbot at MIT's Technology Review told us how to nanocharge solar. Nanotech's role in cleantech should continue to increase steadily in the years ahead. On that note, Inside Greentech discusses a report on cleantech and nanotech. On Wednesday, Stephen Trimble at Defense Tech told...