Alternative Energy Stocks

Someone recently sent me a link to a Motley Fool piece entitled "10 Stocks to Last the Decade, Revisited". It appeared on Feb. 2 so some of you may have already read it. For those who have not, I thought it might be an interesting read because so many parallels can be drawn between the tech euphoria of the '90s and the cleantech euphoria of today. In a nutshell, the author looks back at a summer of 2000 Fortune article in which 10 stocks were identified as sure winners for the next decade based on how hot...

The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don't hesitate to let us know! This week, we particularly liked... On Monday, Tate Dwinnell at SelfInvestors told us how to profit from the Advanced Energy Initiative, part II. Stocks discussed: Fuel Tech , Exelon Corp , Entergy Corp , Cameco Corp , Energy Metals Corp , Usec Inc. . On Monday, George Gutowski at Financial Skeptic...

This poll opened on February 16, 2007 and closed on February 17, 2007. Total voters for this poll: 60 0% 18% (11 votes) 1-10% 20% (12 votes) 11-20% 13% (8 votes) 21-30% 7% (4 votes) 31-40% 2% (1 votes) 41-50% 17% (10 votes) 51-60% 2% (1 votes) 61-70% 2% (1 votes) 71-80% 5% (3 votes) 81-90% 3% (2 votes) 91-100% 12% (7 votes)

Ernst & Young's Renewable Energy Group just released the Q4 '06 update for its Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices (the document is not yet available on the website, but it should be soon). In the words of Ernst & Young," the Country Attractiveness Indices provide scores for national renewable energy markets, renewable energy infrastructures and their suitability for individual technologies." These indices thus provide useful information for investors wanting to assess the desirability of company exposure to certain markets. There are 3 indices (their names pretty much says what they are about): (a) the All Renewables...

Many of our Canadian readers will have heard about this already, but better later than never. CIBC World Markets, the corporate banking arm of Canadian bank CIBC, made "a significant realignment in equity portfolio this month by reducing position in energy stocks from a 4.5-percentage-point overweight to a 3-percentage-point overweight", citing increasing risks linked to efforts by North American governments to reduce energy consumption and limit greenhouse gas emissions. CIBC WM made the announcement in its latest Canadian Portfolio Strategy Outlook report (PDF document), released on Monday Feb. 5. I decided to discuss this...

The Week in Cleantech is a weekly roundup of our favorite cleantech and alt energy blog posts and stories from across the web. If you know of a good piece that you think should be included here, don't hesitate to let us know! This week, we particularly liked... On Monday, Tim Hussar at Finding Cents in the Market broke into biodiesel for us. Stocks discussed are: Nova Biosource Fuels and NewGen Technologies . Thanks to SeekingAlpha for this one. On Tuesday, Bret Arends at TheStreet.com told us how Cheney's fund manager wasn't too happy...

Just a heads up that Forbes is running, on its website, a short slide show entitled "Betting On Green Stocks". The magazine "queried some of the top-performing investment newsletter editors who cover green stocks for a few of their favorite current ideas." Stocks discussed are: First Solar , SunPower , Medis Technologies , Suntech Power Holdings , and Fording Canadian Coal Trust .

This poll opened on February 7th, 2007 and closed on February 8th, 2007. Total voters for this poll: 71 social and environmental responsibility 39% (28 votes) short term return on investment (momentum) 15% (11 votes) long term return on investment (secular) 41% (29 votes) I'm not sure why I'm invested in clean tech! 4% (3 votes)

Last Friday (Feb. 2), the Globe & Mail's business section (the G&M is Canada's top national newspaper) ran an interesting piece by a senior business writer on cellulosic ethanol. I wish there was a way to view this article for free, but, unfortunately, the G&M charges for access to certain of its articles, and this is one of them. The gist of the argument is as follows: (a) forget corn-based ethanol, the future lies with cellulosic (yyaawwnn...); (b) deep down inside, Bush knows this; (c) to make cellulosic ethanol competitive, you need super-enzymes that speed up the process...

Is it the unprecedented amount of media attention climate change is currently getting? Is it the State of the Union Address? Is it the price of oil? Or is it a combination of factors? In the end, it doesn't really matter; it's this time of year again and the value of the solar sector is heading north. Today was a great day for solar stocks, while the market as a whole was mainly flat. I remember this period last year very well. I was long Suntech Power and Energy Conversion Devices , acquired...

One of our readers made a useful comment on our last post about Goldman Sachs and Climate Exchange plc. I thought some of you who are unlikely to go back to that post might be interested: "Hey this article on the Climate Exchange was great information. But you should tell your readers that there is an ADR trading OTC here in the states - CXCHF. Get it while the gettin is good. How long 'til GS takes this to the big board?" Thanks for this heads up, cascadehigh. UPDATE: Following this post, I got the...

Allow me to introduce this post by saying that I wholeheartedly welcome the firming of a new trend in North America: namely viewing climate change as a value creation, rather than as a value destruction, proposition. For the better part of the past decade, the climate change debate has been dominated by the the views of a small-yet-powerful collection of business actors with a lot to loose from seeing governments regulate greenhouse gases (GHG). This group, with its tremendous political influence, did everything that it could to stymie meaningful debate on the climate question, tirelessly arguing that moving...

Just a quick note to inform our readers that CNBC's On The Money (OTC) will feature a segment tonight on climate change and investment opportunities related to it. OTC airs at 7:00 pm EST. We will provide a recap of this discussion later tonight. UPDATE: I watched CNBC last night at 7pm and the segment did not air. I am not sure if I misheard the date of the segment, or if it was postponed by CNBC for some reason. If I do see or learn of the segment, I will be happy to post on it....

An interesting short piece in Wired's Autopia discussing Nissan's 2007 Altima Hybrid. This is interesting because it is available now and at a reasonable price, and so the impact on company sales can be measured in the short term. I'm always wary of announcements involving technologies (let alone mass production) that are years away. This harks back to the idea of bridge, or transition, technologies. Companies that are finding ways to make money from existing technologies while still keeping eye on promising future technologies are worth keeping on the radar.

This poll opened on January 31st, 2007 and closed on February 1st, 2007. Total voters for this poll: 158 Solar 27% (43 votes) Ethanol 21% (33 votes) Fuel Cells/Hydrogen 17% (27 votes) Wind 11% (18 votes) Coal-to-Liquids 8% (13 votes) Geothermal 4% (6 votes) Other 11% (17 votes)

Without a doubt, ethanol and solar are the 2 alt energy categories that have attracted the most investor attention in North America in the past few years, and that is because they are the 2 categories that feature the most US-listed stocks. However, despite its comparatively lower profile as an asset class, investors should not forget about wind power! On January 18th, Emerging Energy Research published a short study on the growth of wind power in China. For 2006, China installed 1,040 MW of new wind capacity, making it the 5th country in the world in terms...