tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21834682409575762972024-03-05T05:00:14.536-08:00Best Green Stocks Investing BlogA member blog of the Green Stocks Investing Network, our goal is to provide commentary on sustainable investing and links to analysis, research and stock quotes for the world's leading green power and renewable energy technology firms, plus energy-efficiency and clean tech stocks.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-24604953086893584782013-05-14T13:18:00.001-07:002013-05-14T13:18:24.565-07:00Tesla electric cars stock fired up, ready to go<br />
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By CHRIS UMIASTOWSKI</div>
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With last year's launch of the Model S, the electric car company suddenly had a practical all-electric, no-gasoline sports sedan with a reasonable base price</h2>
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<span style="font-size: 14px;">Not too long ago, I came to the conclusion that electric cars are for real, and are poised to see stellar growth over the next decade. The company that convinced me of this was not one of the big auto makers. It was California-based</span><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span><span class="bold_01" style="font-size: 14px;">Tesla Motors Inc.</span><br />
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Because of their accomplishments and the early nature of growth in this market, I wound up becoming a shareholder. And with Whole Foods Market, I now have two stocks I'd like to add to my Strategy Lab portfolio, and I'll likely be selling my shares in Sprint to accommodate them.</div>
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Given the huge runup in Tesla's stock since I've become a shareholder, I'd secretly love for Wall Street to be disappointed in the short term sometime soon, creating an opportunity for long-term shareholders to buy more.</div>
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Tesla's current success comes on the back of a single car, the Model S. This full-sized sports sedan has no gas tank. It's run only by batteries. On a full charge, it can go about as far as my family's Lexus SUV, but the savings add up to about $50 per "tank." Since introducing this Model S in mid-2012, Tesla has gone from being a "show me" story to the company that may disrupt the entire automobile industry, earning it the complimentary title "the Apple of the car industry" from many observers.</div>
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I believe Tesla found a successful model for selling electric cars because it didn't first aim for affordability. Instead the company focused on making a no-compromise car knowing it would come with a high price point. They launched in the luxury segment of the market. Their first car, the Roadster sports car, cost more than $100,000 (U.S.) and Tesla produced about 2,500 units. This developed Tesla into a luxury brand. Then, with last year's launch of the Model S, the company suddenly had a practical sports sedan with a base price of about $70,000 – still in the luxury price range, but substantially less expensive than a Roadster. Within a couple of years, the company expects to sell cars that will cost $30,000 after government rebates.</div>
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Tesla is already profitable. This week the company reported its first-quarter results, manufacturing more than 5,000 Model S cars in the quarter, recognizing revenue on 4,900 of them and bringing in $562-million in revenue with 17 per cent gross margin and net profit of $11-million. Their volume of approximately 20,000 cars per year is equivalent to what GM sells in the U.S. market in an average week. It's hardly what you could call relevant industry volume, so it's all the more impressive that Tesla can be profitable with this level of production.</div>
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I think Telsa was brilliant to build its brand by launching high-priced cars that actually meet the needs of most drivers. They will easily sell the 20,000 units they plan to manufacture this year, and I'm confident that its new financing program (in the United States) and the launch of the Model X, a sport utility vehicle, in late 2014 will bring substantial demand growth. Keep in mind that Tesla is only just getting started with its electric cars on the world stage. So far they've made zero deliveries of the Model S outside of North America.</div>
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As I write this, analysts who cover the stock expect Tesla to post earnings per share of $1.65 next year according to S&P Capital IQ. Given the strong quarterly results (the stock price jumped 24.4 per cent in Thursday trading), I imagine estimates will be revised higher. I believe Tesla is on a path to achieve incredible growth over the next decade. One of my investing mantras is that people tend to overestimate change in the short term, yet underestimate it in the long term. In the next year or two, I don't have any illusions about electric vehicles becoming commonplace. But in 10 years? Sure.</div>
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Ten years ago, I don't think we had any clue how important wireless broadband technology would become. We didn't imagine being able to watch streaming video on a mobile phone. Just the same, I think in 10 years we may look back at all the money we wasted on gas-powered cars. Electric cars don't need $65 gas-tank fill-ups. They don't need oil changes, spark plugs or smog checks. They don't need replacement timing belts, mufflers, catalytic converters, fuel injectors, oxygen sensors or many of the other complex electro-mechanical parts required by gasoline cars.</div>
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I like owning stocks in companies that are leaders in an industry facing disruptive growth. I think Tesla is that company in the automotive industry. Sure, I missed out on a chance to buy this stock at less than half the price back when my Strategy Lab portfolio launched. But Tesla is now much further along the road to proving itself as a sustainable company. Its market cap seems high, having reached $8-billion following Wednesday's earnings report. But for comparison, BMW is worth more than $60-billion and generates significantly weaker gross margin per vehicle. If there is a future for the electric car, I think Telsa gives investors plenty of growth opportunity.</div>
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<em>Chris Umiastowski is the growth investor for Globe Investor's</em> Strategy Lab<em style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">.</span></em></div>
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<em>Special to The Globe and Mail</em></div>
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Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-31920852016543092042013-01-14T11:48:00.000-08:002013-01-14T11:48:56.747-08:00Are solar energy stocks a BUY???by Jeff Siegel, from Modern Energy Report, Energy & Capital<br />
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Last week, the Chinese government announced it will more than double its installed solar capacity in 2013.</div>
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In an effort to help China-based solar manufacturers eat through a massive glut that has pressured margins for more than two years now, the Middle Kingdom is hoping that by consuming its own product instead of shipping nearly everything overseas, it can provide some relief to its solar industry.</div>
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Certainly, this will happen. But even with the mountains of cash the government is now plowing into the sector, its still not going to be enough to fix the oversupply problem in the near term...</div>
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Yes, it will help alleviate some of the problem — but the fact is most of these companies still aren't making any money this year.</div>
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So really, this solar push in China is more about keeping these companies afloat until supply no longer exceeds demand — at least, at this level.</div>
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Still, this reality has not kept solar stocks from rallying over the past few months. And quite frankly, I don't know how long it'll last.</div>
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But I can tell you most of this recent run has pushed stock values to levels that simply don't make sense. And at some point, they'll have to correct.</div>
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Of course, that's not to say all the recent gains in the solar sector are overdone... and it didn't hurt that back on January 4, the company announced its rooftop solar installations were set to climb 60% this year, and that it expected to be cash flow positive by the end of the year. On that news alone, the stock jumped more than 10%.</div>
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The question now is: <em>How much higher can this thing go?</em></div>
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To be honest, I have no idea. But here's what I do know: I <b>never jump on a falling knife</b>, and I <b>never chase a flying stock</b>.</div>
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Although I think SolarCity can be properly valued at around $18 a share, I'd be hesitant about paying more than $15 right now.</div>
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It's funny, but I remember when I first told my <em id="yui_3_7_2_1_1358192540312_2175">Power Portfolio</em> readers about SolarCity all the way back in February...</div>
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I received a number of emails from readers who didn't want to touch a solar stock.</div>
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Despite the few remaining knuckle-draggers in the media who still haven't figured out that the solar industry is here to stay — and that it will continue to grow by leaps and bounds over the next decade — most energy investors know there's big money in solar installation... particularly with so many manufacturers selling their goods at a loss just to get inventory out the door.</div>
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Bottom line: It's never been a better time to be an installer.</div>
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And SolarCity does allow for regular investors to get a piece of that action.</div>
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<br />Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-83862659374852509772012-09-11T11:33:00.000-07:002012-09-11T11:33:29.525-07:00Toxic Energy still getting lion's share of funding<span style="font-size: large;"><b>How Money Corrupts the Politics of Energy</b></span><br />
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by <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">J. Mijin Cha, a Senior Policy Analyst in the Sustainable Progress Initiative at Dēmos</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">The last few weeks have not brought good news for those of us wanting a future powered by clean energy. The </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-keystone-xl-pipeline-20120816,0,6693892.story" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #399800; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">southern portion </a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">of the TransCanada pipeline is under construction. On top of that, New York State </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/new-york-allow-fracking-state-guidelines-labor-day_n_1810158.html" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #399800; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">will lift</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"> its moratorium and allow fracking to occur in the state. If things continue along this path, not only will we miss out on the economic opportunity of renewables, we will also be forced to bear the substantial economic and environmental costs of extreme energy.</span>
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Fracking and tar sands are considered to be <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/154936/6_scary_extreme_energy_sources_being_tapped_to_fuel_the_post_peak_oil_economy?paging=off" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">extreme forms of energy </a>because of the amount of time, cost and destruction that go into extracting the resources. Oil and gas reserves that were easily accessible are largely tapped out and as energy prices increased, these more extreme and expensive forms of extraction became more viable. In the case of <a href="http://dontfrackwithny.com/what-is-fracking/" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">fracking</a>, large volumes of toxic chemicals and water are injected into the ground to release natural gas in shale deposits. <a href="http://ostseis.anl.gov/guide/tarsands/index.cfm" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Tar sand mining</a> uses open pits that destroy large surface areas and require enormous amounts of water.</div>
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The environmental consequences from extreme energy sources are well documented. Fracking causes <a href="http://www.policyshop.net/home/2012/6/14/limited-fracking-is-still-fracking.html" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">several environmental hazards</a>, including polluting water supplies, increasing earthquake risks in areas not normally prone to earthquakes, and making tap water flammable. Not only is tar sand mining dangerous, the pipelines that carry the oil <a href="http://www.policyshop.net/home/2012/7/30/will-tar-sands-pipeline-spills-be-the-new-normal.html" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">spilt </a>over 800,000 gallons of oil in Wisconsin and Michigan in just two years causing substantial environmental and economic damages to communities. These examples show just a fraction of the costs that will be imposed by an extreme energy future.</div>
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Of course, not everyone will bear these costs. The fracking industry, for one, is looking to <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/epa-clears-way-for-more-fracking-profits-2012-04-24" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">profit handsomely</a>, especially now that it can expand into New York. While TransCanada's profits fell last quarter, it still managed to pay out <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/TransCanada+profit+falls+cent/7000311/story.html" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">C$272 million</a> to shareholders and have total revenue of C$1.8 billion. At the same time, the job creation and economic development promises these companies make to the impacted communities are unlikely to come through. Cornell's Global Labor Institute<a href="http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globallaborinstitute/research/upload/GLI_KeystoneXL_Reportpdf.pdf" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">definitively debunked</a> TransCanada's job creation number and the idea that fracking creates great, local jobs is a <a href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/fracking-nonsense-the-job-myth-of-gas-drilling" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">myth</a>, as seen by the inability of fracking operations in Pennsylvania to deliver on the level of local job creation promised.</div>
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In order to guarantee these profits, the oil and gas industry spends a large amount of money lobbying and buying influence. In 2011, the oil and gas lobby spent nearly <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?ind=E01++" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">$150 million</a> on lobbying. This year, they've already spent <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indusclient.php?id=E01" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">over $70 million</a>. These numbers don't include the<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=E01" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">millions of additional dollars </a>spent on campaign contributions either directly to candidates or to outside spending groups. Considering the amount of money they will make from an extreme energy future, it is a worthwhile investment. Not only does money talk, it makes policy.</div>
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Yet, it doesn't have to be this way. If our elected officials made policy decisions based on what was in the public- not private- interest, we would see meaningful investments in clean, renewable energy production. Renewable energy investments produce<a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2009/06/18/6192/the-economic-benefits-of-investing-in-clean-energy/" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink"> far more jobs and economic development </a>than the extreme energy alternatives. And, as an added bonus, renewable energy production doesn't pollute water sources, increase earthquake risks, or make tap water flammable.</div>
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Creating an energy future that results in more jobs and no flammable tap water seems like a good idea to me. It's a shame most of our elected officials don't seem to agree.</div>
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<em style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">This post is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics.</em></div>
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<em style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at the corrupting influence of money on our politics August 29th and September 5th from 12-4 pm ET and 6-10 pm ET. <a href="http://live.huffingtonpost.com/" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Click here to check it out -- and join the conversation.</a></em></div>
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<b style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Follow J. Mijin Cha on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/@jmijincha" style="border: none; color: #399800; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">www.twitter.com/@jmijincha</a></b></div>
Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-61155292156467576092012-05-24T12:50:00.000-07:002012-05-24T12:50:17.640-07:00Are China's solar energy stocks nearing bottom?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When will the stock price of China solar panel makers stop collapsing? When China starts switching to solar power. In other words, unless there are bottom feeders in the market with a long-term bullish outlook on the sector, 2012 promises to be a killer for China solar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yet, despite U.S. government’s anti-dumping charge against them on Friday, industry insiders said at a conference in Shanghai that they were hopeful for a rebound.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On Friday, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/18/business/la-fi-china-solar-dumping-20120518" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the U.S. Commerce Department announced </a>it would start charging 31% higher import duties on China made solar panels and equipment after a finding that Chinese solar panel makers were selling goods in the U.S. below market prices. If approved, the tariffs are expected to have a significant effect on the industry, which exports nearly $2 billion worth of solar panels to the U.S.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Immediately following the announcement, Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing, said the U.S. was being protectionist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“(<a href="http://www.forbes.com/places/dc/washington/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Washington</a> is) deliberately provoking trade friction in the clean energy sector, and<a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/jessicahagy/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">…</a>sending the world a negative signal about trade protectionism,” Shen said in a statement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Shares of China’s biggest solar makers have suffered a crushing defeat in the markets with JA Solar (<a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=JASO" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JASO</a>) wiping out 15% of its share price on Friday. The stock is now at the risk of being delisted, trading at just $0.89 a share. It’s down 33.5% year to date, but down even more — 84% — over the last year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The European debt crisis hasn’t helped either. Nearly all of China’s solar market depends on solar subsidies in Europe. When countries like Italy opted to cancel those solar subsidy programs last year to save money, China solar stocks took it on the chin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Suntech Power Holdings (<a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:STP" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">STP</a>) is down 74% over the last 12 months as investors holding these stocks will have to rethink profit margins now that President Obama has ordered the tariff hikes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So when will this sector turn around?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“I believe the market will revive in 12 to 18 months,” Brian Lau, director of DEK Solar, said at the Sixth SNEC PV Power Expo, held in Shanghai from Wednesday to Friday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China Daily</em> noted that in addition to the new tariff and European subsidy cuts, oversupply of polysilicon, a key component in manufacturing solar panels, has depressed the price of solar cells. Lau told conference attendees that the current surplus is driving solar prices down. That’s adding to the already dismal outlook for the sector. But that’s short term.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As prices become lower, there will be more customers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“After all, the industry cannot always rely on subsidies,” Lau said. “Currently, more output is not what they want, what they want is a cost-effective, and accurate production line,” he said, noting the new platform will save space by 50%, and also largely reduce energy consumption, while improving the battery conversion rate,<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China Daily</em> reported from Shanghai.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">More than 90% of solar panel products made in China are bound for export. Industry insiders are hoping that as China gets serious about green technologies, from solar power to lithium batteries that power electric cars, Beijing will mandate its own use of solar energy in the near future, priming the pump for an industry that’s grown too dependent on the wrong countries.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-89969545549367743652012-03-26T10:48:00.003-07:002012-03-26T10:52:34.711-07:00California to invest $100 mil in electric car charging stationsBy Jeff Siegel, Energy & Capital<br /><br />It all went down on June 14, 2000...<br /><br />California suffered its largest planned blackout since World War II.<br /><br />Two months later, Governor Gray Davis called for an investigation into possible price manipulation in the wholesale electricity marketplace.<br /><br />That's when Dynegy Inc. was officially accused of price manipulation and other fraudulent practices.<br /><br />Fast-forward to 2012, a $120 million settlement is finally announced.<br /><br />And what will the state do with that money?<br /><br />Something that's going to help make us a boatload of cash!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Going to California<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Twenty million dollars from this settlement will go to fund the reduction of consumer energy bills. That part doesn't concern us — unless, of course, you live in the Golden State.<br /><br />The other $100 million?<br /><br />Well, this is where it gets good...<br /><br />Governor Jerry Brown announced last week the state will use the remaining $100 million to install 200 public fast-charging stations for electric vehicles, as well as 10,000 plug-in units at 1,000 different locations across the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Los Angeles, and San Diego.<br /><br />There are three ways we can profit from this.<br /><br />The first is the most obvious: the companies that make the charging stations.<br /><br />There are five that have a shot at getting some of this action:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Coulomb Technologies<br /><br />ECOtality (NASDAQ: ECTY)<br /><br />AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV)<br /><br />General Electric (NYSE: GE)<br /><br />Siemens (NYSE: SI)</span><br /><br />Playing the charging angle is tricky, though. Your choices are limited to small, speculative plays or huge corporations that simply have some exposure to this market.<br /><br />Certainly there's opportunity here. But quite frankly, this isn't where the real money is.<br /><br />If You Build It, They Will Come<br /><br />Here's the interesting thing about California's focus on electric cars...<br /><br />The state expects to have 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. Most of these will be electric.<br /><br />And don't let the loudmouths in Washington or the media dissuade you. This is going to happen.<br /><br />Of course, if you think I'm off base, that's fine. But I've spent enough time with lawmakers in California and top execs at the biggest automakers to know this path to 1.5 million is well under way.<br /><br />Now, we also know that by 2015, all the major cities in California will have adequate infrastructure in place to accommodate these 1.5 zero-emission vehicles.<br /><br />Last week's announcement just further validates California's commitment.<br /><br />By the way, this announcement came just days after it was announced that a 160-mile stretch of Interstate 5 is now outfitted with fast-chargers that can charge an electric car in 20 minutes. They're spaced about 25 miles apart all along this Pacific Coast motorway.<br /><br />My point is this: More than half of the states in this nation are now actively building out an infrastructure to support the integration of electric cars.<br /><br />You may not be a fan of electric cars... You may think they're inefficient, unattractive, and unable to meet your daily driving needs.<br /><br />But make no mistake about it; that should have no bearing on whether or not you decide to profit from them.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-68895140636033866982012-03-21T13:48:00.004-07:002012-03-21T13:51:04.449-07:00Aging atomic energy plants have major safety problems: IAEAby Fredrik Dahl, Toronto Star<br /><br />VIENNA — Eighty per cent of the world’s nuclear power plants are more than 20 years old, which could impact safety, a draft U.N. report says a year after Japan’s Fukushima disaster.<br /><br />Many operators have begun programmes, or expressed their intention, to run reactors beyond their planned design lifetimes, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) document which has not yet been made public.<br /><br />“There are growing expectations that older nuclear reactors should meet enhanced safety objectives, closer to that of recent or future reactor designs,” the Vienna-based U.N. agency’s annual Nuclear Safety Review said.<br /><br />“There is a concern about the ability of the aging nuclear fleet to fulfill these expectations and to continue to economically and efficiently support member states’ energy requirements.”<br /><br />The Fukushima tragedy was triggered on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake unleashed a tsunami that left 19,000 people dead or missing. It also smashed into the coastal power plant causing a series of catastrophic failures at the facility.<br /><br />Images of the stricken plant shook public confidence in nuclear power and forced the nuclear industry to launch a campaign to defend its safety record.<br /><br />IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano told Reuters last week that nuclear power is now safer than it was a year ago. The report said the “operational level of NPP (nuclear power plant) safety around the world remains high”.<br /><br />It cited steady improvements in terms of unplanned reactor shutdowns in recent years.<br /><br />But the 56-page IAEA document also highlighted aging nuclear plants, with eighty per cent of the 435 facilities more than two decades old at the end of last year.<br /><br />This “could impact safety and their ability to meet member states’ energy requirements in an economical and efficient manner”, said the report, which has been submitted to IAEA member states but not yet finalized.<br /><br />Operators and regulators opting for so-called long-term operation “must thoroughly analyze the safety aspects related to the aging of ‘irreplaceable’ key components”, it added.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">LESSONS LEARNED?</span><br /><br />About 70 per cent of the world’s 254 research reactors have been in operation for more than 30 years “with many of them exceeding their original design life”, it said.<br /><br />The document was debated by the IAEA’s 35-nation governing board last week, almost exactly a year after the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.<br /><br />The tsunami overwhelmed Fukushima on Japan’s northeast coast, knocking out critical power supplies that resulted in a nuclear meltdown and the release of radiation.<br /><br />The reactors were stabilized by December, but high radiation levels hamper a cleanup that is expected to take decades.<br /><br />After the accident, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium decided to move away from nuclear power altogether to grow reliance on renewable energy instead.<br /><br />But other states, for example fast-growing China and India, continue to look to nuclear energy to meet their growing energy needs, the IAEA report said, adding that some “are even accelerating their nuclear energy programmes”.<br /><br />France is building its first “advanced” reactor and Russia is seeking to double its nuclear energy output by 2020, it said.<br /><br />“All countries that are using nuclear power are much more serious about nuclear safety,” Amano said last week. But environmental group Greenpeace said no “real lessons” appeared to have been learned from Fukushima.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-1160737473093933202012-02-27T16:30:00.003-08:002012-02-27T16:36:09.331-08:00Penalties for high "order to trade" ratio will spur smarter algorhytms<span style="font-weight:bold;">Italian Borsa Move May Breed Brave New World of Algos</span><br /><br />by John Bates, Chief Technology Officer, Progress Software<br /><br />The Italian stock exchange Borsa Italiana's decision to clamp down on "excessive" HFT orders is likely to be a shot heard around the world. The Borsa is considering charging HFT firms for sending too many orders, particularly ones that do not result in trades, according to the FT.<br /><br />Order-to-trade ratios have long been a concern of exchanges, ECNs and other trading venues as quote volumes go through the roof. If the number of orders being sent greatly outweighs the number of trades concluded, this can cause problems. All unnecessary orders (i.e. cancellations) create a load on exchanges; and they can provide a smokescreen to hide potentially abusive behavior (so called "quote stuffing").<br /><br />I am willing to bet that the Borsa's move will be followed elsewhere. Most exchanges and alternative venues express concern that they will not be able to cope with the amount of orders coming down the pipe if they continue to grow. The SEC is considering charging HFT firms for cancelled trades, according to The Wall Street Journal. And interconnectivity between exchanges is increasing, so in order to trade smoothly between exchanges and effect arbitrage it is important that all destinations follow similar rules and procedures.<br /><br />But many exchanges and ECNs, particularly in the U.S., have policies to encourage HFT rather than discourage. (Some venues even offer a tidy sum to attract large trades and liquidity providers by offering volume rebates.) The Borsa solution is the opposite of this -- it will discourage HFTs from experimentation.<br /><br />But HFT players argue that it is necessary to dip their toes into the waters of the markets before they dive in and execute their trades. Their algorithms can dart in, test depth of book and trader/market sentiment, and swoop out -- often without doing any business.<br /><br />The question here is, do you need to send out orders to test the market? What if you could watch and then act? Using trade orders is akin to being a venus fly trap, with your tentacles out waiting to catch the odd unwary fly. What if you could be more like an alert frog, waiting until you see the prey and then sticking your tongue out to catch the right one -- or lots of them?<br /><br />Testing the waters with quotes is probably the most harmless issue in HFT. Other issues include quote stuffing, where HFTs "stuff" the book on a particular share with millions of orders, so that others cannot get in to trade. This is a kind of front-running, where the quote stuffer gets the deal done before the market can move on him.<br /><br />On balance, I think the Borsa has the right idea. The Borsa benefits by having a more bulletproof trading platform, less sensitive to quote stuffing and errors. "Real" players are rewarded with real liquidity and done deals, while those who may have a more hidden agenda are discouraged from quoting.<br /><br />I wonder if this is a brave new world for algorithms, where they have to pay a penalty for high frequency strategies. If so, they will have to change. The Borsa's solution, especially if it is embraced by other trading destinations, may spawn a new generation of intelligent "sensing" algos.<br /><br />Today's algos that are using techniques to flood the market will be replaced by smarter ones that are more like the canny frog. They will weigh up their chances and dart their tongues out and catch the fly. Or they will miss the fly and learn from their mistakes, correcting and tweaking their techniques. You can be like the frog, but in order to do it you have to become more sophisticated. Weigh it up, ask some questions. <br /><br />Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-bates/borsa-italiana-hft_b_1298943.htmlJoe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-34176925013579789522012-02-26T17:13:00.003-08:002012-02-26T17:20:58.168-08:00Green energy stocks in bargain-basement territory<span style="font-weight:bold;">The plunge in pure-play green-tech stocks</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Company Country Sector Symbol Exchange Price (Feb. 23) Change since January, 2008</span><br /><br />Suntech Power China Solar panels STP NYSE $3.23 (U.S.) -96%<br />JA Solar China Solar cells JASO Nasdaq $1.94 -92%<br />First Solar U.S. Solar modules FSLR Nasdaq $37.20 -86%<br />SunPower U.S. Solar panels SPWR Nasdaq $7.91 -94%<br />Q-Cells Germany Solar cells QCE Frankfurt €0.32 -99%<br />Renewable Energy Norway Silicon REC Oslo 4.62 kroner -98%<br />Vestas Wind Systems Denmark Wind turbines VWS Copenhagen 57.10 kroner -90%<br />Gamesa Spain Wind turbines GAM Madrid €2.67 -91%<br />Suzlon Energy India Wind turbines SUZL Mumbai 27.95 rupees -93%<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Green energy's deadly doldrums</span><br /><br />by RICHARD BLACKWELL, Globe and Mail<br /><br />The numbers are dismal. The stock of Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems AS, the world’s biggest wind turbine maker, has plunged 90 per cent over the past four years. The United States’ leading solar firm, First Solar Inc., (FSLR-Q35.58-1.62-4.35%) has fallen from more than $250 (U.S.) to just over $40 in that same period. And Norway’s huge solar equipment maker Renewable Energy Corp. is trading at one-fortieth of its price at the start of 2008.<br /><br />It’s a similar story at Spain’s turbine maker Gamesa Corp., China’s big solar cell maker Suntech Power Holdings, (STP-N3.06-0.15-4.67%) and India’s turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy Inc. All have seen their shares tank over the past few years. Q-Cells, Germany’s huge solar cell maker, had to restructure its debt to stave off bankruptcy.<br /><br />What’s happened to these former high fliers? “They’ve been hit with a quadruple whammy,” said Tom Konrad, editor of the AltEnergyStocks.com website. The key issues:<br /><br />-Low natural gas prices (NG-FT2.52-0.03-1.10%) have made that fuel a cheap means of generating power, cutting into renewables.<br /><br />-Massive new production, particularly in China, has caused a glut of solar panels, pushing prices down sharply.<br /><br />-The political climate has become less favourable to renewables, both in Europe and North America.<br /><br />-The global economic downturn has prompted governments and corporations to tighten support and spending on renewables. And things could get worse: On Thursday, Germany said it will cut its solar subsidies more quickly than expected.<br /><br />Mr. Konrad said he thinks some of these renewable-energy companies – particularly in the solar sector – are ready for a rebound. However, they are not likely to get back to their 2007-08 levels in the short or medium term, he said. Some companies probably will disappear through consolidation, although the incentive to buy up rivals right now is diminished by the overcapacity in the sector.<br /><br />Analyst MacMurray Whale of Cormark Securities Inc. said he thinks it is unlikely there will be any kind of widespread recovery among renewable stocks until the global economy improves. “Green [is seen] as a luxury you can afford when everybody feels rich,” he said.<br /><br />While some solar stocks have improved a bit recently, there will likely not be any significant rebound in that sub-sector until there is consolidation and production capacity is reduced, Mr. Whale said. “There is just not enough demand to soak up that capacity. We are seeing bankruptcies and real struggles, and we are going to continue to see that.”<br /><br />Big companies, such as Vestas and First Solar, have strong balance sheets, he said, allowing them to survive – albeit with lower margins – until things pick up. But stock prices are not going to show any significant recovery for a considerable time, he predicts. “They could bounce around [at these levels] for years.”<br /><br />The approach many investors are taking is to look for individual stocks in the clean-technology space that appear to have some momentum, Mr. Whale said. Some are buying Canadian natural gas engine-maker Westport Innovations, (WPT-T43.961.533.61%) for example because it is a play on low gas prices. But they are not diving into renewables more broadly.<br /><br />Ric Palombi, a portfolio manager at McLean & Partners in Calgary, said the big pure-play clean technology firms pop up on his screen as potential investments because the stocks are so cheap at the moment. But that’s not a good enough reason to invest, because the current prospects for the industry are still poor until governments start to spend on the sector again. Until that happens, “What is the catalyst? What is going to move the stock?” he asks.<br /><br />A better bet for investors is to consider utilities, power producers or developers who can actually take advantage of the downward pressure in equipment prices. Mr. Palombi said he owns Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners LP, (BEP.UN-T27.39-0.20-0.72%) a Canadian dividend-paying stock with power plants in Canada, the U.S. and Brazil. In contrast to the equipment makers, it has seen its stock rise about 35 per cent since the beginning of 2008.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-52689900500281753452012-02-24T08:26:00.004-08:002012-02-24T08:36:30.124-08:00Green stocks will get hit if oil falls on China slowdownIn addition to a rapidly down-turning construction sector and tightening credit at the Big 4 banks, the World Bank also believes China requires institutional reform, particularly more oversight of huge state-owned corporations.<br /><br />Even though green energy stocks are alternatives to oil, short term price swings are often influenced by swings in oil pricing, which is likely headed down in coming months, based on the Chinese slowdown.<br /><br />SUMMARY: Perhaps lighten up on green energy stocks and funds until a correction takes the oil price and the clean power sector down, and when everyone is panicking, that will be the time to go back in and bulk up.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">China faces an economic crisis without reforms</span><br /><br />by Bob Davis in Beijing, WSJ<br /><br />CHINA could face an economic crisis unless it implements deep reforms, according to a report by the World Bank and a Chinese government think tank, which urges Beijing to scale back its vast state-owned enterprises and make them operate more like commercial firms.<br /><br />The recommendation is contained in ‘China 2030’, a report set to be released Monday, according to a half-dozen individuals involved in preparing and reviewing it. <br /><br />The report, which addresses some of China's most politically sensitive economic issues, is designed to influence the next generation of Chinese leaders who take office starting this year, these people said. It challenges the way China's economic model has developed during the past decade under President Hu Jintao, when the role of the state in the world's second-largest economy has steadily expanded. <br /><br />China 2030 cautions that China's growth is in danger of decelerating rapidly and without much warning, as has occurred with many high-flying developing countries once they reach a certain income level, a phenomenon that development economists call the "middle-income trap". A sharp slowdown could deepen problems in the banking sector and elsewhere, the report warns, and could prompt a crisis, according to those involved with the project. <br /><br />It recommends that state-owned firms should be overseen by asset-management firms, say those involved in the report. It also urges China to overhaul local government finances and promote competition and entrepreneurship. <br /><br />"China's state-owned sector is at a crossroads," said Fred Hu, chief executive of Primavera Capital Group, a Beijing investment firm. The Chinese government must decide "whether it wants state-led capitalism dominated by giant state-owned corporations or free-market entrepreneurship". <br /><br />Even ahead of its release, the report has generated fierce resistance from bureaucrats who manage state enterprises, according to several individuals involved in the discussions. <br /><br />China's political heir apparent, Xi Jinping, now vice president, has given few clues about his economic policies. Analysts expect the high-profile report will help to shape discussions among Mr Xi and his allies about whether to make changes to a state-led economic model that has alarmed Chinese private entrepreneurs and is becoming a source of growing tension between China and its main trading partners, including the US.<br /><br />The report's authors argue that having the imprimatur of the World Bank and the Development Research Center, or DRC – which reports to China's top executive body, the State Council – will add political heft to the proposals. The World Bank is widely admired in Chinese government circles, particularly for its advice in helping China design early market reforms. <br /><br />"The report lays out recommendations for a development growth path for the medium term, helping China make the transition to become a high-income society," said World Bank President Robert Zoellick in a statement announcing the report would be released. <br /><br />Neither the World Bank nor DRC would comment specifically on the China 2030 findings. <br /><br />Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, who is expected to be named premier next year, endorsed the Chinese-World Bank project when Mr Zoellick proposed it during a trip to Beijing in September 2010. Its authors are also counting on the Number 2 official at the DRC, Liu He, who is also a senior adviser to the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, to help ensure that its findings are considered seriously by top leaders. Mr Liu declined to comment. <br /><br />Among the most contentious areas in the report: how to manage state-owned enterprises, which dominate the nation's energy, natural resources, telecommunications and infrastructure industries and have easy access to low-interest loans from state-owned banks. <br /><br />US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other Western officials argue that subsidies to those firms distort international competition. Domestically, critics complain that the firms choke off internal competition, use monopoly profits to expand into other businesses and pay only meager dividends. <br /><br />The World Bank and DRC argue that asset-management firms should oversee the state-owned companies, say those involved in the report. The asset managers would try to ensure that the firms are run along commercial lines, not for political purposes. They would sell off businesses that are judged extraneous, making it easier for privately owned firms to compete in areas that are spun off. <br /><br />"China needs to restrict the roles of the state-owned enterprises, break up monopolies, diversify ownership and lower entry barrier to private firms," said Mr Zoellick in a talk to economists in Chicago last month. <br /><br />Currently, many state-owned firms have real-estate subsidiaries, which tend to bid up prices for land, and have helped to create a housing bubble that the Chinese government is trying to deflate. <br /><br />The report also recommends a sharp increase in the dividends that state companies pay, which would boost budget revenue and pay for new social programs, said those involved with the report. <br /><br />Chinese and US economists say that dividend money from profitable state-owned firms now are often directed to unprofitable ones by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or SASAC, which regulates the firms and tries to ensure their profitability. <br /><br />"It's an innovative proposal," said Yiping Huang, a Barclays Capital economist. <br /><br />But others argue that the proposals don't go far enough. Neither the World Bank nor the DRC proposed privatising the state-owned firms, figuring that was politically unacceptable. <br /><br />SASAC and the Communist Party's personnel agency name heads of state-owned firms and can replace them, giving the government great sway over the firms' decision-making. It isn't clear whether the report recommends changing that arrangement or proposes how the asset managers should be hired and fired. <br /><br />How to handle such personnel "was the most contentious issue and was debated until the last hour," said a "China 2030" participant, who added that participants often differed on how much credit should be given to the state for China's economic development and how big a role the government and party should continue to play. <br /><br />Even so, said individuals involved with the report, SASAC bitterly criticized the proposal in meetings of the "China 2030" group and would strive to block them from coming into being, out of concern it could lose power. Indeed, many of the recommendations are considered so politically fraught that the Chinese insisted that the report be labelled a "conference edition" – meaning that it is subject to change after comments at the Beijing conference where it will be presented Monday. SASAC didn't immediately respond to a request to comment. <br /><br />Mr Liu, the DRC official, was among the top Chinese staffers who drafted the current five-year plan and is considered close to China's current leaders as well as Mr Xi, the presumptive next head of China's government and party. Mr Liu, who meets regularly with US officials, has argued publicly that foreign pressure and ideas can help build momentum for change in China. <br /><br />"Liu decides the flow of information, gives policy makers recommendations and organizes meeting agendas," said Cheng Li, a China scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. <br /><br />In a signal of the challenges now faced by Chinese businesses, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity was slightly higher in February but remained in contractionary territory for the fourth straight month. The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index was 49.7 in February, compared with a final reading of 48.8 for January, HSBC said yesterday. A reading below 50 indicates contraction from the previous month. <br /><br />China now is vulnerable to a sharp slowdown, said Jun Ma, a Deutsche Bank China economist, because it relies too heavily on industries that copy foreign technology and doesn't produce enough breakthroughs of its own, a problem that limits the growth of many developing countries. <br /><br />South Korea was able to keep growing rapidly after it hit a per capita income level of $5,000 – about where China is today – because it pushed innovation. China lags behind South Korea badly in patents produced per capita, he said, an important measure of innovation. <br /><br />China 2030 urges a big expansion of early-childhood education and nutrition to make sure that poorer Chinese youngsters don't quickly fall behind wealthier ones, said those involved with the report. While such programs are commonplace in wealthier countries and Latin America, they pose a particular challenge in China because of its system of revenue collection. <br /><br />Chinese local governments often draw much of their revenue from the sale of land, rather than from taxes. That has led to deep resentment among poorer Chinese as village officials underpay for land on the outskirts of cities and sell at steep profits to real-estate developers. The report urges that Chinese social spending be funded more by dividends from state-owned firms and by property, corporate and other taxes. <br /><br />"We'll be recommending that all resources be put on budget," Mr Zoellick said in his Chicago talk, and "that public finance needs to be transparent [and] accountable."<br /><br />Additional reporting: Kersten Zhang and Aaron BackJoe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-46331518755386502872012-02-10T08:27:00.000-08:002012-02-10T08:29:52.916-08:00Green Stoppcks Central likes Zoltek (ZOLT)<span style="font-weight:bold;">Zoltek (ZOLT) Reports Big Profit Surge, Shares On The Up & Up</span><br /><br />Posted by Tate Dwinnell, February 3, 2012, Green Stocks Central<br /><br />Zoltek (ZOLT) has been one of the best green stock performers in recent months nearly doubling in price and it’s going to pop again tomorrow as the company reported a big surge in profit. The company posted a profit of .28/share on revenues of $47 million vs the analyst estimates for .05 in EPS on revenues of $46 million. That’s a huge improvement over the year ago quarter when the company posted a loss of .05 share on revenue of just $33 million. The CEO said the wind turbine business represents its biggest growth potential and continues to improve. He expects the large wind turbine segment to increase 15 – 25% per year for the next decade. Back in February CEO Rumy declared that growth is coming and the stock surged for a few days. However, it didn’t take long for the stock to take another big nosedive. If indeed, the wind energy industry is entering a sustained growth phase shares look enticing at current levels. This is great news for an industry that has really struggled.<br /><br />“We are pleased to report strong gains on both the top and bottom lines in the first quarter and continuation of the momentum we experienced in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011,” said Zsolt Rumy, Zoltek’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ”Our performance resulted from several internal and external factors. Our net revenues were up almost a third, despite the drag on our reported sales from the decline in the value of the Euro during the quarter, reflecting our expanded customer base in the wind energy business and increased sales of composite intermediate products. Our margins were positively impacted by a more profitable product mix, higher utilization of our production capacity, better operational performance, lower raw material costs and the decline in the values of the Hungarian Forint and Mexican Peso. We believe our first quarter results evidence that our carbon fiber business is on a path to increase significantly this year.”<br /><br />Technically, the stock looks outstanding and you can’t say that for many green stocks these days. ZOLT should move to the top of most green stock watchlists based on the technical improvement and the results last quarter. The stock pushed above the 200 day moving average today with heavy volume and it’s up another 9% in after hours trading. While extended in the short term, any pull backs represent a nice opportunity for an entry.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-38679327739798370462012-01-12T09:20:00.000-08:002012-01-12T09:24:13.103-08:00Climate change implications indicate global rethink required<span style="font-weight:bold;">Peak Nature and the transformation of capitalism, by Timothy Morton, Adbusters.org</span><br /><br />Nature is the featureless remainder at either end of the process of production. Either it’s exploitable stuff, or value-added stuff. Whatever: it’s basically featureless, abstract, gray. It has nothing to do with nematode worms and orangutans, organic chemicals in comets and rock strata. You can scour the Earth from mountaintop to Marianas Trench. You will never find Nature. That’s why I put it in capitals. I want the reader to see that it’s an empty category looking for something to fill it. Gray goo.<br /><br />Capitalism did away with feudal and pre-feudal myths such as the divine hierarchy between classes of people. In so doing, however, it substituted one heck of a giant myth of its own: Nature. Nature is precisely the lump that preexists the capitalist labor process. Martin Heidegger has the best term for it: standing reserve, Bestand.<br /><br />Bestand means “stuff,” as in the old ad from the 1990s, “Drink Pepsi: Get Stuff.” There is an ontology implicit in capitalist production, then, that is strictly materialism as defined by Aristotle. Funnily enough, however, this materialism is not fascinated with material objects in all their manifold specificity. It’s just stuff. This viewpoint is the basis of Aristotle’s problem with materialism. Have you ever seen or handled matter? Have you ever held a piece of “stuff”? Sure, I’ve seen lots of objects: Santa Claus in a department store, snowflakes and photographs of atoms. But have I ever seen matter or stuff as such? Aristotle says it’s a bit like searching through a zoo to find the “animal” rather than the various species such as monkeys and mynah birds. Marx says exactly the same thing regarding capital. “The ‘expanded’ form [of the commodity] passes into the ‘general’ form when some commodity is excluded, exempted from the collection of commodities, and thus appears as the general equivalent of all commodities, as the immediate embodiment of Commodity as such, as if, by the side of all real animals, there existed the Animal, the individual incarnation of the entire animal kingdom – or as if, to use an example from commercial capitalism, by the side of all real spices, there existed the Spice.” As Nature goes, so goes matter. The two most progressive physical theories of our age, ecology and quantum theory, need have nothing to do with it.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://greenmutualfund.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-peak-nature-requires-collective.html"target="_blank">Research information on Peak Nature concept</a>Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-71655018465646446462011-11-29T19:19:00.000-08:002011-11-29T19:47:23.532-08:00Race to Index 20,000; Dow or TSX?<h3>New York and Toronto stock markets will both surpass 20,000</h3><br />The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 11,555.63 today, and here in Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 11,732.50. As the only way out of the current morass involves printing enough money to get inflation re-started, one may feel that resource-rich Canada will move ahead and power its way to 20,000 before the Dow. It's possible, however it may be more likely that the resource panic peaks in 2011 / 2012 and technology / green energy takes over as the primary economic engine from 2013 onwards. In this scenario, I see the Dow hitting 20,000 in August 2018 and/or in the 3rd week of January 2019, Twin Peaks, before retreating below 16,000 by late September 2019.<br /><br />The TSX will peak in July 2018 at 19,280 before a Summer / Autumn swoon, rally again to 18,900 by late January 2019, and then correct to below 16,700 by November 2019. The Toronto Market will have to wait for the glory of sailing through 20k until the Spring of 2021. At that point, Jah willing, we'll post a Race to 30,000 article.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Presidential cycle favours buying near end of 3rd year uncertainty</span><br /><br />With regards to North American cycles, if you are playing the stock market (eg you are underweight equity funds and would like to move the weighting up a bit), the historical best time to buy equities is late November / early December in the 3rd year of the USA Presidency (eg now), a season where plunging markets can often be exacerbated by personal and institutional tax-loss sellers. The market almost always falls in the 3rd year because it is long over for the honeymoon phase and too early to pump the money supply and economy for the next election, as that starts early in the 4th year. So if you are into buying equities, the next few weeks of tax-loss selling should provide great <span style="font-style:italic;">opportunities for long term investors<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span> to do some tax-loss BUYING. <br /><br />Remember: <br /><br />"Markets climb a wall of worry."<br /><br /><br />Joseph Trainor, CIM<br />November 29, 2011Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-24031648414736606752011-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:002011-11-11T10:07:03.402-08:00Technology that moves water will be key over next decadeAs most of the world will soon have not enough or too much water, investing in water pumps and water pipelines seems like an intelligent move. Here's one to consider:<br /><br />Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII), a manufacturer of water pumps for desalination plants. <br /><br /><br />For more water-related investments, visit <a href="http://waterintell.blogspot.com"target="_blank">Water Intell - Desalination, Irrigation, Hydro, Tidal and Wave Power</a>Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-11356827909196301872011-10-18T12:28:00.001-07:002011-10-18T12:29:39.227-07:00Blue Chips go turquoise, seek green hue and $$$Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) unveiled its solar roof shingles, saying they'll generate $1 billion in revenue by 2015.<br /><br /><br />BP (NYSE: BP) announced it will invest $800 million to build the largest wind farm in Kansas. <br /><br /><br />GE (NYSE: GE) said it would build the largest solar factory in the United States. Larger than 11 football fields, the Colorado facility will make cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells, similar to those made by First Solar (NYSE: FSLR).Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-39262555385706762622011-10-12T09:08:00.001-07:002011-10-12T09:14:06.141-07:00Margaret Atwood publishes book made from straw<h2>New paper source designed to protect forests</h2><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4Td2t4H4Vy7dIa6GI60AWYhvgFeyJFAhKKGfzlu9aAFAN5brckxo1aCTpVfIUNhp8QllLFUw-4Y3VMyoDpGLdHQfq-h88PF4ZxA4BrqrTcHCusZmVozwV_8GKE8Lh0DkNdzP6SNChM-K/s1600/margaret+atwood+book+-+in+other+worlds.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4Td2t4H4Vy7dIa6GI60AWYhvgFeyJFAhKKGfzlu9aAFAN5brckxo1aCTpVfIUNhp8QllLFUw-4Y3VMyoDpGLdHQfq-h88PF4ZxA4BrqrTcHCusZmVozwV_8GKE8Lh0DkNdzP6SNChM-K/s400/margaret+atwood+book+-+in+other+worlds.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5662639540907102386" /></a><br />From TheSpec.com:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Atwood special-edition book printed on straw</span><br /><br />Author Margaret Atwood has partnered with an environmental advocacy non-profit to release a limited special edition of her new collection of essays on a pioneering form of paper.<br /><br />The 300 copies of In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination that went on sale Tuesday are published on Second Harvest Paper, designed by Vancouver-based Canopy specifically for Atwood. It’s the first book in North America printed on straw.<br /><br />“These pages were produced without any harmful impact on forests and their fragile ecosystems,” writes Atwood in the introduction. “Human beings need oxygen, and forests produce it; printed books require paper, but paper need not be made from virgin forests. This is an elegant solution to a pressing problem.”<br /><br />Made from a combination of recycled material and the straw left over from harvesting grain, the innovative material gives the Atwood’s book half the ecological footprint of conventional paper.<br /><br />“For us she was a logical person to approach to be the champion,” Canopy’s executive director, Nicole Rycroft, said of the organization’s collaboration with Atwood on the pilot project.<br /><br />“We know and love her for being willing to dive out of the box and to try the unknown and to stand up for us and for our planet … . I just find it startling that in 2011 we still cut down, in Canada, 400- and 800-year-old trees to make Jackie Collins novels and bank statements, when this book proves that using straw to make paper is a viable alternative to using endangered forest.<br /><br />“Using straw to make paper helps diversify the fibre basket and helps keep up to 830 million trees standing each and every year in our carbon-rich forests. At this juncture, that is really critical in terms of our keeping our climate stable.”<br /><br />Although Canada is one of the world’s largest wheat-growing regions, it lacks the infrastructure to turn wheat straw into pulp, so the byproduct utilized for Atwood’s books was imported from China.<br /><br />“That’s where we need government and paper industry leadership to really follow this demonstration of product viability,” explained Rycroft.<br /><br />Although the digital age is upon us, the “mythical paperless office” may still be decades away, so Second Harvest Paper could have widespread uses from annual reports to toilet paper, she added.<br /><br />The unique autographed copies of In Other Worlds are available at www.canopyplanet.org. With proceeds going to Canopy, the $100 price tag reflects its limited availability, said Rycroft.<br /><br />“Straw paper should in fact cost no more than conventional paper,” she saidJoe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-67224991018383474602011-10-04T10:18:00.000-07:002011-10-04T10:33:24.065-07:00Market Timing: Is Autumn 2011 a good time to invest?<h3>Stock markets often bottom in 3rd year of USA Presidency</h3><br />Historically the best day to invest is the first Tuesday morning in December, as that allows you to avoid the fall swoon, and buy in at the end of tax loss selling, but still be in place for year end rally and January, which is usually an up month due to New year optimism.<br /><br />Also historically, the 3rd year in a US Presidency is the worst year for equity markets, as the honeymoon is over, and it is too early to pump the economy for the next year's election.<br /><br />So yes, an awesome time to invest in stocks is here, or close.<br /><br />I'd suggest putting about 20% of your stocks allocation in now, another 30% by mid-November and be fully invested by 1st week of December.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-22420242309626438162011-09-28T12:28:00.000-07:002011-09-28T12:40:38.288-07:00Water and Agriculture stocks to watchIf a global water shortage and potential food supply disruptions have you concerned, why not invest in water conservation and efficient food production? A wide range of <a href="http://waterintell.blogspot.com"target="_blank">water stocks are profiled over at WaterIntell.com</a>, and here's a new one worth looking into:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/finance?cid=337411"target="_blank">Lindsay Corp. (NYSE: LNN)</a> manufactures efficient irrigation equipment to assist farmers in increasing productivity per acre, utilizing a minimal amount of water. <br /><br />Bunge (NYSE: BG) is dedicated to improving the global agribusiness and food production chain, via four divisions: agribusiness, sugar and bioenergy, food and ingredients and fertilizer. To be honest, I'm not sure how "green" this company is, however I do believe they will benefit from their bioenergy division.<br /><br />Agriculture equipment companies like Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and Deere (NYSE: DE) are also sure to be in demand in the years and decades ahead.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-38898385433250365812011-09-27T10:03:00.000-07:002011-09-27T10:11:55.941-07:00FSLR worth accumulating before 2012I have had this post on my "to-do" list for about 3 or 4 days now, ever since <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/09/20/first-solar-goes-for-more-efficiency-to-fight-off-chinese-threats/">First Solar announced higher efficiency thin film solar cells</a>. Still, even though the stock has gone from 59 to 73 in the past 24 hours, FSLR is a long term play that should do well in 2012.<br /><br />If you have powder dry and are itching to get in, you may wanna start accumulating First Solar in the coming days and weeks, with the goal of having your full position in place by last week of November or first week of December.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_eiC3UJA90LXpdBV60GgVuons6sp0kfWaZW48FVIa8ceVVfuOqpTdIj4QRethd8h8rS_Eypi_QdjYtCnHz06N1TUEcF_1lyn839ccWwUFTc8z8EZP9jhm6X62rBU6Ed5M3qr0GMUXKBq/s1600/first+solar+logo"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 252px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_eiC3UJA90LXpdBV60GgVuons6sp0kfWaZW48FVIa8ceVVfuOqpTdIj4QRethd8h8rS_Eypi_QdjYtCnHz06N1TUEcF_1lyn839ccWwUFTc8z8EZP9jhm6X62rBU6Ed5M3qr0GMUXKBq/s400/first+solar+logo" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657087991432454402" /></a><br /><br /><br />Target is $120 Q1 or $140 Q2 2012.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-83842017367859615062011-09-09T09:10:00.000-07:002011-09-09T09:28:01.483-07:00Green Stocks to WATCH; Solar, Thorium, Clean WaterHere are a few green stocks worth keeping an eye on, and perhaps accumulating on any Autumn general market weakness (notes from company websites and Nick Hodge of Energy & Capital):<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Amtech Systems (NASDAQ: ASYS)</span>, maker of the furnaces, cell transfer systems, and vapor deposition products necessary to produce today's solar panels. They win no matter which solar company wins: GE, First Solar, Sharp — it doesn't matter... They all need solar panel production equipment.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">IBC Advanced Alloys (IB)</span>, is a leading manufacturer and developer of advanced alloys for the global market with a focus on specialty copper alloys and high performance beryllium aluminum castings. IBC’s engineered solutions are essential for many high technology products used in a broad range of market sectors including nuclear power, automotive, oil and gas, electronics and aerospace. Complementing the Company’s manufacturing operations are R&D programs and natural resource initiatives focused on enhancing and supporting IBC growing US manufacturing base. <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lightbridge Corp. (NASDAQ: LTBR)</span>, formerly known as Thorium Power Corp., researching thorium powered reactors, and possibly in the future, cars. According to the website txchnologist.com, owned by GE:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">A 250-kilowatt unit (equivalent to about 335 horsepower) weighing about 500 pounds would be small and light enough to put under the hood of a car, Stevens claims. And because a gram of thorium has the equivalent potential energy content of 7,500 gallons of gasoline, LPS calculates that using just 8 grams of thorium in the unit could power an average car for 5,000 hours, or about 300,000 miles of normal driving.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Urban Barns (OTCBB: URBF)</span> is the next generation of agriculture. We use advanced farming methods to grow fruits and vegetables in a controlled indoor environment, and our crop yields are much greater than a traditional greenhouse. We plan to put an Urban Barn in every major urban centre, so that our food can be on the shelf within 48 hours of being picked, for an unprecedented level of freshness and quality. <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Seawater Greenhouse</span> is a UK company not yet public, that builds greenhouses that use seawater and sunshine and produce vegetables and fresh water. A 2,000-square-meter version has already been completed in South Australia. It cost $2 million to build and will produce over 220,000 pounds of tomatoes per year. It needs no fossil fuels or pesticides, so its costs are up to 25% less than traditional greenhouses. Abu Dhabi, Oman, Jordan, and other arid countries by the sea are all in line to get them.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-39633548210786300922011-08-31T07:53:00.000-07:002011-08-31T07:59:44.855-07:003 Green Microcaps for speculative investorsCAUTION: Individual equity securities are for higher-risk, longterm investors, and speculative penny stocks are extremely high risk and should only be considered for gambling money or less then 3% of an investment portfolio.
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<br /><h3>ALCL, SAVW and XPWR: Three Green Tech Stocks in the News</h3>
<br />ALCL announced a “green” acquisition, SAVW announced that their LED lighting solutions will appear at the IFA trade show and XPWR gets itself ready for stock promotions.
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<br />By John Udovich, SmallCapNetwork.com
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<br />Atlas Capital Holdings (OTC: ALCL), SavWatt USA (OTC: SAVW) and Xzeres Corp. (OTC: XPWR) are three small cap green or clean tech stocks that recently issued press releases or had other updates to report to investors. Specifically, ALCL announced the acquisition of a maker of "green" synthetic ground cover, SAVW announced that their LED lighting solutions will appear at the IFA trade show in Berlin and XPWR will present at the Ardour Capital 9th Annual Energy Technology Conference (and gear up for promotions). Of course, there is nothing wrong with small cap green or clean tech stocks issuing press releases or updates to investors about their activities. However, its also important to remember that just one well placed or well written press release or update from a small cap green or clean tech stock like ALCL, SAVW or XPWR can send shares soaring (and likewise, cause them to sink). Hence, here is a closer look at all three to help you decide whether their recent press releases or updates warrant further due diligence:
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<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Atlas Capital Holdings (OTC: ALCL) Acquires a “Green” Synthetic Ground Cover Maker</span>
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<br />Atlas Capital Holdings, formerly known as Micro Mammoth Solutions, is a development stage company. On Tuesday, Atlas Capital Holdings announced a letter of intent to acquire Textraw, Inc. a Florida corporation that makes and distributes an environmentally-friendly "green" synthetic ground cover that is made from recycled materials coming from common landfill items. The COO of Atlas Capital Holdings also added that the company plans to announce additional acquisitions of providers of alternative green products and services over the next few weeks. Nevertheless, Atlas Capital Holdings fell 43.83% to $0.132 (ALCL has a 52 week trading range of $0.05 to $10.50 a share) but it appears that the stock is soaring in after hours trading. Investors should also note that on Monday, Atlas Capital Holdings also announced the hiring of an “award winning green expert” as their new COO while earlier in August, the company announced a name change to GreenTech Holdings, Inc. However and on the financial front, Atlas Capital Holdings has been fairly inactive up until the end of the 1Q2011. Hence, ALCL should be considered a very speculative green stock at this point in time.
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<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">SavWatt USA (OTC: SAVW) Announces That Their LED Lighting Solutions Will Appear at the IFA Trade Show But…</span>
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<br />SavWatt USA focuses on developing energy-efficient and cost-effective LED lighting solutions. On Tuesday, SavWatt USA announced that their water resistant LED lights will be displayed at IFA - the world's largest trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances which will take place from September 2 to 7, 2011 in Berlin. The product itself will be available to commercial customers during the first quarter of 2012. Nevertheless, SavWatt USA fell 5% to $0.0019 on 2.5 times its normal trading volume. However, investors should note that SavWatt USA was late filing their latest 10-Q for the 2Q2011. Moreover and for the quarter ended March 31, 2011, SavWatt USA reported only $4k in revenue; net losses of $1,323k, $2,056k, $249k and $130k for the previous four quarters respectively; and $27k in cash to cover $2,029k in current liabilities – not the most exciting financial picture.
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<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Xzeres Corp. (OTC: XPWR) Will Present at the Ardour Capital 9th Annual Energy Technology Conference (And Gears Up for Promotions)</span>
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<br />Xzeres is a renewable energy and clean energy technology company focused on designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing distributed generation and, wind power systems for the small wind power market. On Tuesday, Xzeres announced that it will present at the Ardour Capital 9th Annual Energy Technology Conference to be held on September 16th, 2011. Xzeres’ Chairman and CEO also noted that the appearance will be the beginning of an active investment community visibility program moving forward. In other words, XPWR is gearing up to actively promote itself to investors. Nevertheless, Xzeres closed at $0.750 (XPWR has a 52 week trading range of $0.50 to $3 a share). Investors should note that for the first fiscal quarter 0f 2011, revenue rose 57% over the previous fiscal quarter to $1,017,217. However, Xzeres also has net losses of $1,999k, $1,861k, $1,272k and $1,324k for each of the last four quarters and $324k in cash to cover $1,059k in current liabilities.
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<br />The Bottom Line: As with most green or clean tech stocks, ALCL, SAVW and XPWR remain speculative investments that have the potential for big gains or losses for investors.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-59545744915036524822011-06-28T08:05:00.000-07:002011-06-28T08:10:29.842-07:00Nick Hodge's Solar Energy 101, Solar Power primerProps to Nick and all over at Energy & Capital for their consistent insights into global energy and resource trends. Here's an excellent article that originally appeared on the Energy & Capital website, and in Nick's newsletter.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Solar Power for Dummies</span><br /><br />By Nick Hodge | Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011<br /><br />The headlines say it all...<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Total (NYSE: TOT) Pays $1.4 Billion for Stake in SunPower<br /><br /> Army/Marines Charge Critical Equipment With Solar Panels<br /><br /> Google Invests $280 Million in SolarCity<br /><br /> Solar Market Tops $70 Billion in 2010</span><br /><br />In only a few years' time, the solar market has gone from “That stuff'll never work” to a billion-dollar acquisition target of the biggest oil companies in the world.<br /><br />At the turn of the century the world only had 1.4 gigawatts (GWs) of installed solar capacity.<br /><br />By the end of last year 40.7 GW had been installed – a growth of 2,752%.<br /><br />Oil didn't do that. Coal didn't do that. Nuclear didn't do that.<br /><br />Most of the growth has come from Europe – particularly Germany with 17 GW – which boasts over 75% of all installed solar worldwide.<br /><br />Their head start can be attributed to attractive policies the U.S. failed to embrace. But falling prices, as you'll soon see, will mean the spread and mass adoption of solar in the next few years.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Reaching Scale</span><br /><br />All technologies are more expensive in the beginning.<br /><br />I paid $1,300 for a 42” flatscreen TV in 2006. You can get one today for $450.<br /><br />Solar is the same way.<br /><br />Panels cost $60 per watt in the mid 1970s. Today the price is down to $1.50 per watt.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Mass production reduces solar energy costs</span><br /><br />Just like similar industries – circuit boards, for example – costs will continue to fall with volume. For every doubling of solar manufacturing capacity, costs fall about 20%.<br /><br />In some markets solar is already cheaper than grid electricity. And as more and more solar is installed, the costs will only fall further.<br /><br />We're at a point now where solar installations are growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 65%.<br /><br />Slightly more than 17 GWs were installed last year alone.<br /><br />And as SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWRA) founder and chief technology officer Tom Dinwoodie (the man who just sold a majority stake of his company to Total for $1.4 billion) puts it:<br /><br />That 17 gigawatts installed in 2010 is the equivalent of 17 nuclear power plants -- manufactured, shipped, and installed in one year. It can take decades just to install a nuclear plant. Think about that. I heard Bill Gates recently call solar "cute." Well, that's 17 gigawatts of "cute" adding up at an astonishing pace.<br /><br />We'll still need nuclear baseload power to be sure. The point here is twofold.<br /><br /> Solar is being installed on a nuclear scale but much faster.<br /><br /> We've reached the point where increased installation rates and falling prices are feeding off each other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Forecasts for Solar Power Growth</span><br /><br />Between now and 2020, solar installations will double almost three times. Check out how that looks graphically:<br /><br />Global Installed Solar Capacity 2000-2020<br /><br />Germany will continue to dominate the market for the next few years, with the U.S. expected to come on strong in the second half of the decade.<br /><br />China, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, and Spain are other countries to watch for coming installation growth.<br /><br />But, at least as it stands right now, there's only one country to watch for when it comes to the actual production of solar equipment – not just the installation.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Solar Energy Industry - Global Leaders</span><br /><br />In the early oughts Germany was by far the solar production leader. But as always happens in the manufacturing industry, China was quick to enter and dominate the game.<br /><br />Though Europe is still the installation leader, China owns a majority of the production – as much as 60% by some estimates.<br /><br />And for the first time last year, half of the largest solar companies in the world were Chinese. Though the list may vary slightly depending on the source, here's the current list along with 2010 shipments:<br /><br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;"> Suntech (NYSE: STP), 1,572 MW<br /><br /> JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO), 1,464 MW<br /><br /> First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR)<br /><br /> Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), 1,062<br /><br /> Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL), 1,057<br /><br /> Motech (TAIWAN: 6244), 924 MW<br /><br /> Q-Cell (XETRA: QCE), 907 MW<br /><br /> Gintech (TAIWAN: 3514), 827 MW<br /><br /> Sharp (Other OTC: SHCAY), 774 MW<br /><br /> Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), 588 MW</span><br /><br />I know I've thrown a lot at you today, but a thorough solar update was long overdue. And in addition to future editorial and our paid services, this should serve as a good base for anyone looking to start investing in solar.<br /><br />For more information, I've just recorded a short white-board video about materials of the future. It covers new solar materials that'll be used in the next few years, as well as new types of battery and rare earth technologies.<br /><br />We'll start posting videos like this once a week to help you better capitalize on the topics we cover in daily e-letters.<br /><br />Call it like you see it,<br /><br /><br />NickJoe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-63850505763241942552011-06-21T10:19:00.000-07:002011-06-21T10:38:14.078-07:00Dreaded double-top means oil headed down, down, down<h3>Price spike, as in 2008, inevitably followed by downturn</h3><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKg3zinXLRd0JNmGlPEKZeaLCBU1Sjf-8_AnYVeR0tCv5sfn9yp3JunHJ4U1_o5fCykqIPsb6aHWv_ez87gNW6-t_m0yAPt0JKjK0BKr91XJw2l3bSH6jLKqlAoCa48O7NFI5YOkFNvPC/s1600/oil-price-five+year+chart.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimKg3zinXLRd0JNmGlPEKZeaLCBU1Sjf-8_AnYVeR0tCv5sfn9yp3JunHJ4U1_o5fCykqIPsb6aHWv_ez87gNW6-t_m0yAPt0JKjK0BKr91XJw2l3bSH6jLKqlAoCa48O7NFI5YOkFNvPC/s320/oil-price-five+year+chart.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620728170320469090" /></a><br />Barring an unforeseen event, fundamental and technical factors are conspiring to send oil prices into a 2nd half tailspin. I called the price tops in the oil market in both 2008 and 2011, ahead of time and within a few weeks, and just like in 2008 (and similar to stock market moves) the oil price will plummet a lot faster than it rose. People still blame the 2008 economic crisis entirely on the housing bubble however many people were much more affected by $120 to $140 oil, which was a catalyst in the near global collapse.<br /><br />This Summer and Autumn will see some support for oil in the $70-75 range (today's Nymex Crude is $92.84), if it closes below 70 during the Summer of 2011, it is likely headed for a late Autumn bottom in the 40-45 range, at which point oil will become a Buy again.<br /><br />For now, Sell oil!Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-21689394215026202952011-06-20T11:38:00.000-07:002011-06-20T11:43:45.909-07:00Canadian Solar (CSIQ) building photovoltaic cell factory in Suzhou, China<h3>Suzhou offering incentives for clean energy technology</h3><br />A major city located in the southeast of Jiangsu Province in Eastern China, Suzhou embraces 21st Century progress.<br /><br />By Brianna Panzica, EnergyandCapital.com<br />Thursday, June 2nd, 2011<br /><br />The enthusiasm for solar energy is heating up across the globe.<br /><br />Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), an Ontario-based company that produces solar panels in China, has announced its plan to open a photovoltaic cell factory in Suzhou, China.<br /><br />This new plant will be located just 8km – or in more American terms, 5 miles – from an existing Canadian Solar cell plant.<br /><br />This is the result of an agreement between Canadian Solar, the Suzhou New District Economic Development Group Corporation, and Suzhou Science and Technology City Development Company, Ltd.<br /><br />The solar cell manufacturing plant will be designed to have a yearly output of 600 megawatts.<br /><br />The goal is to have the plant completed by 2012.<br /><br />Shawn Qu, Chairman of Canadian Solar, believes “This is a major development, as we move toward more substantial wafer, cell and module integration.”<br /><br />The ultimate target, he says, is to use this to “meet higher customer demand levels.”<br /><br />A rise in customer demand? This can only mean a growing market for solar energy.<br /><br />The new plant will use ELPS cell technology, a revolutionary way of making solar components that can actually raise cell efficiencies to as high as 19.5%.<br /><br />This plan closely followed an earlier Canadian Solar agreement with GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. (HK: 3800), a polysilicon production company, to build a wafer production plant.<br /><br />The wafer plant, also to be built in Suzhou, China, will have an output of 600 megawatts.<br /><br />Shawn Qu and the rest of Canadian Solar hope combining this output with that of the solar cell plant will boost annual output to as much as 1.2 or even closer to 2 gigawatts.<br /><br />That’s a pretty substantial energy output.<br /><br />It seems that the Germany’s not the only country going green.<br /><br />Or should I say yellow?Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-51979178586548064782011-06-13T12:52:00.000-07:002011-06-13T13:10:35.235-07:007 GREEN ENERGY stocks for 2011 / 2012 profits<h3>Solar power, Geothermal energy, microturbines all in play</h3><br />Jeff Siegel, of Energy and Capital, and Angel Research, really likes these 6 alternative energy picks, and he feels they could easily double over the next year, following the next market rebound:.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL)<br /><br />JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO)<br /><br />DQ New Energy (NYSE: DQ)<br /><br />Satcon Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: SATC)<br /><br />Western Wind Energy Corporation (TSX-V: WND)<br /><br />Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST)<br /></span><br /><br />Siegel is also very big on one particular geothermal company right now, and the <a href="http://stockgumshoe.com/2011/05/the-only-pure-play-geothermal-developer-that-uncle-sam-is-practically-bankrolling.html">Stock Gumshoe has identified the geothermal company that Jeff Siegel likes</a>, and it is:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">US Geothermal (HTM)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=AMEX:HTM">Google Finance info and stock quote for HTM, US Geothermal Inc.</a><br /><br />U.S. Geothermal Inc. (HTM) is engaged in the renewable green energy business. The Company, through its subsidiary, U.S. Geothermal Inc. (Geo-Idaho) are engaged in the acquisition, development and utilization of geothermal resources in the Western Region of the United States. The Company has interests in three areas in the Western United States. The interests include the Raft River area located in south-eastern Idaho, the Neal Hot Springs area located in eastern Oregon (near the Idaho/Oregon boarder), and the interests located in the north-western Nevada. The properties in north-western Nevada include San Emidio, Gerlach and Granite Creek.Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2183468240957576297.post-54358826230646374782011-05-19T06:55:00.000-07:002011-05-19T07:19:12.409-07:00Is BioteQ (TSE:BQE) a "BUY tech"?<h3>One Year chart looks promising</h3><br />Mining companies can no longer discharge toxic wastewater into streams, rivers and lakes, and so they must turn to companies like BQE tpo remedies.<br /><br />BioteQ looks to be one of those emerging environmental technology companies worth researching, and accumulating prudently over time. After trading above $1 in January and February, the stock is now being accumulated between .70 and .80, though in a period of general market weakness as often happens during the 3rd year of a US Presidency, BQE could certainly trade lower in coming months. One strategy to consider would be to start picking up the stock now, with the intention of completing the position by the second Tuesday in December, which is generally the bottom after tax-loss selling and the launch pad for the year-end rally and the usual January optimism rise.<br /><br />Here's what Google Finance says about BioteQ:<br /><br />BioteQ Environmental Technologies Inc. (BioteQ) is an industrial process technology company. BioteQ has developed technologies for water treatment, sulphate reduction, and lime sludge processing. BioteQ’s process plants treat acid and metal contaminated water with concurrent recovery of saleable metals from the water and reduction of total dissolved solids. It is a water treatment company that applies technologies and operating to solve water treatment problems in the resource and power generation industries. BioteQ focuses on delivering lower life cycle costs for industrial wastewater treatment by removing dissolved heavy metals and sulphate effectively than conventional treatment systems, producing clean water for re-use or discharge, and recovering valuable metals from waste in the form of saleable products. Its customers include resource companies, utility operators, and regulators. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/finance?q=TSE:BQE"target="_blank">Google Finance information on BioteQ (TSE:BQE)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://waterintell.blogspot.com"target="_blank">Water purification, wavepower, tidal energy stocks</a>Joe Trainorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03963030295031426970noreply@blogger.com0