In addition to investing, I’m also a consultant for the Energy Efficiency Busisness Coalition for regulatory matters. This work has spawned a series of articles, looking into what it really takes to make an energy efficiency business work, and what constitutes progressive regulation. Here they are:

Barriers to Selling Energy Efficiency

There’s Much More to Energy Efficiency than Saving Money

Demand Side Management Policies That Work

Algae is the most promising source to produce oil in the quantities needed to displace any significant amount of petroleum. Can is Petrosun (Pink Sheets: PSUD) the company to fulfill this promise? I doubt it; follow the link to find out why.

I’ve written a series of articles over the past few weeks focussing on what a green investor can do to prepare for and profit from peak oil:

Peak Oil and Your Lifestyle

Behavioral Finance and Mass Transit

New Flyer: A Stock to Hedge Peak Oil

We’re way behind the curve on climate change.  Only after we have a new President is the US likely to take action to limit greenhouse gasses.  Meanwhile the artic ice sheet is vanishing faster than any of our models predicted, and the world is emitting more carbon than even the most pessimistic IPCC projections.

Given that backdrop, it’s too late to wait for some new technology to come along and save us, be it cellulosic ethanol or carbon capture and storage.  Investors should keep that in mind, too. 
When the world wakes up to the urgency of Climate Change, more money will be spent on near term solutions than research into new technology.  

The scale of the problem is daunting, which is why I believe there is such a temptation to invest our hopes in new technology, as opposed to investing our dollars in the technology we have today, which can take us most of the way we want to go, if only we can muster the political capital (the cost is negligible, because the efficient use of energy almost always than pays for itself and then some.)

That’s why I’m calling for a Clean Energy Marshall Plan.

I asked my readers at Alternative Energy Stocks what companies they wanted to know more about, and the two most requested were a transmission and wind company (CPTC.OB), and a company looking to make oil for biodiesel from algae (PSUD.PK). 

Click through the links to read the results of my research.

I Just completed a series on Ten Renewable and Energy
Efficiency companies to buy when the market hits bottom.  These are solid
companies, and a market downturn is a great time to aquire any and all of them.

• #10
  United Technologies
• #9
  Koninklijke Philips Electronics
• #8
  Quanta Services
• #7
  Deere & Co.
• #6
  Sharp Corp.
• #5
  Trinity Industries Inc.
• #4
  Applied Materials
• #3
  Waste Management Inc.
• #2
  National Grid
• #1
  Johnson Controls, Inc.

I also mentioned a few more which almost made it into the
list in the introduction and also here.

Note: I and/or my clients have positions in all the stocks mentioned.

The new edition of Smart Energy Living Magazine is out, including the first of a regular seris of columns called “Greener Money” by Yours Truly, discussing investing in clean energy.

The new editor (Rebecca Cantwell) has totally revamped this magazine about how to live energy efficiently. My column will be familiar to readers of my blogs, but you will likely learn something about other aspects of green living. You can sign up for a free copy here.

I took my 2002 Prius in to the shop today to have the brakes looked at because they were squeaking when I back up. It has 78,000 miles on it, and I’ve never changed the brake pads: most of the braking is done by the electric motor during regenerate breaking , but after 78K miles, the squeaking made me think they’d finally been worn down enough to be replaced. The reason I only heard squeaking when I back up is because the electric motor does the breaking almost all the time (unless I’m stomping on it) under normal
driving conditions.

Wrong! The garage just called me and told me it by back pads were about 1/2 worn down, and the fronts looked like they’d been recently replaced, but not resurfaced. The surface was glazed, which is what was causing the squeaking.  Or maybe it was the rear pads.

At this rate, it looks like I’m <em>never</em> going to have to replace the brake pads on the front, while I might have to replace the rears once before I hit 200,000 miles. 

I’ll have them checked again in another 5 years, just to be safe.

My Prius in front of a bank with Living roof (you can barely see the grass on the left.) Click through for better picture of the roof.

RealClimate has an article outing "The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change" as a publicity event to generate reports in the press of a lack of consensus in the scientific community about anthropogenic Climate Change.

I was struck by this quote:

they are offering $1,000 to those willing to give a talk. This reminds us of the American Enterprise Institute last year offering
a honorarium of $10,000 for articles by scientists disputing anthropogenic climate change. So this appear to be the current market prices for calling global warming into question: $1000 for a lecture and $10,000 for a written paper.

That’s a high price, since serious scientists usually happy to deliver lectures on their scientific work for free.  I can only conclude that we have passed "Peak Climate Denial" and that, because demand for "scientific" papers continues to be funded by industry lobbies such as the Heartland Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, the price has had to rise in the face of diminishing supply (i.e. scientists willing to destroy their reputations for money.)

Unfortunately, accurate data on the Climate Denial Reserves and Prices are scarce, but these prices make me think we’re well past peak (or at least on an undulating plateau.)   Fortunately, society will continue to function (and most likely run better) when Denial Depletion reduces Denial Reserves to a few crazy bloggers in dark corners of the Internet.

I’ve been obsessing about the best way to replace petroleum for transit fuels. Unlike venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, I think electricity will win the day over biofuels.. the cellulosic material can be put to better use.

This has lead to a series of articles over the last few months, and I thought I’d gather them all in one place, here:

1. Why Automakers may be blindsided by updtart EV makers.

2. How much are people really willing to pay for extra range?

3. How much is range worth, updated with new poll.

4. Why Cellulosic Electricity may Beat Cellulosic Ethanol

A trip down to the local national party offices to participate in a press conference asking the presidential candidates to pledge their support for clean energy legislation got me thinking about the candidates… I wasn’t sure which candidate has the best clean energy platfom. So I spent a day reading thorough thier platforms, and came to a surprising (to me answer).

You can read how I think the candidates’ platforms compare on clean energy here.

Electricity transmission is one of my primary investing themes, as a reasonably priced way to benefit from the boom in renewable electricity generation… here is a lit of related articles, the most recent posted yesterday:

I had just written an articles for the Colorado Renewable Energy Society’s e-newsletter CRES Clips about goings on at the Colorado Public Utilites Comission (PUC), when a piece of big piece of PUC related news came out:

Governor Ritter appointed the current Executive Director of Environment Colorado to fill a recently vacated seat on the PUC.

Why should every advocate in Colorado care? Because it’s great to have another sympathetic ear!

What follows is the article I wrote for CRES Clips, to give readers unfamiliar with the PUC an idea of why I think this is so important:

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission: Where Energy Policy is Implemented

 2007 was a banner year for the

Colorado

lawmakers when it comes to energy policy, and with all the successes.  While it would be tempting for clean energy advocates to declare victory and go home, getting good laws passed is only the beginning. When it comes to implementing laws that pertain to investor-owned utilities, the responsibility falls on the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to interpret the legislation and ensure that our state’s public utilities comply with that interpretation.  Here, “public utilities” means Xcel and Aquila , since rural electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are generally exempt from PUC regulation.

 The PUC accomplishes its business in a series of “dockets” in which various “interveners” submit testimony (and respond to other interveners’ testimony) for the PUC to consider.  Individuals can become interveners, but it is time consuming and requires
knowledge of PUC procedure.  Public interest groups with an attorney can also intervene, with various expert witnesses submitting testimony on behalf of that group.

 CRES is not currently intervening in any dockets, although several members of the Policy Committee (including myself) are involved in one way or another.  Given those inherent conflicts of interest, CRES is not currently endorsing any particular intervening group. 

 What follows is a quick summary of some of the most important dockets before the PUC this year, and the groups who support Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency who are intervening, and whom you can support or contact for more information about their activities. Also, it is possible that the PUC will combine some of these dockets. 

07A-447E Xcel Resource Plan.  These dockets will determine the mix of new generation and energy efficiency resources with which Xcel plans to meet our anticipated electricity needs in the coming years.  Anticipated/ current interveners: EEBC, IEA, RUC, SWEEP, WRA.

07A-420E—Xcel
DSM Plan in which the PUC will review Xcel’s proposals for electricity DSM policy including energy savings and DSM budget goals, DSM program cost recovery, and incentive to the utility for implementing effective DSM programs. This docket was initiated in response to DSM legislation enacted last year, HB 07-1037.

07A-462E—Xcel
Renewable Energy Plan in which the PUC will review Xcel’s plans for complying with the recently doubled Renewable Energy Standard.  Interveners: CoSEIA, WRA.

07M-446E—Xcel
Plan on Transmission.  Transmission is essential to bringing the power from renewable energy sources to population centers.  This docket will determine much of when and where transmission is upgraded or built, and so will have a long term impact on what Renewables can be developed. Current Interveners: IEA, WRA.

07R-371G—Gas
DSM Rules. This docket will determine the key policies governing gas utility energy efficiency programs, including energy savings goals and how utilities will be compensated and rewarded for reductions in natural gas usage.  Current Interveners: EEBC, RUC, SWEEP.

 

Key to Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advocacy Groups intervening at the Public Utilities Commission (alphabetical.) Note: CRES has not reviewed the testimony of any of these parties, and their opinions are their own.  Their information is included because they are known to be aligned with CRES’s mission of promoting Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Colorado .
Abbr.	Name	Contact	Description/ website
CoSEIA	Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association	Lynn Hirshman, Executive Director lynn at coseia dot org	www.coseia.org Trade association for the Solar industries in Colorado .
EEBC	Energy Efficiency Business Coalition of Colorado	Paul Kriescher, President PaulK at lightlytreading dot com	Industry Association of Energy Efficiency Businesses, dedicated to promoting Energy Efficiency in Colorado
IEA	Interwest Energy Alliance	Craig Cox, Executive Director cox at interwest dot org	www.interwest.org  Group of RE businesses and advocacy groups promoting RE project development in the West.
RUC	Ratepayers United Colorado	Gina Hardin, Attorney ginahardin at msn dot com	www.ratepayersunited.org Nonprofit advocating for responsible and accountable energy at the PUC.
SWEEP	Southwest Energy Efficiency Project	Howard Geller, Executive Director hgeller at swenergy dot org	www.swenergy.org Promotes Energy Efficiency in Southwestern States
WRA	Western Resource Advocates	John Nielsen, Energy Project Director jnielsen at westernresources dot org	www.westernresourceadvocates.org Nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring the natural resources of the states of the interior west.

I did two top Ten lists to bring in the New Year. First, I picked ten speculative plays in renewable energy and energy efficiency that I think will do well. This was a 3 part series:

Part I: LED Stocks and Ultracapacitor stocks
Part II: Batteries, Distributed Generation, combined Heat and Power, and Electricity Transmission
Part III: Geothermal, Wind and Wave Power stocks, and a Solar Short

My second Top 10 list is plain fun… we used an algorithm to see what stories cleantech bloggers were linking to in 2007, and I did a short summary of each. Here is my Ten Most Blogged Cleantech Stories of 2007

Enjoy!

The December 6 Technology Quarterly from The
Economist magazine profiles
a Dutch office building which is both heated and cooled using heat (or cold) from the asphalt of the road outside the building, as opposed to the more conventional use of solar thermal panels on the building’s roof.  The article optimistically ends,

The result is cheap heating in winter and cheap cooling in summer. And there is a bonus. Summer heating softens asphalt, making it easier for heavy traffic to damage the road surface. Dr de Bondt’s system not only saves electricity, but also saves the road. Expect to see more examples of it, in other countries, soon.

While this is a very elegant solution, the author fails to grasp that,
because the road is essentially an unglazed thermal collector, and only gets
warm in the summer or cool in the winter, requiring that seasonal heat be stored.   Summer heat from the asphalt is used to heat the building in winter, while the chill of the inter road cools the building in summer. 

In this particular case, seasonal storage is accomplished with heat exchangers placed in not one, but two separate natural aquifers near the building.  The fortunate proximity of two such aquifers is extremely rare.  While this is a very elegant way to heat and cool a building, the lack natural aquifers in which to store seasonal heat will likely prevent widespread adoption of this
technology, no matter what the author believes.

Does it seem totally unfair to you that the young, who are typically much more environmentally aware, are often stuck living in cold, drafty, unhealthy, and expensive to operate rentals, while it’s the old and the wealthy splash out on gigantic mansions with multiple low efficiency furnaces and air conditioners?

It does to me. Well, if you’re one of those green renters, you can do something about it. I’ve put together a checklist to use that can help you sift out the efficient buildings from all the cold, drafty ones.

Since it’s not really about stocks, I sent it over to Jetson Green as a guest post. But if it’s stocks that might benefit from the trend in energy efficient homes you’re looking for, I list several in the intro I wrote for it at Alternative Energy Stocks.

For the Shopping season, I’ve just publised an article on a gift that’s greener than just giving more “stuff.” Help your young ones prepare for their future (and the future of the planet) with my Top Five Stocks to Give as Gifts this Holiday Season.

Here’s a disturbing article about how Colorado Governor Ritter, who has done great things revitalizing Colorado’s renewable energy and energy efficiency economy, but is also a fan of Alberta’s Tar Sands, and Shell’s plans for extracting energy from Colorado’s Oil Shale.

If extracting Tar Sands has a massive carbon footprint and environmental impact, the Oil Shale is likely to be much, much worse.

A heads-up for my Denver area readers… KDBI 12, the local PBS station has moved the Wealthtrack Episode on which I will appear to 2:30 AM Monday morning. If you have set your VCR, re-set it.

Sorry for the late notice!

I was low on biodiesel for my Jeep while down in Denver ex-urb Parker last month, and know I wouldn’t find biodiesel there… so I only got a few gallons. But I was surprised to see this sign:

E85, but no biodiesel. That’s Parker for you. And I was just talking about an ethanol glut!