Political Developments in Energy Efficiency
This article is part of a series on the WGA Energy Efficient Buildings Workshop. Governor Ritter After arriving slightly late (a gunman had been shot by state troopers outside his office the day before.) Bill Ritter kicked off the workshop with his thoughts on energy efficiency. Other than the Governator, I don't know of any other state governor in the US who understands renewable energy as well as Governor Ritter. And he's dedicated to learning more; when I attended a fundraiser early in his campaign last year, he had not yet heard about plug-in hybrids, but in a...
Hannon Armstrong Declines to Raise Dividend, Sets 3 Year Guidance
Investors did not like Hannon Armstrong's (NYSE:HASI) fourth quarter earnings announcement last night. While core earnings were a little weaker than expected, that is not what has the stock trading down 11% today. What shocked investors is the fact that the company did not raise the dividend this year for the first time since the REIT went public, and it gave 3 year guidance which likely disappointed many investors.
Last month, I wrote,
I expect that Hannon Armstrong will continue to be a well run and conservative business in 2018, and that management will raise the dividend at the lower end...
Power Integrations: Profiting from Efficient Electronics
Tom Konrad, CFA With new climate legislation or a renewable portfolio standard unlikely now that Republicans control the US House of Representatives, progress on clean energy is likely to come mostly from action at the state level, and from regulation at agencies such as the EPA, rather than national legislation. Why Energy Efficiency Standards Make Economic Sense One type of regulation that is fairly uncontroversial is improving energy efficiency standards, that is regulation of the amount of energy an appliance or other device can consume during normal use. In an efficient market, regulation might bring...
Ten Solid, Clean Companies Ready For Stimulus, and Five That Aren’t
by Tom Konrad Last February, I wrote " I expect the Fed-induced reprieve to be fairly short lived, ten solid companies I'd be happy to buy more of if and when the bottom really falls out of the market." When I wrote those words, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was over 12,700. Now, it's around 8,500, and I doubt anyone remembers the "Fed-induced reprieve" I was referring to. The "bottom fell out" in September and October. On October 12, with the DJIA at 8451, I wrote "I don’t know where the market will go from here, but I...
The Value of Energy Efficiency
I've begun acting as a consultant to the Colorado Energy Efficiency Business Coalition (CEEBC) in a rulemaking docket for Demand Side Management (DSM) case before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC). In the 2007 Legislative session, the Colorado legislature passed enabling legislation calling for utility-wide Demand Side Management programs for natural gas utilities. To date, all DSM in Colorado has been focused on low income customers. Crucially, the legislation allows for non-energy benefits, such as increased comfort, economic multiplier effects (i.e. jobs), and reduced volatility of energy costs be included in the evaluation of the benefits of programs. ...
Five Green REITs
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Why Green Buildings are Profitable Buildings
Buildings are responsible for approximately a third of greenhouse gas emissions, so making buildings more efficient and switching them to renewable sources of energy is an essential part in addressing climate change.
Fortunately, new technologies such as cold climate heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, as well as the ever falling cost of renewable electricity and improvements to insulation and building envelopes often provide opportunities to improve buildings while achieving extremely attractive investment returns from the energy and maintenance savings alone.
Because of the great financial returns, building owners who...
Trading Strategy Around Lime Energy’s Possible Feb 2 Delisting
Tom Konrad Several readers have asked me if I still recommend buying Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) now that it looks like the company could be delisted from NASDAQ on February 2nd. I won’t go into the details of why, when, or how, since John Downey has done an excellent job of covering that in the Charlotte Business Journal. Instead, I’ll look at the various possible scenarios, and how it will likely be best to trade the stock. To understand what will happen, we first have to decide A) will Lime’s appeal against delisting be granted? and B) Will Lime be able to...
What Do CPV and LEDs Have in Common?
I recently attended the Optoelectronic Industry Development Association's (OIDA) "Green" Photonics Forum. Unlike dirty industries trying to appear green, the Optoelectronics industry does not really have to try to be green. Two prominent examples familiar to clean energy investors are Concentrating Photovoltaic Solar (CPV) (i.e. using optics to focus light on high efficiency solar cells) and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). The presentations on Tuesday focused on the above technologies, and I was struck by a common problem faced by both: heat dissipation. According to Sarah Kurtz, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientist leading the team working on high-efficiency, multi-junction...
Orion Energy Systems: Right Industry, Right Time
by Debra Fiakas CFA March 31st marked the end of fiscal year 2014 for Orion Energy Systems (OESX: Nasdaq), a provider of energy-saving lighting systems. The half dozen or so analysts who follow the company on a regular basis think the company will be able to report about the same level of sales as the same quarter last year, but will actually suffer a penny loss instead of making a profit as they did last year. If they are right it will be a setback for Orion, which higher sales this year than last and has so far...
Money and Reduced Emissions Don’t Sell Energy Efficiency, but Comfort and Health Do
As an expert witness in an energy efficiency ("Demand Side Management" or DSM in utility-speak) docket before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, I have been making the case that non-energy benefits of energy efficiency measures such as the increased safety and comfort of an efficiently operating home need to be included in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency programs. There has been much resistance to the inclusion of these benefits, mainly because they can be difficult to quantify. Yet we omit them at our peril. Why Energy Efficiency and Health Matter Last summer, I explored why the...
Pure Technologies: Making Water Systems More Efficient
Tom Konrad, CFA A reader caught my attention with his description of Pure Technologies (PUR.V, PPEHF.PK), a company that can find leaks in water systems without shutting down the system. Since I was intrigued, I thought my readers might be as well. Here's what he has to say. I've asked him to monitor the comments if you have follow-up questions of your own. Tom Konrad: Tell us a little about yourself and your involvement in environmental investing. Sam Healey: I invest largely in the cleantech sector. I look for companies solving problems that already exist, rather...
Power Plant Costs & The Case For Energy Efficiency
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a presentation that was given by FERC officials on the phenomenon of rapidly rising costs in US power generation (presentation link at the end of this post). The FERC, or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is America's energy watchdog. The presentation begins by noting that across America's major electricity hubs, power prices are up significantly on last year (between 62% in the Midwest and 123% in NYC) and that, unfortunately, this probably isn't an anomaly. In fact, the presentation argues, there may be something secular at play. Two main trends are noted....
Current Picks: Busses and Energy Efficiency
Over the weekend, EnergyTechStocks published two articles based on an interview with me. The first was about my conviction that Peak Oil induced rising gas prices is going to lead to a rush into mass transit building by cities, or investing in mode-shifting last September. I've since written about opportunities in rail transit stocks, (P.TO, TRN, PRPX, and WAB), and more recently Hedging your peak oil risk with your lifestyle. However, I have been frustrated until now that the only pure play bus stock I've been able to find is Firstgroup PLC (FGP.L, FGROF.PK), the British based owner of...
Selling Pressure Comes Off Lime Energy
Tom Konrad CFA When Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) reported accounting problems, including the possibility of fictitious revenue on July 17th, investors abandoned the stock, unwilling to own a company in which they knew the financial statements to be misstated. Over the next two weeks, Lime found a floor around $0.90 (down from over $2 on July 16th), as those investors who would sell at any price were replaced by those who, like me, feel that $0.90 is less than any reasonable estimate of LIME’s true value even in liquidation. Volume then dried...
Distributed Energy Systems to Add $3.4 Million Cogeneration Power System to Transamerica Pyramid Building
Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC) has been awarded a $3.4 million contract by AEGON USA Realty Advisors. Under the agreement, they will install and commission a 1.1 megawatt (MW) combined heat and power (CHP) system for the landmark Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street in San Francisco, California. The 48-story building, managed by Lowe Enterprises, is known as the "Pyramid," and is located in the heart of San Francisco's financial district.
Cleantech is a Bunch of Hot Air!
David Gold While renewable energy often captures most of the cleantech headlines, if anyone doubts why energy efficiency must play a significant part in the cleantech effort – as significant, if not more so, than the role of renewable energy just examine the energy flow graphic developed by McCall and Bassett and reprinted in the June edition of Technology Review. At least half of U.S. energy consumption goes to nothing more than creation of hot air through waste heat. And, when one realizes that much of the 13.9% of electricity output from power plants shown in the...
