They’ll Put the Cellulose in Cellulosic Ethanol

One of the keys to staying ahead of the game in money management is lateral thinking.  I start with the trend, and then try to think of industries or companies that might benefit, but are not on everyone else’s radar.  With Peak Oil-driven demand for biofuels, regular readers know that I consider the people who produce the feedstock (farmers, and industries whose waste can fairly easily be converted into biofuel) to be the most certain winners. 

One direction this chain of logic has taken me is to forestry companies.  I’m far from a forestry analyst, so I decided to take small stakes in a few of the more sustainable forestry companies.  When it comes to wood products, the gold (or is it green?) standard for sustainable certification is the Forest Stewardship Council’s.  Do not be fooled by watered down industry sponsored pretenders like the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.  Last year, to find sustainable companies, I went to the FSC’s list of certified forests, and looked for large numbers that were owned by public companies.

The companies I came up with: Domtar (NYSE:UFS), Tembec (TMBAF.PK), Cascades, Inc. (CADNF.PK), and Potlach (NYSE: PCH).  I later added Catalyst Paper (CTLUF.PK) to my list when reading a news story that, as an aside, mentioned them as a sustainable leader in the Canadian wood and paper industry.  

r each sub-sector, the book provides a comprehensive list of stocks with some basic analysis. Technology discussions are at a level where individuals without engineering training can easily follow, while still providing enough depth to be well-informed when doing further research on a stock or sector. The core audience for this book is, in my view, investors with limited knowledge of alt energy but who want to get started and need an effective way to learn a lot rapidly. That’s not to say more knowledgeable folks won’t get any value out of this book. For my part, I learned a fair bit in the geothermal, energy efficiency and net metering sections, as they were sectors I had not, until recently, examined very closely. But I believe this book can provide the most value if you have limited knowledge of clean energy as an industry but have a strong interest in investing in it, and are not sure where to start. At a broad level, Profiting From Clean Energy is therefore a good resource to get you thinking about whm Konrad  and/or his clients have positions in the following companies mentioned here: UFS, PCH, CTLUF.

DISCLAIMER: The information and trades provided here are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to buy or sell any of these securities. Investing involves substantial risk and you should evaluate your own risk levels before you make any investment. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Please take the time to read the full disclaimer here.