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EMKR up 40% today.
Intel owns 5.7% of shares.
Insiders accumulating shares.
Check this out:
Accolades to Emcore Solar
Source/Type: CompoundSemi Online - Editorials - Editorials
Author: Jo Ann McDonald, founding editor
November 26, 2008... The pioneering independent and proven leader in the compound semi-based terrestrial solar business is Emcore of Albuquerque, New Mexico USA. Leading a relatively quiet corporate existence recently, contrary to its early days as a MOCVD equipment innovator, Emcore has earned its way back to center stage with the recent announcement that the company has deployed its first major concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system, lending hope to us all that CPV is real, it's here, and it's now.
And what a deployment it is! These are two old pro companies headed in the right new directions. The Emcore CPV system is going into the XinAo Group Company Limited's new solar energy unit in Langfang City, in the Hebei Province of Northern China. XinAo, which was founded in 1989 (just six years after Emcore was founded in Somerset, New Jersey) was known as the Langfoang Xiali Car-hire Company until 1997 (which was the year Emcore went public on the USA's Nasdaq stock exchange). As XinAo Group, the company is primarily engaged in the development, exploitation, and distribution of natural gas and energy related chemicals and, like so many such "old style" energy companies are saying they're considering, XinZo appears to actually be turning to terrestrial solar as a preferred cleaner, more renewable energy source.
According to a BusinessWeek profile, in April the company announced that it planned to initially pour CNY 1.4 billion into the new solar plant and invest an additional CNY 10 billion to enlarge the capacity to 5 megawatt within the next five years. Apparently it's right on schedule. XinAo's potential target consumers for their solar energy products are domestic power producers. As inducement, there's evidently a Chinese government requirement that the country's five largest power producers have their renewable energy account for 5% of the total fuel portfolio. As further motivation, Xinao Group (one of those big five) plans to spin off its solar energy unit to go public on the stock market within the next few years. Given the tremendous energy challenges China faces, let's hope that 5% number increases significantly as quickly as possible.
Also... and not so coincidentally, Emcore China is also located in Langfang City. And I imagine the fact that Dr. Hong Q. Hou, Emcore's CEO, originally hails from mainland China helps as well. Hong received his BS from the famed Jilin University prior to moving to the USA where he received his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego, subsequently going to Sandia National Labs and VCSEL fame prior to joining Emcore in 1999. Hong, who is a totally nice guy with an infectious enthusiasm is widely regarded as one of our industry's most gifted scientists and he's proving to also be one of the CS industry's stellar top executives.
News of the CS solar system deployment to the XinAo plant was announced by Emcore November 24th (ref: our coverage for details). The 50 kilowatt (kW) initial test and eval system is already fully installed and operational and already producing power and meeting specs. And this appears to just be the beginning of the relationship as Emcore and XinAo are said to be in ongoing discussions regarding the possible construction of a joint-owned plant in China to manufacture CPV systems that are designed and certified by Emcore for innovative coal gasification projects for the Chinese market. If you want to catch up on what these systems are all about, click on the Terrestrial Solar Cells & Receivers section of the Emcore website at www.Emcore.com. These are the latest iteration of Emcore's famed compound semi-based Concentrating Triple Junction (dubbed "CTJ") solar cells, which have a n-on-p polarity built on germanium substrates and incorporate an antireflective coating to provide low reflectance over a wavelength range of 0.3 to 1.8µm. These are especially high-efficiency cells characterized and optimized specifically for terrestrial applications under concentrated incident illumination (up to what's referred to as "1500 Suns") and high current densities.
A good way to find out more about all this, and other advancements at Emcore, is to tune in to their Q-4/year end earnings report, which will take place live on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 9:00am EST. USA callers should dial (toll free) 866-710-0179 and international callers should dial 334-323-9871. The access code for the call is 59629. Note that only analysts should actually participate in the call, but anyone can listen in. Or you can simply tune in online via www.emcore.com for the live event, and where a replay will be accessible until Dec. 18th.
In conclusion, you might ask why I'm making such a big deal about this and encouraging wider understanding and participation. The answer is simple. I truly believe that this is the direction all conventional energy product companies should be headed, which is toward environmentally friendly, clean, renewal energy sources, specifically CS solar. So listen, read... and learn. Then get on the CS solar bandwagon. It's where every country's energy interests should be headed.
Portugal (and Oregon) Prepare to Charge Cars --
http://seekingalpha.com/article/108014-portugal-renault-nissan-set-electric-car-plan?source=email
By Ucilia Wang
Four months after signing an electric car deal with the Renault-Nissan (NSANY) Alliance, Portugal has come up with a more concrete plan for charging these cars when they arrive.
Under the plan, 320 charging stations will be in place and ready to serve by the end of 2010, and 980 additional stations will be added by the end of 2011. Portugal plans to offer income tax credits, write-offs and parking credits to consumers and businesses to encourage electric transportation. These tax incentives will kick on by late 2010 and last at least five years, according to Renault-Nissan.
The country also wants 20 percent of its public vehicle fleets to consist of zero-emission cars starting in 2011.
Renault-Nissan plans to begin selling electric cars in Portugal and select markets in early 2011.
Although there's no word yet on who will be responsible for setting up the car-charging stations, Better Place is probably a good bet to be in the running. Renault-Nissan has a partnership with Better Place, a Silicon Valley startup, to popularize electric cars. Better Place, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is developing technologies to make it easy for drivers to swap out batteries or plug into charging stations. But the two don't always work together and have announced deals separately.
It also isn't clear who – the government, the charging station companies or some combination of the two – will pay for these electric-charging stations.
Nissan-Renault should benefit from the most recent Better Place deal, even if none of its representatives spoke at the publicity extravaganza that accompanied the announcement.
Better Place lined up hefty political support last week to say it plans to roll out a $1 billion project to build charging stations throughout the San Francisco bay Area (see Better Place Charges Up California). The press event featured concept cars from Nissan (see Earth2tech photos).
Nissan, whose boss Carlos Ghosn used to pooh-pooh gas-electric hybrid cars, is now investing heavily in developing all-electric vehicles.
In fact, during a recent interview with Greentech Media, Nissan's senior vice president of technology development, Minoru Shinohara, said the company has shifted its priority from developing plug-in hybrids to all-electric models (see Is Nissan Building a Car That Charges Itself?).
"The electric car is the ultimate solution," Shinohara said.
Aside from Portugal, Renault-Nissan has recently snagged other deals. Last week, it said it would work with the state of Oregon and one of the state's utilities, Portland General Electric, on developing an electric-car charging network. The carmaker plans to start selling electric cars in the United States in 2010.
Two days after the Oregon announcement, Renault-Nissan said it plans to sell electric cars to nine cities within Sonoma County and the county government. The car company also will help with the development of a charging network in the county, which is located in the wine country north of San Francisco.
Within the United States, the carmaker has similar deals in place with the state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Globally, it also has inked agreements with Israel, Denmark, the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, the French utility EDF and Monaco.
Although one of Western Europe's poorer country, Portugal has some of the region's best roads. The nation used EU subsidies to fix up its road system over the past two decades.
Nor does India...
One point of interest on this deal is that $10M comes from Bessemer Venture Partners, the roots of which go back to Carnegie Steel in 1911. I'm sure that Henry Phipps couldn't have foreseen that his money would be put to work in renewable energy projects in India 100 years later.
http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=17611
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 06:40 PM IST (01:10 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Economy; Business: Banking & financial services, Business services, Energy companies; Technology
Orient Green Power Raises US$ 55 Million from Invest or Group Led by Olympus Capital Holdings Asia
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, Tuesday, November 25, 2008 -- (Business Wire India)
Orient Green Power (“OGPL” or “the Company”), a dedicated renewable energy generation company with operations in India, announced completion of a fund raise of US$55 million led by Olympus Capital Holdings Asia (“Olympus Capital”). Olympus Capital is investing US$35 million, and Shriram EPC (“SEPC”) and Bessemer Venture Partners (“BVP”) have invested US$10 million each on the same terms. With the completion of this round of funding, the Company has access to US$75 million of equity, including funds raised earlier from BVP and SEPC.
This equity infusion is in line with OGPL’s business plan to achieve its growth objectives. It will provide OGPL with the capital to implement its operating plan of setting up and acquiring power generation assets based on renewable sources including biomass, cogeneration, wind, small hydro, and biogas. The Company currently operates biomass and wind energy assets with a capacity of 70 MW. It is currently implementing projects of a capacity of 146 MW and aspires to install or acquire renewable energy assets of a total capacity of 500 MW over the next 5 years.
The projects of OGPL are designed to sell power under long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). OGPL’s business economics are enhanced by the creation and sale of CERs from the Clean Development Mechanism. The depleting sources of conventional energy, the gap between demand and supply given future requirements of power, and the need to keep global CO2 emissions under check, makes renewable energy very attractive as a long-term business.
Mr. T. Shivaraman, founder of OGPL and Managing Director of SEPC, said, “We remain solidly convinced about the business prospects of renewable energy ventures. Toward that end we have invested tremendous financial and human resources to establish a versatile and robust operating model, and I am glad to share that we have already made noticeable on-the-ground progress in this direction. We believe that we are on the cusp of the next growth wave and would like to be prepared to establish a sizeable footprint in this area.
I believe that renewable energy truly represents a win-win opportunity for both society and business, creating a real long term value proposition for all its stakeholders. Though there are short-term challenges that seem accentuated in the current economic environment, from a medium to long-term viewpoint the prospects are outstanding.
We are delighted to partner with Olympus Capital, which has a strong focus on the environmental services sector, and further strengthen our relationship with Bessemer Venture Partners, both of whom provide more than just capital to our business. They bring with them innovative ideas, a unique vision, and insights that are invaluable when establishing business in a developing sector. With marquee investors and an able management team led by Mr. P. Krishnakumar, Managing Director, I am confident that OGPL is positioned to become a global leader in renewable energy over the next few years.”
Mr. Gaurav Malik, Managing Director, Olympus Capital India, commented, “OGPL has the depth and domain expertise needed to capitalize on the significant and growing opportunities in the renewable energy sector in India. The Company offers a strong platform for the consolidation of renewable assets in a country that is short of power. With a strong mandate from our global investor base to invest in the environmental sector in India and other parts of Asia, even in this extremely difficult global scenario, Olympus Capital is pleased to partner with SEPC and BVP in making this investment.”
Mr. Rob Chandra, BVP’s Managing Partner, commented, “OGPL started as an idea with Shriram EPC two years back and since then we have come a long way to become one of India’s leading clean energy generation companies. BVP continues to be committed to OGPL and Shriram EPC and are delighted to have a new partner in Olympus Capital.”
About Orient Green Power Company Limited (OGPL):
Overview
OGPL was founded by SEPC in October, 2006 along with Bessemer Venture Partners, with the objective of owning and operating a portfolio of renewable energy projects.
The strategy for OGPL is to own assets and also act as the holding company for subsidiaries that each own and operate power generation projects based on renewable sources. OGPL will increase its capacity through the organic route as well as through strategic acquisitions. Apart from the sustainable revenues from power generation, the Company expects to profit from the sale of CERs.
OGPL currently has 70 MW of assets in operation. This includes two 7.5 MW biomass plants in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan and multiple wind farms in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The Company is currently implementing projects totaling to a capacity of 146 MW. It is currently setting up a 15 MW hydroelectric project in Orissa and a 7.5 MW power project based on poultry litter/biomass in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from these two, the Company is setting up several biomass power plants ranging from 7.5 MW to 10 MW in the states of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab. The company aspires to build assets amounting to 500MW over the next 5 years.
Safe Harbour
Some of the statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include our financial and growth projections as well as statements concerning our plans, strategies, intentions and beliefs concerning our business and the markets in which we operate. These statements are based on information currently available to us, and we assume no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change. There are risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, the level of market demand for our services, the highly-competitive market for the types of services that we offer, market conditions that could cause our customers to reduce their spending for our services, our ability to create, acquire and build new businesses and to grow our existing businesses, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, currency fluctuations and market conditions in India and elsewhere around the world, and other risks not specifically mentioned herein but those that are common to industry.
Shriram EPC Ltd. (SEPC):
SEPC is one of the leading service providers of integrated design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services for renewable energy projects, process and metallurgical plants and municipal services sector projects throughout India, and. The engineering, procurement and construction business is focused on providing integrated turnkey solutions for biomass-based power plants, bio-ethanol production plants, process and metallurgy plants (including thermal power plants), water and wastewater treatment plants, water and sewer infrastructure and pipe rehabilitation. The WTG business has been focused on developing, manufacturing, erecting and commissioning 250KW WTGs, and is currently developing megawatt-class WTGs through Leitner Shriram Manufacturing Limited (“Leitner Shriram”), an Associate company.
SEPC is headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, with offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Beijing, and WTG and cooling tower factories in Puducherry, Chennai and Umbergaon (Gujarat). The core services include detailed design and engineering, material procurement and overall project and construction management services. The businesses are categorized into two segments – engineering, procurement and construction (“EPC”) projects and development, sale and maintenance of WTGs. The EPC business focuses on renewable energy, process and metallurgy and municipal services projects. The EPC project experience and footprint reaches across 16 states in India.
About Olympus Capital Holdings Asia:
Olympus Capital Holdings Asia is an independent investment management firm focused on long-term equity investments in companies operating in Asia. Since its establishment in 1997, Olympus Capital has committed approximately US$1.3 billion to 30 companies throughout Asia. An active manager with special expertise in joint ventures with Asian and western companies, Olympus has entered into over ten joint ventures in the financial, business services and other sectors throughout Asia since 1999. Joint venture partners have included Mizuho Bank, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Sojitz Corporation, Liberty Media International, Satyam Computer Services, Convergys Corporation and Asurion Corporation. Olympus Capital has a network of experienced investment and operational professionals throughout Asia with executives based in New Delhi, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Olympus Capital has made 5 investments in India including Quatrro BPO Solutions and Sanghvi Movers. A key investment focus of Olympus Capital is environmental services, including renewable energy, waste management, water treatment, energy efficiency, pollution control and prevention, and carbon programs.
About Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP):
Established in 1911, Bessemer is the longest standing venture capital practice in the United States and over the past 100 years has made investments in hundreds of rapidly growing companies, many of which have gone on to become household names such as Skype, Verisign, Veritas, Staples, Ingersoll Rand, W.R. Grace and the Gartner Group. Since 1970, more than 120 companies that BVP has invested in have gone public. Over the past 100 years and continuing into the future, the hallmark of Bessemer has been to provide long-term stable capital with value-added services to innovative individuals that have created many of the world’s leading companies.
BVP has been an active investor in India since 2004 and manage India dedicated funds to the tune of half a billion dollars. The 20 investments (both private and in the listed space) to date span multiple segments and include companies such as Shriram EPC, Motilal Oswal Securities, Onmobile Global, Sunil Hitech, Sarovar Hotels, Orient Green Power and Shriram City Union Finance. Today Bessemer India has 11 investment professionals across our two offices in Mumbai and Bangalore.
To view the photograph, please click on the link given below:
Left to Right Mr Gaurav Malik -Olympus Capital India , Mr T Shivaraman - Shriram EPC , Mr Krishna Kumar - Orient Green power Limited , Mr. Vishal Gupta -
Bessemer Venture Partners
For press backgrounder on Shriram EPC Ltd (SEPC) click here
Media contact details
Vivek Sharma,
Shriram EPC Ltd,
+91 (044) 26531592 / 3313 / 3109,
investors@shriramepc.com
T. P. Vivekanand,
Shriram EPC Ltd,
+91 (044) 26531592,
tpv@shriramepc.com
Connecticut doesn't want to be left behind -
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=54156
November 25, 2008
Connecticut Clean Tech Fund Launched
Connecticut, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
Connecticut Innovations (CI), the state's quasi-public authority responsible for technology investing and innovation development, announced that it will administer a new US $9 million "Connecticut Clean Tech Fund" which will make investments in seed- and early-stage companies focused on innovations that conserve energy and resources, protect the environment or eliminate harmful waste.
CI and DECD have each made an initial commitment of US $3 million to launch the fund. CCEF has pledged an additional US $3 million for investments into companies that meet its criteria.
“We want to position Connecticut as the preferred location to grow clean tech jobs,” said Governor M. Jodi Rell, who announced the fund in November. “The fund will help Connecticut entrepreneurs to develop cutting-edge solutions to address climate change and other global challenges. Their innovations in renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental remediation and other vital clean tech areas will create jobs in clean energy and related areas.”
The Connecticut Clean Tech Fund was formed through a partnership between Connecticut Innovations (CI), the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). CI and DECD have each made an initial commitment of US $3 million to launch the fund. CCEF has pledged an additional US $3 million for investments into companies that meet its criteria.
Examples of the technologies eligible for funding include:
Renewable Energy Generation Technologies
Solar PV, wind, low impact hydro, biomass and fuel cell technologies
Energy Efficiency Technologies
Solar thermal, geothermal, high efficiency lighting, advanced motor, energy storage, electric grid and load management technologies
Renewable Fuel Technologies
This announcement comes as the solar market in Connecticut is experiencing what some in the industry are calling a setback. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund told its member installers that it is no longer accepting applications for the Residential Rebate Program because of a lack of funds. Installers are being told to direct their customers to the state's Solar Lease program instead.
France in the Solar News Again Today, along with New York State --
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com:80/rea/news/story?id=54119
November 21, 2008
France Raises Solar Feed-in Tariffs; New York SEIA Calls for FITs
by Paul Gipe, Contributing Writer
Paris, France and New York, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
The French Minister for Energy and the Environment announced last Monday that the government was launching an aggressive new program to propel the country to the forefront of solar energy development.
Borloo said that France intends to become one of the world's leaders in the development of solar photovoltaic technology and will increase the supply of solar-generated electricity 400 times by 2020.
The announcement by Minister Jean-Louis Borloo was made at the annual Grenelle meeting of French environmental stakeholders. Minister Borloo outlined 50 actions the Sarkozy government would take to substantially increase the role of renewable energy in France.
As part of its commitment to the European Union, Borloo said that France will supply 23% of its energy with renewables by 2020.
Most dramatically, Borloo said that France intends to become one of the world's leaders in the development of solar photovoltaic technology and will increase the supply of solar-generated electricity 400 times by 2020.
To do that, France will create a new tariff category for commercial buildings of €0.45/kWh (US $0.57/kWh). This is intended to aid businesses, factories and farmers to take profitable advantage of their large rooftops. As a measure of the government's seriousness, there will be no limit on the size of commercial rooftop projects that qualify for the tariff. For comparison, the French commercial tariff for 2009 is higher than that for Germany, the current world leader in solar PV development.
France has been a solar energy laggard in Europe. By mid 2008 there was only 18 megawatts (MW) of solar PV installed on the mainland. (France still maintains several overseas territories.) However, changes to the country's system of Advanced Renewable Tariffs (Tarife Equitable) in 2006 resulted in a flood of new projects. There is a huge backlog of some 12,000 systems representing 400 MW that are awaiting connection.
The government attributes the rapid growth to changes made to the tariffs for solar PV in 2006 when the government doubled the base feed-in tariff from €0.15 to €0.30 /kWh, the addition of another €0.25 /kWh for façade cladding and the inclusion of a 50% tax credit for residential installations.
The residential market accounts for 40% of French installations. The typical project is about 3 kW.
Even with the backlog, France's development of solar PV is well behind Germany, Spain and Italy and Borloo wants to change that.
The objective, Borloo said, is to install 5,400 megawatts (MW) by 2020, an increase of 400 times that of present installations.
There will be no change to the base tariff of €0.30/kWh ($0.38 USD/kWh) for ground-mounted projects and France continue the €0.55/kWh ($0.70 USD/kWh) tariff for building integrated systems.
Borloo suggested that France may also apply a feed-in tariff to concentrating solar power stations.
These tariffs will remain in effect until 2012 when they will be revisited as part of the normal review process.
To simplify interconnection of solar PV and reduce future backlogs with the quasi privatized state utility, Electricité de France, the government will implement an internet registration process for projects up to 450 kW.
Small solar PV systems less than 3 kW will also be exempted from certain taxes and fees as well.
Tariffs for wind energy will remain the same, though wind projects will have to undergo new siting requirements.
New York SEIA Calls for Feed-in Tariffs
In related feed-in tariff news, the New York State's Solar Energy Industries Association has called on the state to introduce feed-in tariffs for solar photovoltaic systems. The recommendation by NYSEIA is the third by a state solar industry association within the past year. Previously, Florida SEIA and CalSEIA have also called for feed-in tariffs.
The testimony by the solar association was filed with the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) under the State's Administrative Procedures Act (SAPA). The SAPA docket was on implementing the solar portion of the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
The trade group called on the PSC to transform the state's current solar rebate program to a "performance-based system known as a feed-in tariff (FIT)." The feed-in tariff could solve many of the issues the SAPA hearing was called to discuss, said NYSEIA. Most importantly, the association continued, feed-in tariffs have been successful in Germany by allowing banks to collateralize the payment stream, ensuring access to capital.
Specifically, the association said that the feed-in tariffs should be implemented gradually rather than all at once. For example, consumers could be offered a choice between the two programs, allowing the market time to adjust.
There should be no project caps in the new program subject to the limits of the interconnection, testified NYSEIA.
NYSEIA also called on the PSC to set a minimum solar PV target of 2,000 MW and suggested that a target of 6,000 MW by 2020 could propel the state to the forefront of solar development not only in the United States but the world. The association argued that solar PV on just 0.5% of the land area could provide all the electricity consumed in the state.
The association said that the rapid, large-scale development of solar PV with feed-in tariffs would drive down the cost of utility service for all customer classes while making the state a leader in job creation.
Unlike NYSEIA's emphasis only on solar, FlaSEIA and CalSEIA have both proposed full systems of Advanced Renewable Tariffs that specify feed-in tariffs for all forms of renewable energy. CalSEIA supported SB 1714, which called for feed-in tariffs for renewable projects less than 20 MW in size. It was ultimately withdrawn at the request of the sponsors just prior to final passage.
Interesting. I haven't watched him much so I don't have much to go on in order to form an opinion of him as a commentator. I do disagree with his assessment in today's article, though. I think that the Green New Deal will be a different animal than the 1930s New Deal.
We shall see...
I've noticed Larry struggling with his own conservative bias since the election. He's trying hard to be opened minded, but I think he would be the first to admit it's hard to change one's spots.
I do give him credit for embracing the notion that his own party has let him down, and it's time to move forward. You can hear in his vocal tone and rhetoric on his cnbc show.
FWIW.
Even the French are down with Solar --
PRESS RELEASE - Solairedirect receives a $25.62 million investment
Solairedirect has closed a 20 million-euro round of equity financing with its existing shareholders (Demeter Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, TechFund) and mutual insurance companies:
This operation, which stands out in the present financial environment, demonstrates the attractiveness of Solairedirect, its market and its business model. It strengthens the company’s position as France’s first pure play operator in solar power, a clean energy with enormous potential.
Founded in 2006, Solairedirect is an integrated solar power provider, present on the photovoltaic value chain from module production to decentralized power network operation. The company develops and operates infrastructures of all sizes (rooftop and ground-mounted) with turnkey service offers (design and engineering, installation and construction, financing, operation and maintenance) as part of carbon footprint community projects.
Solairedirect’s mission is to provide everyone with the choice of clean and home-based electricity, producing reliable, high performance, low-cost and smart solar kilowatt-hours. It systematically implements technology, manufacturing and service innovations with the stated intention to be among the first power producers to reach grid parity in France and other countries.
The company has 150 employees, 1 500 residential and commercial customers and over 300 megawatts of solar parks under development. One of the very first solar parks in France (4.2 megawatts) is now being built in Vinon-sur-Verdon (Southeastern France) as a part of Solaire Durance, a joint venture between Solairedirect and Caisse des Dépôts, France’s largest government-owned financial institution.
(more...)
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=13160
Here's an interesting article on what Cramer sees happening in the market right now. The section in bold at the bottom quotes Larry Kudlow and it is with his viewpoint that I take exception.
I believe that the Infrastructure Buildout beginning in 2009 will indeed create permanent new jobs and create capital investment, contrary to Kudlow's assessment, because it will provide the catalyst for the cleantech and renewable energy industries of the future in which growth will be plentiful for at least 20 years. The new New Deal will be different than the old New Deal. It will be clean, green, renewable, and sustainable.
http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/jim_cramer_stocks/2008/11/25/154974.html?s=al&promo_code=7211-1
Cramer: Traders Forming Bull Market
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 9:08 AM
By: Gene J. Koprowski Article Font Size
The volatility in the stock market these days is unprecedented, and Wall Street guru Jim Cramer says two thoughts dominate trading today.
"One of them is the technicals," Cramer tells theStreet.com. "Every time we get to (Dow) 8,200, it becomes a bull market. We rally 600 or 800 points. Then it becomes a bear market and goes down 10 percent. Then it becomes a bull market."
The second "thought" that some money managers have is to play the futures market, rather than underlying stocks.
Turbulence makes it difficult to quantify the market, yet traders have decided that it is "time to buy."
"I would urge you to realize — they're right," Cramer says.
As for individual stocks, Cramer has no favorites right now, which he considers unusual, since he thinks of himself as a stock guy.
The reason for that is that there are a lot of active futures traders influencing stock prices dramatically.
"The futures guys are totally in charge," Cramer says. "Oil is down big. So Chevron and Exxon are up. That's futures. If you trade the underlying stock, you are out of luck."
Much of the action, too, is coming from hedge funds, rather than large, institutional investors.
"Big institutions cannot move that fast," Cramer says.
Other economic experts see the volatility stemming from uncertainty over the long-term impact of 1930s-style government economic policies embraced by Congress and vociferously advocated by President-elect Barack Obama.
"The new congressional Keynesians believe government can spend us into prosperity,” writes economist Larry Kudlow.
“They’re wrong. Everything we have learned in the last four decades tells us that governments don’t create permanent new jobs or capital investment. In fact, the more we spend, the more we’ll have to raise tax rates. And that depresses growth."
© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Glorious NEWS for cleantech and renewable energy:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/politics/23obama.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
November 23, 2008
Obama Vows Swift Action on Vast Economic Stimulus Plan
By JACKIE CALMES and JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama signaled on Saturday that he would pursue a far more ambitious plan of spending and tax cuts than anything he outlined on the campaign trail, setting the tone for a recovery effort that could absorb and define much of his term.
In the Democrats’ weekly radio address, Mr. Obama said he would direct his economic team to craft a two-year stimulus plan with the goal of saving or creating 2.5 million jobs. He said it would be “a plan big enough to meet the challenges we face.”
Mr. Obama said he hoped to sign the stimulus package into law soon after taking office on Jan. 20. He is already coordinating efforts with Democratic leaders in Congress, who have said they will begin work next month.
Advisers to Mr. Obama say they want to use the economic crisis as an opportunity to act on many of the issues he emphasized in his campaign, including cutting taxes for lower- and middle-class workers, addressing neglected public infrastructure projects like roads and schools, and creating “green jobs” through business incentives for energy alternatives and environmentally friendly technologies.
In light of the downturn, Mr. Obama is also said to be reconsidering a key campaign pledge: his proposal to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. According to several people familiar with the discussions, he might instead let those tax cuts expire as scheduled in 2011, effectively delaying any tax increase while he gives his stimulus plan a chance to work.
“The news this week has only reinforced the fact that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions,” Mr. Obama said in his address. “We now risk falling into a deflationary spiral that could increase our massive debt even further.”
His address, a video of which was made available on YouTube, was part of an effort to calm financial markets roiled by the failure of an outgoing president and a lame-duck Congress to come up with a plan to lift the economy and restore investor confidence.
On Monday, Mr. Obama plans to introduce his economic team, starting with his Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner. News that Mr. Geithner, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, would get the job helped send the stock market up by nearly 500 points on Friday after days of sharp losses.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers is to be the director of the National Economic Council in the White House, the president’s principal economic adviser and policy coordinator, according to an Obama aide.
The economic team will also include Peter R. Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office, who will be the next White House budget director.
Mr. Summers, who served as a campaign adviser to Mr. Obama, has advocated for a forceful stimulus plan in recent newspaper columns, saying the federal government should be doing more, not less, in areas like health care, energy, education and tax relief. Mr. Obama seemed to echo those thoughts in his radio address.
“We’ll be working out the details in the weeks ahead,” Mr. Obama said, “but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jumpstart job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy. We’ll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children, and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technologies that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead.”
Mr. Obama’s announcement came after market declines and the prospect of a collapse by automakers and other storied companies had sparked growing criticism last week that he was sitting on the sidelines.
Although advisers say they have not begun to fill in the details, Mr. Obama’s proposal would go beyond the $175 billion stimulus plan he proposed in October. That included a $3,000 tax credit to employers for each new hire above their current work force and billions in aid to states and cities.
Separately, Democratic leaders in Congress have been calling for a robust economic recovery initiative of up to $300 billion, including major investments in infrastructure to create jobs. President Bush has refused to consider a package so large, but even some conservative economists have said $300 billion is the minimum needed to spur the economy.
“There are no quick or easy fixes to this crisis, which has been many years in the making,” Mr. Obama said Saturday. “And it’s likely to get worse before it gets better.
“But January 20th is our chance to begin anew, with a new direction, new ideas and new reforms that will create jobs and fuel long-term economic growth.”
Some Republicans might be won over should Mr. Obama decide not to repeal the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $250,000. By simply letting the cuts expire after 2010, as the law now provides, Mr. Obama would in effect delay the tax increase that high-income taxpayers would have faced in the next year or two under his original plan.
That could have economic and political benefits. Mr. Obama would not be open to the charge from Republicans and other critics that he is raising taxes in a recession, which many believe is counterproductive. His Republican presidential rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, had raised that argument during the campaign.
By letting the tax cuts expire, Mr. Obama would get the benefit of higher revenues in 2011 and beyond to help finance his promised health care plans without having to propose raising taxes on the affluent and without the Democratic majority in Congress having to take a vote on a tax increase.
Also, Mr. Obama is under far less pressure in the short term to raise revenues to help finance campaign promises because the seriousness of the economic crisis has brought bipartisan agreement that the government must do whatever it can to spur economic growth.
Mr. Bush and the Republicans who controlled Congress in 2001 agreed that his tax cuts would expire after 10 years as a way of minimizing the projected revenue losses in future years, to comply with Congressional budget rules and to help pass the legislation. The president repeatedly called for making the tax cuts permanent, but no action was taken.
The 2.5 million jobs that Mr. Obama promises to save or create over two years is a gross number. With about 1.2 million jobs lost this year, and more projected to be lost in 2009, Obama advisers expect that job losses will outnumber new jobs next year. For 2010, the advisers are projecting the reverse if Mr. Obama’s plans become law.
Nearly every spending program and tax cut that Mr. Obama proposed during the campaign could well end up in the stimulus package, advisers indicated. For example, Mr. Obama’s proposals to invest in energy alternatives and advanced “green” technologies will most likely be part of the package, rather than proposed later in his administration.
In effect, the stimulus will be seen by the Obama administration as “a down payment,” as one adviser put it, on Mr. Obama’s entire domestic platform, allowing him to try to take maximum advantage of the first year of his presidency. Traditionally, the first year is the one in which modern presidents have achieved most of their major victories.
Some economists welcomed Mr. Obama’s plan, though they said it was difficult to assess without full details. The focus on creating and saving jobs made sense, they said, given the deterioration of the job market.
“The unemployment rate is soaring,” possibly into the double digits, said Kenneth S. Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard.
The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said in a statement, “We will soon finally have a leader and partner in the White House who recognizes the urgency with which we must turn around our economy, and I look forward to working with him and the new Congress to do so.”
Republicans in the next Congress could still block a big stimulus package in the Senate, as Mr. Obama seemed to recognize.
“I know that passing this plan won’t be easy,” Mr. Obama said. “I will need and seek support from Republicans and Democrats, and I’ll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle.
“But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action.”
Carl Hulse and Mark Landler contributed reporting.
Observations on yesterday's news for ALTI and AMSC:
Both of these stocks had very good news yesterday. ALTI, the little nano-technology-based battery company that could, got its foot in the door with AES, one of the largest utility corporations in the world. The effect on the stock? A 15-minute upward blip at the open followed by a steady decline back to a flat close for the day. I was in and out within 3 minutes at the open with a 5% gain. Volume was lukewarm at best.
AMSC signed a wind turbine development deal with SBW, a $1B Chinese manufacturing enterprise with 5,700 employees. This deal is exactly the kind of deal that Tom Friedman talks about in Hot, Flat, and Crowded in which Americans sell their innovations and expertise to the Chinese and others. Friedman believes that this is one of the ways America can establish and maintain a prominent position as an exporter in the global markets of the future. The effect on the stock yesterday? Negligible, until AMSC followed the rest of the market up in the final hour.
Interpretation: Current market conditions dampened the News-effect on both of these stocks yesterday. In a hot Penny stock market, ALTI would have closed well above $1 on probably twice the volume. As an $8 - $10 stock, AMSC's percent change wouldn't have been as substantial as ALTI's, but it probably would have risen to its 13% gain for the day well in advance of the Geithner Effect in the last hour.
If a hot market for infrastructure plays emerges next year because of the Keynesian steps likely to be taken by the Obama administration, positive news on stocks like ALTI and AMSC will create substantial bumps up on that news, significantly more substantial than what we saw yesterday.
Yesterday's AMSC NEWS --
Press Release Source: American Superconductor Corporation
AMSC Partners with Shenyang Blower Works for Development of 2 Megawatt Wind Turbines
Tuesday November 18, 7:30 am ET
-- Shenyang Blower Works to Begin Manufacturing 2 Megawatt Wind Turbines for Chinese Market in 2010
-- AMSC to Supply Full Electrical Systems and Assist in Localizing the Component Supply Chain and Establishing Wind Turbine Manufacturing Operations
SHENYANG, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC - News), a leading energy technologies company, and Shenyang Blower Works (Group) Co., Ltd. (SBW), a leading Chinese industrial equipment manufacturer, signed an agreement today for co-development work that positions SBW to become a leading supplier of wind turbines for the Chinese marketplace. The contract was signed today in a ceremony involving the chief executive officers of the two companies at SBW headquarters in Shenyang, China.
Under the terms of the agreement, AMSC’s wholly owned AMSC WindtecTM subsidiary will provide SBW with designs for its 2 megawatt (MW) doubly fed induction wind turbine. AMSC will also help SBW localize the supply of all core components for the wind turbines, establish its wind turbine manufacturing line and build and test SBW’s first prototype wind turbines. After receiving certification, SBW will manufacture the turbines and sell them primarily into the Chinese market. AMSC will provide the full electrical systems for all of SBW’s wind turbines.
Founded in 1934, SBW is a state-owned enterprise that provides a wide array of industrial equipment including large-scale compressors, blowers, fans, heat exchangers as well as large-scale nuclear power pumps, boiler feed pumps and petrochemical pumps. The company has more than 5,700 employees and approximately US$1 billion in annual sales.
“As one of China’s largest providers of large-scale industrial equipment, our company is well suited for the wind power equipment manufacturing market,” said Su Yongqiang, Shenyang Blower Works president and chief executive officer. “After conducting an extensive search among competing firms, we selected AMSC because of its superior wind turbine designs, its extensive experience in China and its broad level of support. In addition to manufacturing complete wind turbine systems, we plan to be highly vertically integrated, which will enable us to scale production faster and offer our wind turbines at very competitive prices. By integrating our company’s experience with AMSC‘s unique capabilities, we plan to become a major participant in China’s growing wind power market.”
This co-development agreement provides SBW with the right to manufacture its 2 MW wind turbines in China and sell the systems globally. The company plans to have its first prototype turbines installed and commissioned in 2009 and expects to begin series production in 2010.
“The Chinese government continues to rapidly develop wind farms and to strongly support and finance the further expansion of zero-emission, wind-generated electricity to ensure an abundant supply of electricity and enhance the quality of life for its workforce,” said Greg Yurek, founder and chief executive officer of AMSC. “We are pleased to partner with Shenyang Blower Works, one of China’s most respected enterprises, to co-develop their first wind turbine. Shenyang Blower Works’ strong existing ties to all of China’s five state-owned electric utilities position this firm to swiftly capitalize on the rapid growth of China’s wind industry.”
According to the Chinese Wind Energy Association, China will grow its base of wind power from 5.9 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2007 to more than 10 GW in 2008. In its Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008 report, the Global Wind Energy Council estimates that China’s installed base could grow to 101 GW by 2020 under its “moderate” outlook scenario and 201 GW under its “advanced” scenario.
To learn more about AMSC’s product offerings for the wind industry, please visit http://www.amsc.com/products/applications/windEnergy/index.html.
About Shenyang Blower Works
Established in 1934, Shenyang Blower Works became the first enterprise to specialize in producing compressors, blowers and fans in China. The company’s products are mainly applied in the fields of petroleum, chemical, natural gas transportation, metallurgy, air separation, civil work, pharmacy, acid-making, environmental protection, textile, and scientific research of national defenses, etc. The products have also been exported to twenty five countries and regions. More information is available at www.sbw-turbo.com.
About American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC - News)
AMSC is a leading energy technologies company offering an array of solutions based on two proprietary technologies: programmable power electronic converters and high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires. The company's products, services and system-level solutions enable cleaner, more efficient and more reliable generation, delivery and use of electric power. AMSC is a leader in alternative energy, offering grid interconnection solutions as well as licensed wind energy designs and electrical systems. As the world's principal supplier of HTS wire, the company is enabling a new generation of compact, high-power electrical products, including power cables, grid-level surge protectors, Secure Super Grids™ technology, motors, generators, and advanced transportation and defense systems. AMSC also provides utility and industrial customers worldwide with voltage regulation systems that dramatically enhance power grid capacity, reliability and security, as well as industrial productivity. The company's technologies are protected by a broad and deep intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses worldwide. More information is available at www.amsc.com.
American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, D-VAR, PQ-IVR, PowerModule, Secure Super Grids, Windtec and SuperGEAR are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation or its subsidiaries.
Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including our expectations regarding the future financial performance of the company and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include: uncertainties regarding the company's ability to obtain anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture and market commercial products, and to secure anticipated orders; the risk that a robust market may not develop for the company's products; the risk that strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; and the competition encountered by the company. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the company's views as of the date of this release. While the company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the company's views to change, the company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the date this press release is issued.
Contact:
American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC)
Jason Fredette, 978-842-3177
Director of Investor & Media Relations
jfredette@amsc.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: American Superconductor Corporation
Yesterday's ALTI NEWS --
RENO, NV, Nov 21, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- Altair Nanotechnol ogies Inc.
(NASDAQ: ALTI) announced today that its one megawatt (MW), 250 kilowatt-hour
battery storage system met requirements to participate in the PJM Regional
Transmission Organization (RTO) control area. This milestone marks the first
commercial acceptance of an advanced Lithium-Titanate battery to provide grid
regulation services in one of the largest electricity markets in the US.
Altairnano is a leading provider of advanced materials and products for power
and energy systems. The company has a joint development agreement with AES
Energy Storage LLC, a subsidiary of The AES Corporation (NYSE: AES), to develop
grid-scale energy storage applications.
PJM Interconnection is a regional transmission organization (RTO) that
coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in 13 states and the District
of Columbia, serving approximately 51 million people.
"Our advanced Lithium-Titanate battery technology will play an integr al role in
addressing the utility power market's need for environmentally friendly and
energy efficient solutions," said Terry Copeland, President and CEO for
Altairnano. "This will create a more resilient grid, allowing for increased
adoption of renewable generating resources, such as solar and wind."
AES Energy Storage LLC completed the standard acceptance testing for regulation
service within the PJM service territory earlier this week. The tests were
completed by a one MW energy storage unit incorporating Altairnano's advanced
Lithium-Titanate cells. This unit was part of an earlier AES technology
validation effort in Indiana. The unit is now available for commercial operation
as a qualified market participant for regulation service by AES Energy Storage.
"Open power markets, like the PJM Interconnection, value grid stability services
and encourage the deployment of technologies to efficiently serve these needs,"
said Chris Shelton, President of AES Energy Storage LLC. "By completing the
requirements to compete in the PJM Regional Transmission Organization, we are
enabling energy storage technologies that can help to make the electric grid
smarter and more responsive today."
AES is working with industry leaders to selectively deploy energy storage
solutions to improve the capacity and efficiency of its existing thermal,
renewable, and distribution facilities. AES is one of the world's largest global
power companies, with operations in 29 countries, including a platform of more
than 120 power facilities and 12 million distribution customers.
About Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada with manufacturing in Anderson, Indiana,
Altairnano is a leader in the creation and delivery of advanced materials and
energy storage products. Going beyond lithium ion, Altairnano's Lithium-Titanate
based battery products are among the highest performing and most scalable, with
applications that include battery cells for military artillery, battery packs
for hybrid vehicles and energy storage systems for large-scale stationary power
services. For more information, please visit Altairnano at www.altairnano.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical
information. Forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with
the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, may involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially
different from any future results or performance suggested by the
forward-looking statements in this release. These risks and uncertainties
include, without limitation, the risks that development of the advanced lithium
ion-based batteries and related produ cts described herein will not be completed
for technical, political, strategic or other reasons; that any products
developed will not perform as expected in future testing or real-world
applications; and that even if full commercialization occurs, product sales may
be limited and costs associated with production may exceed revenues. In
addition, other risks are identified in the company's most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as filed with the SEC. Such forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly
disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations or results or any
change in events.
Institutional Investors:
C. Robert Pedraza
Vice President Corporate Strategy
Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
775.858.3702
Email Contact
Media Relations :
Marissa Gioglio
Senior Marketing Specialist
Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
775.858.3726
Email Contact
Individual Investors:
Marty Tullio
McCloud Communications, LLC
949.553.9748
Email Contact
SOURCE: Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
CONTACT: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=DC507AD318305E3B
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=3BAF85028CC144EC
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=8C07C07CE9CA139D
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
-0-
SUBJECT CODE: Automo tive:Cars
Energy and Utilities:Alternative Energy
Chemicals:Specialty Chemicals
Automotive:Trucks
IMO, very good news for cleantech/renewables. The California environmentalist is in as the House Energy Committee Chair, the Michigan auto industry guy is out. I also think that it's to Waxman's credit that 20 years after helping to block mass transit on LA's West Side he reversed his position in 2007 to allow Federal funds to be used to expand the Red Line subway to the sea. As a resident of LA's auto-clogged urban environment, I applaud his actions.
POLITICAL NEWS --
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-waxman21-2008nov21,0,2676793.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Waxman expected to advance Obama's climate agenda as new energy committee chairman
The Californian beats the seniority system to assume John Dingell's leadership post. The shift is seen as a win for environmentalists and a loss for the auto industry.
By Janet Hook and Richard Simon
November 21, 2008
Reporting from Washington — Defeating another political titan, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the liberal Los Angeles power broker, captured a House post Thursday that will put him at the center of efforts to advance President-elect Barack Obama's proposals to curb global warming, develop alternative fuels and expand health insurance coverage.
Waxman's victory, in a secret ballot of his House Democratic colleagues, gives him the chairmanship of the influential energy and commerce committee, which will help shape some of Obama's most ambitious domestic plans.
The 137-122 vote stripped the chairmanship from Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the longest-serving member in the House, and marked an unusual departure from the seniority system that usually dictates how the chamber operates.
The changing of the guard has significant implications for Obama's environmental agenda.
Dingell, an automobile-industry champion who represents greater Detroit, has been criticized for slowing or blocking action on stricter vehicle emissions standards, fuel-economy improvements and other regulatory efforts. Those stances have pitted him against Waxman, 69, for decades, and environmentalists feared that Dingell would be a drag on Obama's efforts to curb air pollution.
Dingell, 82, was elected to the House in 1955 -- six years before Obama was born. He now becomes part of the wave of congressional "Old Bulls" who have retired or been toppled by the tides of change that carried Obama and other Democrats to victory in this month's election.
In the Senate, Ted Stevens of Alaska, the longest-serving Republican, lost his bid for reelection after being convicted of corruption charges. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the longest-serving Democrat, was eased out of his post as chairman of the appropriations committee. Retirees include such veterans as Sens. John W. Warner (R-Va.) and Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.).
Dingell, who has been traveling the Capitol on crutches or in a wheelchair as he recovers from knee surgery, argued that he was an effective legislator and that the House would suffer from upsetting the seniority system. His defeat is a sign that, for the incoming generation of politicians, such arguments may no longer hold sway.
"Well, this was clearly a change year," Dingell said after his defeat.
Dingell's loss is a blow to the U.S. auto industry at a time when it says it needs additional federal help to avoid collapse. Some business interests worry that Waxman will steer the committee sharply to the left.
"Whether you agree with him or not, Chairman Dingell has long been respected as an insightful, reasonable and pragmatic legislator," said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-business research group. "These are not qualities for which Mr. Waxman is known."
Pyle said that Waxman would probably bring "sweeping changes" to the committee's focus, "which isn't good news if you're in the business of American energy or other kinds of free-market commerce."
By contrast, environmentalists hailed Waxman's promotion.
"It's a whole new day for the environment," said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental advocacy group. "The committee through which all major environmental legislation has to pass has gone from someone hostile to environmental protection to a real champion."
Bald and mustachioed, Waxman stands 5 feet 5 and is known for a soft-spoken manner. He has proved to be an aggressive investigator in his current post as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
That panel churned out reports that cast an unforgiving eye on Bush administration programs, and it brought a wide variety of figures -- baseball players, hedge-fund managers and former spy Valerie Plame -- to testify at high-profile hearings.
Waxman, who represents Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, was first elected to the House in 1974 as part of a post-Watergate influx of liberal Democrats. In the 1980s and 1990s, he took the lead on bills to expand Medicaid coverage for children, help AIDS patients, require warning labels on cigarettes and make generic drugs more widely available.
For years, he battled with Dingell over strengthening the Clean Air Act.
In making his pitch for the energy and commerce post, Waxman was blunt in outlining his policy differences with Dingell.
Dingell had slowed pollution controls, while Waxman wanted to accelerate them, Waxman told House Democrats, according to his prepared comments. For years, Dingell blocked efforts to increase car mileage standards that Waxman favored. Dingell opposed Waxman's early efforts to combat global warming, the California lawmaker said.
Waxman's election suggests that Congress will aggressively tackle climate-change legislation next year and that California will be at the forefront of that effort. Another California Democrat, Barbara Boxer, is chairwoman of the Senate committee on the environment.
Waxman, Boxer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) have called for tough new limits on emissions from power plants, factories and other pollution sources.
One key dispute with Dingell has involved state efforts to take stronger action than the federal government against global warming. Dingell infuriated Waxman and Pelosi when he pushed for a single federal rule for vehicle emissions that would have prevented California and other states from enacting tougher standards.
The energy and commerce committee will be a battleground for other Obama priorities, such as requiring utilities to generate more electricity from cleaner energy sources.
It will also consider proposals to make health insurance more available. But despite their differences on environmental regulation, Dingell and Waxman are both longtime champions of universal access to healthcare.
The committee chairmanship will also give Waxman a louder voice in legislation affecting his hometown industry, entertainment. As chairman, he will have oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, which in recent years has cracked down on indecent language on broadcast television. The committee also oversees telecommunications issues related to cable TV and the Internet.
But Waxman's new role could be a double-edged sword for Hollywood, as he has a history of conducting hard-hitting hearings on issues and controversies under his jurisdiction.
Waxman will assume the chairmanship with close ties to the White House, as his former chief of staff, Phil Schiliro, has been named Obama's liaison to Congress.
Hook and Simon are writers in our Washington bureau.
janet.hook@latimes.com
richard.simon@latimes.com
Jim Puzzanghera and Noam N. Levey in our Washington bureau contributed to this report.
Because politics will play a huge role in defining the future of the cleantech/renewable energy sector, the posting of political news will be allowed here. Please preface each post with the first line: POLITICAL NEWS, as in the next post.
Political commentary will be allowed, too, as long as it sticks to topics related to cleantech and renewable energy, as in the post following the next post.
Here's another view on Smart Grid vis-a-vis the Recession from a couple weeks ago:
http://www.utilipoint.com/issuealert/article.asp?id=3070
Will the Recession Kill the Smart Grid? (My view: no, but a depression probably would)
http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/industry/Will_the_Recession_Kill_the_Smart_Grid.html
Thanks, 4K. Welcome aboard!
snow
nice board ..
added to my favs
fingers crossed
we survive the
overall market
implosion without
too much more loss
and leadership has
the ability to get
beyond divisiveness
and formulate long
term plans that
embody foresight ~ logic
common sense and benefit
the majority of Americans
read a lot
post *irregularly*
thanks again and gl
--
4kids
all jmo
Thanks, crude! Glad to have you here.
Good board snowcloud. I will be using info from here for the trading I am doing....boardmark from me!
Yet another look into a possible future - OTEC -
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026836.000-plumbing-the-oceans-could-bring-limitless-clean-energy.html?page=1
FOR a company whose business is rocket science Lockheed Martin has been paying unusual attention to plumbing of late. The aerospace giant has kept its engineers occupied for the past 12 months poring over designs for what amounts to a very long fibreglass pipe.
It is, of course, no ordinary pipe but an integral part of the technology behind Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), a clean, renewable energy source that has the potential to free many economies from their dependence on oil.
"This has the potential to become the biggest source of renewable energy in the world," says Robert Cohen, who headed the US federal ocean thermal energy programme in the early 1970s.
This has the potential to become the biggest source of renewable energy in the world
As the price of fossil fuels soars, private companies from Hawaii to Japan are racing to build commercial OTEC plants. The trick is to exploit the difference in temperature between seawater near the surface and deep down (see diagram).
First, warm surface water heats a fluid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia or a mixture of ammonia and water. When this "working fluid" boils, the resulting gas creates enough pressure to drive a turbine that generates power. The gas is then cooled by passing it through cold water pumped up from the ocean depths via massive fibreglass tubes, perhaps 1000 metres long and 27 metres in diameter, that suck up cold water at a rate of 1000 tonnes per second. While the gas condenses back into a liquid that can be used again, the water is returned to the deep ocean. "It's just like a conventional power plant where you burn a fuel like coal to create steam," says Cohen.
The idea of tapping the ocean's different thermal layers to generate electricity was first proposed in 1881 by French physicist Jacques d'Arsonval but didn't receive much attention until the world oil crises of the 1970s. In 1979, a US government-backed partnership that included Lockheed Martin, lowered a cold water pipe from a barge off Hawaii that was part of an OTEC system generating 50 kilowatts of electricity. Two years later, a Japanese group built a pilot plant off the South Pacific island of Nauru capable of generating 120 kilowatts.
In the first flush of success, the US Department of Energy began planning a 40 megawatt test plant off Hawaii. Then in 1981, the funding for ocean thermal technologies began to dwindle. It dried up altogether in 1995 when the price of oil began to drop, eventually falling below $20 a barrel.
Now rising fuel costs have revived interest in this neglected technology. In September, the Department of Energy awarded its first grant for ocean thermal energy in more than a decade, giving Lockheed Martin $600,000 to develop a new generation of cold water pipes.
Cohen believes this could eventually lead to 500 MW OTEC plants on floating offshore platforms sending electricity to onshore grids via submarine cables, and factory ships "grazing" the open ocean for power.
Lockheed's first goal is to get a test facility up and running. The company has got together with Makai Ocean Engineering of Waimanalo, Hawaii, to build a 10 to 20 MW plant, most likely off Hawaii, that it hopes to have up and running in the next four to six years. The plant - including a 1000-metre pipe some 4 metres in diameter - would feed electricity to the island's energy grid via submarine cables.
While Lockheed gears up for its test facility, a plant for the US military could come online even sooner. OCEES International, based in Honolulu, is finishing designs for an ocean thermal facility to be built off the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which is home to a major US military base.
The plant would provide 8 MW of electricity and would also power the desalination of 1.25 million gallons of seawater per day. OCEES says it could be up and running by the end of 2011.
At the moment Diego Garcia is powered entirely by diesel fuel, and base commanders see ocean thermal as a means to energy independence. "It's a strategic military installation in the middle of the Indian Ocean," says Harry Jackson of OCEES. "They don't want to rely on others to provide their power."
"I think OTEC has the potential to develop sufficient power output much quicker than wave buoys or tidal power would," says Bill Tayler, director of the US navy's Shore Energy Office. "It would take a lot of buoys to produce 8 to 10 MW of power. We're looking at them all but have our hopes on OTEC."
Still, both teams will have to work out issues such as how to connect the floating, bobbing platforms to fixed submarine power lines. Heat exchangers will have to be designed in a way that prevents excessive buildup of algae, barnacles and other marine organisms that could clog the system.
If these test plants are a success, larger, commercial-scale plants could transform the energy equation on Hawaii, where nearly 77 per cent of electricity is generated by burning oil. "It will be the major energy game changer for our state and elsewhere in the world if we can get OTEC working well at the 100 MW level or larger," says Lockheed collaborator Reb Bellinger of Makai Ocean Engineering.
But scaling up won't be easy. "A 100 MW plant might have a pipe 30 feet in diameter suspended 3000 feet. That's not a small challenge. You've got this huge structure vertically suspended. You've got a lot of stresses and strains from current, from the movement of platform on the surface - how you are going to anchor it and install it?" asks Bellinger.
Smaller designs have already run into trouble. In 2003, Indian engineers building a 1 MW ocean thermal plant attempted to lower an 800-metre cold water pipe into the ocean from a barge in the Bay of Bengal only to lose the pipe in 1100 metres of water. A new pipe met the same fate the following year. "Both times there were some winch problems and it fell to the bottom of the sea," says Subramanian Kathiroli, director of India's National Institute of Ocean Technology. "I don't think we will ever be able to go beyond 5 to 10 MW with present knowledge," he says.
Yet the technology will have to be scaled up if OTEC is ever to make a significant impact on the green power market. Hans Krock, who has worked on OTEC designs for the University of Hawaii, the US Department of Energy and others since 1980, says he's tired of testing. "Pilot tests have been done," Krock says. "It's not a matter of design, it's a matter of getting the economics right."
Krock, who founded OCEES in 1988, recently left to start Energy Harvesting Systems, a firm with ambitious plans to build a 100 MW OTEC plant off the coast of Indonesia. The electricity it generates will be used to produce hydrogen, a green fuel that could be used to power zero-emission vehicles. Krock says he has funding for the $800 million plant and it could be up and running within two years, once building contracts are finalised.
For Cohen, who has also waited decades for ocean thermal to come into its own, such a large plant seems overambitious, especially as it is coupled with the production of hydrogen, whose distribution structure is still largely undeveloped.
"Scaling up so quickly could be risky," warns Cohen. "I'd like to see us move fast on ocean thermal but I think we have to be careful."
Lake ontario helps toronto chill out
As governments and private companies around the world look to capitalise on ocean thermal energy, an offshoot of the technology is already up and running. Instead of trying to harness cold, deep water for electricity production, the city of Toronto in Canada uses water from the bottom of Lake Ontario to cool its buildings. Makai Ocean Engineering of Waimanalo, Hawaii, recently helped construct the city's cold-water air conditioning system that will save 60 megawatts of electricity when it is fully connected to buildings in the city's centre. The system works by pumping water at a temperature of 4 °C from a depth of 80 metres and then sending it to buildings within the city via three pipes, each5 kilometres long. The cold water is then used to cool air.Makai is working on a similar cold-water air conditioning system for Honolulu in Hawaii. "Ocean thermal energy is the big prize, but cold-water air conditioning can play a major role in cutting energy needs, and it can do it today," says Reb Bellinger of Makai.
To learn what the future holds for your electric meter, check out the videos and animations on Itron's OpenWay meter. IMO, simply awesome technology.
http://www.itron.com/pages/products_detail.asp?id=itr_016219.xml
ALTI NEWS --
RENO, NV, Nov 19, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- With President Bush's
signing of the Continuing Resolution (CR) which contains appropriations for the
Department of Defens e, Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ALTI), a leading
provider of advanced materials and products for power and energy systems, and
the United States Navy were granted an additional $4 million for the continued
funding of a 2.5-Megawatt stationary power supply program. Total funds
appropriated by Congress for Altairnano's naval battery program now total $12.5
million.
Altairnano's program with the United States Navy focuses on developing, testing,
and deploying an Altairnano battery as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) on
Navy missile destroyers enabling single generator operations. The application,
which utilizes the battery's long life cycle and broad temperature operating
range, is anticipated to create a safe, less costly, and environmentally
sustainable substitute for fuel turbines, resulting in an annual fuel cost
savings in excess of $1.5 million per ship.
"By funding this project, Congress and the President recog nize how our company
can help meet three important objectives," said Terry Copeland, Ph.D.,
Altairnano's Chief Executive Officer. "It will reduce our dependence on foreign
oil, cut greenhouse gas emissions, and ensure Navy ships have power when they
most need it."
"The latest appropriation reflects the financial commitment necessary to
successfully deploy and commercialize Altairnano's unique battery solutions on
Navy vessels," added Copeland. "We are encouraged by the initial results of
testing and look forward to sharing these results as soon as they become
available."
About Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
Headquartered in Reno, Nevada with manufacturing in Anderson, Indiana,
Altairnano is a leader in the creation and delivery of advanced materials and
energy storage products. Going beyond lithium ion, Altairnano's Lithium-Titanate
based battery products are among the highest performing and most scalable, with
applicati ons that include battery cells for military artillery, battery packs
for hybrid vehicles and energy storage systems for large-scale stationary power
services. For more information please visit Altairnano at www.altairnano.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical
information. Forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with
the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995, may involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
company's actual results and performance in future periods to be materially
different from any future results or performance suggested by the
forward-looking statements in this release. These risks and uncertainties
include, without limitation, the risks that development of the advanced lithium
ion-based batteries and related products described herein will not be completed
for technical, political, strategic or other reasons; that any products
developed will not perform as expected in future testing or real-world
applications; and that even if full commercialization occurs, product sales may
be limited and costs associated with production may exceed revenues. In
addition, other risks are identified in the company's most recent Annual Report
on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as filed with the SEC. Such forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this release. The company expressly
disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements
found herein to reflect any changes in company expectations or results or any
change in events.
Institutional Investors
C. Robert Pedraza
Vice President Corporate Strategy
Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
775.856.2500
Email Contact
Individual Investors
Marty Tullio
Managing Member
McCloud Communications, LLC
949.553.9748
Email Contact
SOURCE: Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.
CONTACT: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=50537A734250B4D4
http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=CDCA0B99224EB95F
Copyright 2008 Market Wire, All rights reserved.
-0-
SUBJECT CODE: Aerospace and Defense:Marinecraft
Aerospace and Defense:Weapons
Energy and Utilities:Utilities
; Chemicals:Specialty Chemicals
Energy and Utilities:Alternative Energy
Automotive:Parts and Accessories
Hey, you, get offa my Sun!
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solarspat15-2008nov15,0,7430898.story
Hey, your shade trees are blocking my solar array
Going green is creating a new kind of tension between neighbors, as a Culver City dispute shows.
By Marla Dickerson
November 15, 2008
One neighbor loves his solar panels, which have cut his energy bill and are helping to combat global warming. The other neighbor adores his trees, which boost his property value and capture greenhouse gases. ¶ So what happens when one guy's greenery casts a shadow on the other fellow's solar array? ¶ It's an environmental battle that's heating up. And not just on Helms Avenue in Culver City, where the two neighbors -- furniture maker Gary Schultz and architect Michael Rachlin -- have begun using some decidedly un-sunny language to describe each other. ¶ "He's arrogant," said Schultz, who installed the solar panels.¶ "He has been a chronic sort of complainer," said Rachlin, who planted the stately date palms. ¶ Testy letters and e-mails have been flying between the two. There is talk of litigation. ¶ California has embarked on an ambitious program to install photovoltaic panels on 1 million roofs in California by the end of 2017. So it was perhaps inevitable that property owners, who already fuss with one another about everything under the sun, would end up feuding about that as well.
Complaints are arising from an obscure state law known as the Solar Shade Control Act. It protects homeowners' investments in solar panels, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Property owners whose trees block the sun from more than 10% of their neighbors' panels can be fined as much as $1,000 a day if they refuse to trim them.
Signed in 1978 by Gov. Jerry Brown, the law was little noticed until this year, when a solar spat ended up in Santa Clara County criminal court.
A judge convicted a Sunnyvale couple of violating the shade law -- an infraction on par with a parking ticket -- for refusing to trim a stand of redwoods that were causing power losses on their neighbor's solar array. The couple eventually pruned some branches to avoid the fine, but only after spending $37,000 defending themselves in court.
The criminal prosecution attracted international attention and some "only-in-California" snickers. But with more installed megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels than in any other state in the nation, Californians have good reason to take their solar seriously.
Just ask Schultz.
A furniture and cabinet maker who uses lots of heavy equipment at his Culver City shop, Schultz was fed up with Southern California Edison bills that averaged around $5,000 a month -- more than the mortgage on his building
He decided to go solar. Schultz researched the technology and took classes so that he could install and maintain the panels himself. The cost of the 28.8-kilowatt system after the state rebate was $80,000, Schultz said. That's a hefty sum. But when the system came on line in May 2006, it immediately reduced his power bill to zero.
"I was ecstatic," said Schultz, 48, a short, stocky surfer who favors T-shirts and shorts. "It was working exactly as I had designed it to work."
Then came the palms.
Rachlin planted six of them in December 2007 along the property line he shares with Schultz. The 15-foot trees were the exclamation points on his firm's new headquarters in an abandoned shoe-polish factory, an eyesore turned showplace after a long renovation.
The trees cost $10,000 each to purchase, transport and plant, he said.
"They're beautiful," said Rachlin, a dapper man whose knowledge of environmentally friendly building principles has earned him so-called LEED accreditation by the United States Green Building Council.
But one man's palm-line paradise is another's power-blocking purgatory. Schultz said his system was producing less electricity than it did before, causing him to write at least $8,500 in checks to Edison this year.
Schultz hired a solar consultant to document his power losses and presented it to Rachlin and to Culver City officials, who Schultz said should never have approved the offending landscaping because it violates the Solar Shade Control Act.
Rachlin said he hired his own expert, who concluded that the palm shading was insignificant and that Schultz's power losses were a result of poor orientation of his solar panels. Rachlin said he had offered to pay a portion of the cost of relocating Schultz's panels to a sunnier spot, an offer Schultz rejected because it would require him to make expensive roof reinforcements and because it would make his panels visible to potential thieves.
"I have tried to be a good neighbor," Rachlin said. "This is just a guy that keeps just coming, coming at you."
Schultz said he wouldn't be kvetching if Rachlin hadn't insisted on planting enormous palms near a solar panel of which he was fully aware.
"He is supposed to be a LEED expert?" Schultz said. "He needs to do the right thing and remove those trees."
Schultz said that he didn't want to go to court but that he was prepared to take legal action. Culver City officials are scrambling to come up with a compromise.
Councilman Andrew Weissman said he didn't think the city was culpable in the flap. Still, he said, there has been discussion about whether Culver City could purchase Rachlin's trees and relocate them for use somewhere else in town.
An attorney by profession, Weissman said trees have long been the subject of neighbor disputes, be they over leaves littering a swimming pool or roots clogging drainage pipes. But he said this was the first feud that he had heard of involving shade and solar paneling.
"It's a reflection of how new the technology is," he said. "It's an area we're going to have to pay attention to."
State rules that take effect Jan. 1 aim to avoid another solar scandal like the one in Sunnyvale. Violations of the Solar Shade Control Act will no longer be considered a crime and will have to be enforced in civil court. And trees and shrubs planted before someone installs solar panels will never have to face the ax, no matter how tall they grow.
Sue Kateley, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Assn., sighed when told of the Culver City dispute. She said the solar squabbles, though rare, could deter some consumers from purchasing panels. And she said they detracted from the larger issue of climate change and its potentially disastrous effects on the planet.
"It makes a joke out of the serious business of trying to reduce energy consumption," Kateley said. "Global warming is real. . . . To diminish it to some kind of barking-dog dispute is sad."
Dickerson is a Times staff writer.
marla.dickerson@latimes.com
Thanks, Piece. I'll get back to you later.
Another observation re: Warren. If I heard it right, the FM crew says he's buying puts these days as well, so he's hedging his bets.
Yep, I know of them. Thanks.
I hear that. I enjoy the insights of FF too, but my window to sell closed long ago. Instead, I'm embracing Warren's philosophy of buying low, good quality and holding for the long term.
I'm accumulating extra positions to trade as needed on the way up.
I have one for you. I know people who work with these guys near where I own land in Tehachapi. WNDEF. Wind farms with very good looking numbers.
Haven't bought yet, but it's looking good.
You are wise to be getting into CYPW now. I'm flying down there to meet with them soon. Time to see for myself, first hand. Huge upside here IMO, especially with the new administration.
Free Smartgrid/Smart-metering Webinar Wednesday at 8 AM PST:
https://pgsenergy.com/online/orderform.php
PMO Best Practices for Smart Projects
Hosted By:
Presented By:
UtiliPoint Professional Services
Moderated By:
Carol Ray, PMP
Director
Utility and Energy Projects Modera Larry Gill
Director
Utility and Energy Technology Projects
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
11:00 a.m.
(U.S. EST) 10:00 a.m.
(U.S. CST) 9:00 a.m.
(U.S. MST) 8:00 a.m.
(U.S. PST)
4:00 p.m.
(GMT - Ireland, UK, Western Europe)
UtiliPoint brings together years of practical, real world experience in deployment of meters, networks, and back office applications in support of Smart Grid initiatives. Included are tips and tricks from the program and project office to insure successful implementation. We will also share our recent experience in the project management of a rate pilot designed to analyze customer responsiveness to time based prices as well as to test ability of consumers to manage their bills using smart prices, smart meters, and smart thermostats.
Topics:
What is PMO?
Why You Need It
Common Paths to Smart Grid
Smart Grid as a Concept
Lessons from the Trenches
Project Risks and Opportunities
Budget and Funding
Scheduling
Case Study: Rate Pilot 2008
Who Should Attend:
Utilities (electric, gas and water)
Decision makers
Back office operations
Technical staff
Metering staff & field operations
Finance, accounting, and revenue management
Regulators, industry specialists, consumer advocates
Technical Complexity:
Moderate—assumes general industry knowledge of AMI and Smart Grid
Cost:
Free participation with registration
About the Moderators
Carol Ray, PMP has been a program manager in a large AMI/MDM deployment with multiple technologies with more than 20 active projects, has been a project manager for numerous metering and network installation for electric, water and gas utilities.
Larry Gill will share his experience as the project manager for a rate pilot that includes overseeing multiple vendors and various technologies required to successfully implement a Smart Metering rate pilot.
The Big Boys are jumping all over this smart-metering thing:
https://www.euci.com/web_conferences/1208-outage/index.php
Welcome, Piece. Yes, any discussion of clean-green-renewable topics and their related dirty counterparts is fair game here. ;)
For the most part I'm in research phase. I've traded in and out of CGYV, PZD, ESLR and a few others but haven't really begun in earnest as of yet. I got back into CYPW today because they're showing progress and their pps is pretty darn low. I like their patented technology as well.
I believe that cleantech/renewable energy will offer some mighty fine trades and investments going forward. Right now, though, market conditions are in what CNBC's Fast Money crew calls "Crazytown." Therefore, I'm in and out of most of these pretty fast. To paraphrase what Pete Najarian has said over and over again in the past month, in today's market a trader is crazy not to sell any rally that presents itself.
Hey, Snow, this is great. This is exactly the kind of board I was thinking of starting myself. Often discussion at cypw veers off topic when comparing other technologies---this is great outlet for that, if you'll permit it.
Will spend some time here digging around. Would love to hear what other cypw-like stocks you are in!
New addition to iBox:
Advanced Metering: California Dreaming is Becoming a Reality - 1-hour webinar with reps from 2 of the Big 3 IOUs discussing the smartgrid/smarthome of the (near) future: http://uaelp.pennnet.com/webcast/display_webcast.cfm?id=672
I'm back in CYPW on today's news. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is going to be huge and CYPW has plenty of upside from .15, IMO.
CYPW NEWS --
POMPANO BEACH, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/17/08 -- Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (PINKSHEETS: CYPW) announced today that it has signed a purchase agreement with Bent Glass Design of Hatboro, PA for a Waste Heat Engine (WHE) cogeneration system. This is Cyclone's first sale and commercial installation of its award-winning WHE.
The initial WHE system covered under this agreement will convert over 500,000 BTUs of exhaust heat from the customer's glass manufacturing furnaces into electric power. Cyclone estimates that this system will offset nearly 100% of Bent Glass's electricity requirements for lighting at its 65,000 sq ft. facility. Because much of these savings are created during peak hours, the system is expected to be cash positive in year one and provide a full payback to Bent Glass within four years.
"We are excited to work with Cyclone on this important and innovative project," said Bent Glass founder and President Steve Lerner. "In addition to providing substantial savings to our bottom line, we believe the WHE will help us conserve non-renewable energy resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- two critical goals for our nation and global environment."
This process of maximizing the usefulness of the energy we consume is known as cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP). Successful CHP applications have been utilized in the United States since the 1970's, mainly in large industrial settings where the economies of scale make it commercially feasible. But according to Harry Schoell, CEO of Cyclone, "The compact, powerful WHE can open the door for smaller industrial and commercial customers to participate in the benefits of cogeneration."
"We look forward to completing this project for Bent Glass Design and demonstrating the enormous commercial viability of the WHE," added Mr. Schoell. This will be the premiere installation of the WHE in the manufacturing sector, but other applications for Cyclone's patent-pending steam engine include restaurants, commercial trucking and even distributed solar electric.
About Cyclone
Cyclone Power Technologies is the developer of the award-winning Cyclone Engine -- an eco-friendly external combustion engine with the power and versatility to run everything from portable electric generators and garden equipment to cars, trucks and locomotives. Invented by company founder and CEO Harry Schoell, the patented Cyclone Engine is a modern day steam engine, ingeniously designed to achieve high thermal efficiencies through a compact heat-regenerative process, and to run on virtually any fuel -- including bio-diesels, syngas or solar -- while emitting fewer greenhouse gases and irritating pollutants into the air. Currently in its late stages of development, the Cyclone Engine was recognized by Popular Science Magazine as the Invention of the Year for 2008, and was presented with the Society of Automotive Engineers' AEI Tech Award in 2006 and 2008. Additionally, Cyclone was recently named Environmental Business of the Year by the Broward County Environmental Protection Department. For more information, visit www.cyclonepower.com.
About Bent Glass
Bent Glass Design is a leading supplier of custom bent glass to the architectural and specialty industries. Our company is a single source for bent, bent laminated, and bent insulated glasses. These products can be specified for safety, security, acoustics, and thermal performance. Founded in 1988 by Steve Lerner, an innovator within the glass bending industry, Bent Glass Design offers its customers in the architectural, transportation, and marine industries the highest quality fabrication of specialty bent glass, personalized service, prompt delivery and technical design assistance. Bent Glass Design maintains a state-of-the-art facility located in Eastern Pennsylvania and ships glass products worldwide.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The company cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Media Contact
Will Wellons
407-462-2718
will@wellonscommunications.com
Company Contact:
Ann Staples
Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc.
601 NE 26th Ct.
Pompano Beach, FL 33064
954-943-8721
Contact:
Steve Lerner
President
Bent Glass Design, Inc.
215.441.9101
www.bentglassdesign.com
A must-read if you're new to Solar Thermal Electric, aka Concentrating Solar Power:
http://www.salon.com:80/news/feature/2008/04/14/solar_electric_thermal/print.html
Caveat for clean tech venturing in China
Memo from finance executives and venture capitalists: Despite what you hear about China's potential in the burgeoning clean tech field, proceed with care.
That was one of the more counterintuitive messages to come out of the U.S.-China Green Tech Summit, which opened in Shanghai on Thursday. "We're not saying no," said Michael Ricks, managing director of Investor Growth Capital, a Menlo Park private equity firm, speaking at one of the summit's panels. "But we think the optimistic expectations of what may happen with China might outstrip its capacity to fulfill those expectations."
The two-day conference, sponsored by the Bay Area Council, brought together approximately 400 business leaders, entrepreneurs, technology experts and policymakers from the Bay Area, the United States and China. It featured a keynote address from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and presentations ranging from transportation and alternative energy sources to building design and materials. Green tech marketing was also well represented. The conference reflected the enthusiastic anticipation of closer ties between the Bay Area and China apparent at Wednesday's opening of a San Francisco office in Shanghai, designed to bring more Chinese business to San Francisco.
But the views expressed by private equity managers and VCs attending the summit introduced a perhaps necessary dose of caution to the proceedings. "China is a relatively attractive market - compared to the current U.S. market," said Gary Rieschel, the onetime head of the highly successful Softbank Venture Capital in Silicon Valley, who lives and operates a growing venture fund in Shanghai. "But clean tech is a hard sell for VCs investing here, because it's so much riskier than other investments." His investment of choice: health care. His venture fund, Qiming Ventures, has invested millions in community clinics, advanced medical equipment, and the nation's first HMO.
As for venture capital's role in Chinese clean tech, he pointed to the comparatively paltry $500 million that American VCs invested in the sector last year. Especially given the money crunch at home, he said, don't expect those figures to change much in the near future.
Hitting close to home: The Bay Area Council's attempt to raise $150 million for a fund to invest in Chinese companies, in partnership with the Yangtze Council, has temporarily stalled. "Given the current economic situation, VCs told us they weren't ready," said a Bay Area Council executive.
Steve Westly bullish: California's former controller, gubernatorial candidate and eBay senior executive is more bullish on China's green tech possibilities. His Westly Group, in Menlo Park, favors investments in green buildings and sustainable materials. The Westly Group recently put money (he wouldn't say how much) into a company called China Energy Recovery. As its name implies, the firm removes and recycles effluence from manufacturing plant emissions. Not sexy, perhaps, but certainly reflective of China's immediate environmental needs. As his funds grow, Westly says, he expects to put much more into the country. "China is the future," he said.
With regard to his own future - speculation has it he's up for a job in the Obama administration - Westly was suitably modest. "I'm very flattered to be on lists, but I'm sure there are as many people as qualified, or more qualified, than me."
Back-patting and brimstone: "It's incumbent to be held accountable to the rhetoric of conferences," Newsom told the audience at the opening of the Green Tech Summit. He urged them to take the kind of "simple" actions that have made San Francisco a world leader in what he earlier called "the cause of a lifetime." Like closing in on reducing the city's carbon footprint to 1990 levels; mandating all new construction meets LEED standards; a solar rebate program second to none; and converting municipal vehicles to alternative fuels.
Then he came up with some pretty fiery rhetoric of his own. He cited coal as "the devil" - although it continues to power the economies of both China and the United States - and condemned the latter for its "embarrassing" fuel efficiency standards. Should China pick up the green tech banner, he said, it "can leave us in the dust. It can crush us."
"America had better wake up to this likelihood," he went on. "It's no longer America leading the way and China reacting. It's starting to go the other way around. This is a call to arms to all our American leaders, and admiration for Chinese leaders in this room for showing the way. Thank you for your example of standing up and stepping in as America has walked away."
Di-Fi weighs in: We received a statement from Sen. Dianne Feinstein relating to the U.S.-China Green Tech Summit in Shanghai. She was originally scheduled to be at the summit as its U.S. chairwoman. The press of business in Washington kept her from attending, according to her office.
In her statement, Feinstein urges the two countries to come up with a global cap-and-trade system, praises China for its regional cap-and-trade efforts, and urges the United States to rapidly join with China in implementing a worldwide cap-and-trade regime.
"It is critical, in my view, that the United States and China work together to develop a protocol for a global cap-and-trade regime," Feinstein wrote. "Our two nations are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, and together account for roughly half of total global warming emissions."
Tips, feedback: E-mail bottomline@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/14/BUBT1449J6.DTL
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Here's the best definition of "cleantech" that I have found:
“Cleantech" companies (are) those that derive the majority of their business from products or services that improve productivity or performance while reducing costs, resource consumption, pollution and toxicity. Expressed another way, these are knowledge-intensive corporations that add economic value (productivity, performance, etc.) while minimizing the use of the world's natural resources.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/105664-can-obama-s-policies-revitalize-traditional-oil-etfs?source=email
NEWS from the International Energy Agency. Today they released their World Energy Outlook 2008 publication http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/2008.asp .
New Energy Realities – WEO Calls for Global Energy Revolution Despite Economic Crisis
12 November 2008 London ---
“We cannot let the financial and economic crisis delay the policy action that is urgently needed to ensure secure energy supplies and to curtail rising emissions of greenhouse gases. We must usher in a global energy revolution by improving energy efficiency and increasing the deployment of low-carbon energy,” said Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) today in London at the launch of the World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2008 – the latest edition of the annual IEA flagship publication. The WEO-2008 provides invaluable analysis to help policy makers around the world assess and address the challenges posed by worsening oil supply prospects, higher energy prices and rising emissions of greenhouse gases.
In the WEO-2008 Reference Scenario, which assumes no new government policies, world primary energy demand grows by 1.6% per year on average between 2006 and 2030 – an increase of 45%. This is slower than projected last year, mainly due to the impact of the economic slowdown, prospects for higher energy prices and some new policy initiatives. Demand for oil rises from 85 million barrels per day now to 106 mb/d in 2030 – 10 mb/d less than projected last year. Demand for coal rises more than any other fuel in absolute terms, accounting for over a third of the increase in energy use. Modern renewables grow most rapidly, overtaking gas to become the second-largest source of electricity soon after 2010. China and India account for over half of incremental energy demand to 2030 while the Middle East emerges as a major new demand centre. The share of the world’s energy consumed in cities grows from two-thirds to almost three-quarters in 2030. Almost all of the increase in fossil-energy production occurs in non-OECD countries. These trends call for energy-supply investment of $26.3 trillion to 2030, or over $1 trillion/year. Yet the credit squeeze could delay spending, potentially setting up a supply-crunch that could choke economic recovery.
“Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable – environmentally, economically and socially – they can and must be altered”, said Nobuo Tanaka. “Rising imports of oil and gas into OECD regions and developing Asia, together with the growing concentration of production in a small number of countries, would increase our susceptibility to supply disruptions and sharp price hikes. At the same time, greenhouse-gas emissions would be driven up inexorably, putting the world on track for an eventual global temperature increase of up to 6°C.”
In addition to providing a comprehensive update of long-term energy projections to 2030, WEO-2008 takes a detailed look at the prospects for oil and gas production. Oil will remain the world’s main source of energy for many years to come, even under the most optimistic of assumptions about the development of alternative technology. But the sources of oil, the cost of producing it and the prices that consumers will have to pay for it are extremely uncertain. “One thing is certain”, stated Mr. Tanaka, “while market imbalances will feed volatility, the era of cheap oil is over”.
“A sea change is underway in the upstream oil and gas industry with international oil companies facing dwindling opportunities to increase their reserves and production. In contrast, national companies are projected to account for about 80% of the increase of both oil and gas production to 2030”, said Mr. Tanaka. But it is far from certain that these companies will be willing to make this investment themselves or to attract sufficient capital to keep up the necessary pace of investment. Upstream investment has been rising rapidly in the last few years, but much of the increase is due to surging costs. Expanding production in the lowest-cost countries – most of them in OPEC – will be central to meeting the world’s oil needs at reasonable cost.
The prospect of accelerating declines in production at individual oilfields is adding to these uncertainties. The findings of an unprecedented field-by-field analysis of the historical production trends of 800 oilfields indicate that decline rates are likely to rise significantly in the long term, from an average of 6.7% today to 8.6% in 2030. “Despite all the attention that is given to demand growth, decline rates are actually a far more important determinant of investment needs. Even if oil demand was to remain flat to 2030, 45 mb/d of gross capacity – roughly four times the current capacity of Saudi Arabia – would need to be built by 2030 just to offset the effect of oilfield decline”, Mr. Tanaka added.
WEO-2008 also analyses policy options for tackling climate change after 2012, when a new global agreement – to be negotiated at the UN Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen next year – is due to take effect. This analysis assumes a hybrid policy approach, comprising a plausible combination of cap-and-trade systems, sectoral agreements and national measures. On current trends, energy-related CO2 emissions are set to increase by 45% between 2006 and 2030, reaching 41 Gt. Three-quarters of the increase arises in China, India and the Middle East, and 97% in non-OECD countries as a whole.
Stabilising greenhouse gas concentration at 550 ppm of CO2-equivalent, which would limit the temperature increase to about 3°C, would require emissions to rise to no more than 33 Gt in 2030 and to fall in the longer term. The share of low-carbon energy – hydropower, nuclear, biomass, other renewables and fossil-fuel power plants equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) – in the world primary energy mix would need to expand from 19% in 2006 to 26% in 2030. This would call for $4.1 trillion more investment in energy-related infrastructure and equipment than in the Reference Scenario – equal to 0.2% of annual world GDP. Most of the increase is on the demand side, with $17 per person per year spent worldwide on more efficient cars, appliances and buildings. On the other hand, improved energy efficiency would deliver fuel-cost savings of over $7 trillion.
The scale of the challenge in limiting greenhouse gas concentration to 450 ppm of CO2-eq, which would involve a temperature rise of about 2°C, is much greater. World energy-related CO2 emissions would need to drop sharply from 2020 onwards, reaching less than 26 Gt in 2030. “We would need concerted action from all major emitters. Our analysis shows that OECD countries alone cannot put the world onto a 450-ppm trajectory, even if they were to reduce their emissions to zero”, Mr. Tanaka warned. Achieving such an outcome would require even faster growth in the use of low-carbon energy – to account for 36% of global primary energy mix by 2030. In this case, global energy investment needs are $9.3 trillion (0.6% of annual world GDP) higher; fuel savings total $5.8 trillion.
WEO-2008 demonstrates that measures to curb CO2 emissions will also improve energy security by reducing global fossil-fuel energy use. But the world’s major oil producers should not be alarmed. “Even in the 450 Policy Scenario, OPEC production will need to be 12 mb/d higher in 2030 than today.” Mr. Tanaka noted. “It is clear that the energy sector will have to play the central role in tackling climate change. The analysis set out in this Outlook will provide a solid basis for all countries seeking to negotiate a new global climate deal in Copenhagen.”
Communication and Information Office: (+33) 1 40 57 65 50 ; e-mail IEAPressOffice@iea.org
Ron Pernick's idea for financing the move to cleantech and renewable energy: Clean-Energy Victory Bonds
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/recolumnists/story?id=54018
Almost all of the stocks on my Energy Play watchlist are up today. Very, very unusual. Maybe an Obama Effect is already in play. Today's Jobs Lost report was 240K instead of the expected 200K, unemployment upticked to 6.5% but the market is up 2% as I type. Hmmm...
OPINION from cnet news: What Obama presidency means for clean tech
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10082064-54.html?tag=mncol;txt
Energy and environmental policy is poised for dramatic change under an Obama administration even with a slumping economy.
With the incoming administration and Congress, renewable energy advocates and environmentalists said they anticipate a comprehensive national energy plan focused on fostering clean-energy technologies.
"The election is over. Now the hard work begins," wrote Dan Farber, a professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of the lobbying group Cleantech & Green Business for Obama. "Change is on the way."
Obama's energy plan, detailed fully earlier this year, is ambitious. It calls for a $150 billion investment in clean technologies over 10 years, aggressive targets for greenhouse emission reductions, and programs to promote energy efficiency, low-carbon biofuels, and renewable energies.
But a troubled economy--among other barriers--means that bold, new energy legislation, notably caps on greenhouse gas emissions, is unlikely to pass in the first years of an Obama administration, according to experts.
Instead, the Obama presidency is expected to first push for smaller yet significant measures, such as efficiency and renewable energy mandates, and then lay the groundwork for far-reaching climate initiatives, they said.
"One of the biggest setbacks is trying to find the money to pay for all of this. This isn't free," said David Kurzman, managing director of Kurzman CleanTech Research. "Reality will set in and trying to find money...is really going to temper the possibilities over the next 12 months."
Winners and losers
Clean-tech company executives note that during the campaign, Obama articulated his belief that environmental protection and economic development can be closely related. During Obama's acceptance speech Tuesday night, his reference to "new energy to harness and new jobs to be created" could be read in two ways--a call for political involvement or for alternative-energy sources.
In an interview with Time magazine late last month, he said, "From a purely economic perspective, finding the new driver of our economy is going to be critical. There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy."
Clean-tech professionals expect that energy and the environment, which were hot-button issues during the campaign, to continue to command the attention of politicians and the electorate. And the combination of a Democratic-controlled Congress and Obama administration means that government stimulus spending targeted at the energy business is a strong possibility.
"There's a growing sense that investing in infrastructure, even if it means more deficit spending, is a good thing because it will help economic growth in the short and long term," said Ethan Zindler of research firm New Energy Finance. "And green energy has come to be regarded as a 21st-century infrastructure play."
**** sidebar
Clean tech under Obama
President-elect Barack Obama has advocated investing in clean energy to create "green jobs." Here are some possible policy changes.
An investment in upgrading the power grid which would make it easier to use solar and wind.
A national renewable portfolio standard that mandates utilities get 10 percent of electricity from solar, wind, or geothermal by 2012.
Continued support for biofuels and introduction of low-carbon fuel standard.
Increased vehicle fuel-efficiency standards and tax rebates for plug-in hybrids.
Incentives for smart grid products like advanced meters.
A carbon cap-and-trade regime meant to make low-carbon technologies more price competitive.
Research on so-called clean coal technologies to store carbon dioxide emissions underground.
Source: CNET reporting, BarackObama.com
**** end sidebar
Some technologies stand to benefit more than others if Obama's administration is successful in implementing its proposals.
Renewable energies. Obama has called for a national renewable portfolio standard to mandate that utilities get 10 percent of electricity from renewable sources--wind, solar, and geothermal--by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. "That's the backbone the country needs to invest in," said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industry Association.
Although more than half the states already have renewable portfolio standards, many southern states have balked at national standards because they say they do not have sufficient renewable energy resources.
In this case, having an activist federal government, as Obama's proposals suggest, may meet resistance from the states because electric utilities are regulated by a mix state and federal agencies. "It's not just a question of money. It's also a question of governance and public policy," said Jim Owen, a representative for the Edison Electrical Institute.
In the recently passed financial bailout package, solar energy received an eight-year extension of federal tax credits, while wind received only a one-year extension. The election increases the chances that wind energy will be extended further.
Efficiency and smart grid technology. Obama's plan calls for a power grid modernization program and stricter building efficiency codes in federal buildings. That means efficiency products such as demand response, advanced metering, and sensors to monitor usage should further benefit from government incentives, said Kurzman.
A federal initiative to establish interconnection standards and bulk up interstate transmission lines would make power generation of all kinds more efficient and allow utilities to use more renewable sources. "A 50-state role to transmission just doesn't get the job done. You need a federal planning and facilitation," said Rob Church, vice president of research and industry analysis at the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).
Biofuels. Hailing from the corn-producing state of Illinois, Obama is expected to continue supporting ethanol. However, Brooke Coleman, executive director of the New Fuels Alliance, noted that Obama appears to understand that the biofuels industry needs to transition to nonfood feedstocks, such as wood chips or algae, in order to be sustainable.
Coleman said that strong federal policies are required for biofuels to crack into the fossil fuel industry.
"There is not a free market in the fuel sector. There's no real competition in the wholesale supply chain--it's completely owned by oil," Coleman said. "You have to be pretty heavy-handed to fundamentally correct this market."
Auto. Obama has called for increasing fuel efficiency, tax credits for plug-in hybrid cars, and loan guarantees so that automakers can "retool."
But struggling auto makers--said to be running dangerously low on cash--will need government aid in the coming months to prevent larger harm to the economy, argued David Cole, the chairman for the Center for Automotive Research. For that reason, he expects government leaders of all kinds to be supportive.
"Politically, the issue here is pretty stark and cost of keeping the auto industry in game is whole lot less than of a major failure," Cole said.
Fossil fuels and nuclear. During the campaign, Obama said he would allow increased domestic oil and gas drilling as well as investments in so-called clean coal technology where carbon emissions are stored underground. Companies that have coal gasification technologies stand to benefit because they are cleaner source of electricity, said Kurzman.
In the campaign, Obama voiced caution on storing nuclear waste. But during the second presidential debate, Obama said he backs nuclear power "as one component of our overall energy mix."
Skip Bowman, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said Tuesday he expects the new Congress and administration to continue its support of nuclear because it addresses energy and climate change.
Counting carbon
Longer term, the broadest policy change on energy and environment will be climate-change regulations. Obama has called for an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 through a federal cap-and-trade system. Pollution rights would be auctioned, at least partially, which would create a fund for clean technology programs.
Large polluters, like chemical companies and utilities that rely heavily on coal, are the ones that will be most affected. But given that there is stronger political will to tackle energy security than climate change, policies to promote domestic energy production and efficiency are likely to take precedence over cap and trade, said New Energy Finance's Zindler.
Still, the new administration can accomplish a great deal on renewable energy without having to pass multibillion-dollar legislation, said Scott Sklar, a renewable energy lobbyist and president of the Stella Group. Using only the federal government's purchasing power to integrate green building technologies and addressing grid interconnection issues, for example, can be done without passing laws.
"Existing programs can be tweaked to accommodate the new vision," Sklar said. "Depending on how you structure things, you could have a quick and profound impact on new technologies."
New Fuel Alliance's Coleman said that the biggest danger to the Obama administration and new Congress is not "overplaying their hand" and pushing more extreme environmental policies.
"I firmly believe that the linchpin to this entire game is allowing agriculture to play a role in diversifying our energy, whether it be wind, solar, using rural areas for geothermal or wind corridors," he said. "More extreme positions like trying to end coal result in failure and missed opportunities."
CGYV NEWS --
SHANGHAI, China, Nov 06, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- --Contract Expected to Resul t
in Continued Growth into 2009
--System will have 12MW of heat energy generation capacity estimated to recover
145 tons of alkali per day for reuse -- bringing multiple cost saving benefits
China Energy Recovery, Inc. (OTCBB: CGYV) ("CER"), a leader in the waste heat
energy recovery sector of the alternative energy industry, announced today that
it has executed contracts for designing and manufacturing the world's largest
straw pulp alkali recovery system in alliance with CMIIC Engineering &
Construction Corporation, one of China's largest industrial construction firms.
The recovery system is a key part of the Shandong Hai River Basin Pollution
Control Project sponsored by the Asian Development Bank. The total project cost
is estimated to be RMB95 million (approximately US$13.9 million based on the
exchange rate as of date of this press release date), of which RMB79 million
(approximately US$11.6 million) represents the estimat ed cost for the alkali
recovery system that CER will design and manufacture leveraging its own
technology.
The system is to be built for Shandong Tralin Group ("Tralin"), one of the top
paper manufacturers in China. The CER technology will treat the toxic residual
black liquor generated from the pulp making process to create cleaner discharge.
The system is designed to process 1,200 tons of black liquor per day and
expected to enable Tralin to meet the government mandate on minimizing pollutant
discharge.
The system is also designed to generate 145 tons of steam per hour. This is
equivalent to nearly 12MW of heat energy generation capacity and expected to
enable Tralin to reduce the cost of purchasing steam from outside vendors needed
to power its paper making facility. Additionally, the system is expected to
recover 195 tons of alkali per day, which can be reused in the pulp making
process, thus further reducing material cos ts and bringing multiple benefits to
Tralin.
"We expect that the system will be the largest of its kind in the world upon
completion and designed and developed entirely based on our own technology. This
signifies an important milestone for our further expansion in the market of
waste treatment and energy recovery of the paper-making industry both in China
and abroad," commented CER Chairman of the Board and CEO, Mr. Qinghuan Wu.
"We're pleased to see that both the Asian Development Bank and Shandong Tralin
Group have seen the value that CER can bring to them by endorsing our technology
and system which we believe can specifically address their problems."
Mr. Wu also commented, "With the addition of this project, we have already
secured orders with a total contract value of approximately RMB130 million
(US$19 million) for 2009. We have seen a steady flow of new business bookings,
which we expect will bring continued substantial g rowth in 2009. Our dual growth
drivers of reducing energy costs while reducing pollutants are continuing to
drive our growth. The current global economic slowdown does not appear to affect
that."
The numbers presented above are total contract values, which include a 17% value
added tax and the retainage amount for product warranty purposes, which is 5% of
the total contract values and will be recognized as deferred revenues. The
numbers presented represent values based on current exchange rates. Changes in
the currency exchange rates would result in a commensurate change in contract
value.
What is Waste Heat Energy Recovery?
Industrial facilities release significant amounts of excess heat into the
atmosphere in the form of hot exhaust gases or high-pressure steam. Energy
recovery is the process of recovering vast amounts of that wasted energy and
converting it into usable heat energy or electricity, dramatically lowering< BR>energy costs. Energy recovery systems are also capable of capturing harmful
pollutants that would otherwise be released into the environment. It is
estimated that if energy currently wasted by all the U.S. industrial facilities
could be recovered, it could produce power equivalent to 20% of U.S. electricity
generation capacity without burning any additional fossil fuel, and could help
many industries to meet stringent environmental regulations.
About China Energy Recovery, Inc.
CER is an international leader in energy recovery systems, with a primary focus
on the Chinese market. CER's technology captures industrial waste energy to
produce low-cost electrical power, enabling industrial manufacturers to reduce
their energy costs, shrink their emissions footprint, and generate sellable
emissions credits. CER has deployed its systems throughout China and in such
international markets as Egypt, Turkey, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia. CE R focuses
on numerous industries in which a rapid payback on invested capital is achieved
by its customers, including: chemical, petro-chemicals, refining (including
Ethanol refining), coke processing, and the manufacture of paper, cement and
steel. CER continues to invest in R&D and plans to build China's first
state-of-the-art energy recovery system research and fabrication facility to
allow it to meet the increased demand for its products and services. For more
information on CER, please visit: http://www.chinaenergyrecovery.com/s/Home.asp.
Information on CER's website does not comprise a part of this press release.
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. All statements, other
than statements of historical fact, included in the press release that address
activities, events or developments that CER believes or anticipates will or may
occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are based
on certain assumptions made based on experience, expected future developments
and other factors that CER believes are appropriate under the circumstances.
Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond the control of CER and may not materialize, including,
without limitation, the efficacy and market acceptance of CER's products and
services, and CER's ability to successfully complete orders and collect revenues
therefrom. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees
of future performance. Actual results or developments may differ materially from
those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors.
Furthermore, CER does not intend (and is not obligated) to update publicly any
forward-looking statements, except as requ ired by law. The contents of this
release should be considered in conjunction with the warnings and cautionary
statements contained in CER's filings with the SEC, including CER's Current
Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April
21, 2008.
SOURCE: China Energy Recovery, Inc.
CONTACT:
for China Energy Recovery, Inc.
Media
Sean Mahoney, 310-867-0670
seamah@gmail.com
or
Investor Relations
Jim Blackman, 713-256-0369
jim@prfmonline.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
-0-
KEYWORD: China
Asia Pacific
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Energy
&nb sp; Alternative Energy
Other Energy
Manufacturing
Chemicals/Plastics
Other Manufacturing
Environment
Construction & Property
Other Construction & Property< BR>
SUBJECT CODE: Contract/Agreement
Product/Service
The SmartGrid might also get a boost from Obama/Biden:
http://utilipoint.com/issuealert/article.asp?ID=3070
Excerpt, which hits all the right points:
“Invest in a Smart Grid. Achieving these aggressive energy efficiency goals will require significant innovation in the way we transmit electricity and monitor its use. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will pursue a major investment in our national utility grid using smart metering, distributed storage and other advanced technologies to accommodate 21st century energy requirements: greatly improved electric grid reliability and security, a tremendous increase in renewable generation and greater customer choice and energy affordability. They will establish a Grid Modernization Commission to facilitate adoption of Smart Grid practices across the nation's electricity grid to the point of general adoption and ongoing market support in the U.S. electric sector. They will instruct the Secretary of Energy to: (1) establish a Smart Grid Investment Matching Grant Program to provide reimbursement of one-fourth of qualifying Smart Grid investments; (2) conduct programs to deploy advanced techniques for managing peak load reductions and energy efficiency savings on customer premises from smart metering, demand response, distributed generation and electricity storage systems; and (3) establish demonstration projects specifically focused on advanced technologies for power grid sensing, communications, analysis, and power flow control, including the integration of demand-side resources into grid management.”
Natural Gas May Get a Boost from Obama
05 Nov 2008 | 11:57 AM ET
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27555022/
The election of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency should be a boon to natural gas producers, but the forecast is turning dark for oil and coal industries already coping with falling prices.
The potential regulation of carbon dioxide emissions and the threat of a "windfall profits" tax on oil majors such as Exxon Mobil [XOM], Chevron [CVX] and ConocoPhillips [COP] have been two major themes of the Obama campaign.
Al Grillo / AP
Both moves could erode the massive profits those companies have posted on the back of high crude oil prices, industry experts said.
High oil prices usually benefit companies such as Exxon, which last week set a U.S. record by posting quarterly operating profit of $13.4 billion, but Obama's proposals have prompted some analysts to warn investors away from the sector.
"We believe that some of the Obama policies, such as a windfall tax on energy and full CO2 auctions, may lead to a negative result for the industry if (he is) elected," analysts at Sanford Bernstein said in a pre-election note to investors.
Obama, who became the president-elect in Tuesday's vote, campaigned on a platform of increasing fuel efficiency in the U.S. auto fleet and reducing crude oil imports that make up about three-quarters of the nation's supply.
The Illinois senator, like his vanquished Republican rival Sen. John McCain, supports a trading system that would set prices for companies to emit carbon dioxide.
That policy would hurt Massey Energy [MEE], Peabody Energy [BTU], Arch Coal [ACI] and other producers of coal, long one of the cheapest forms of energy in the United States and the source of half the nation's electricity.
That could be an opening for the natural gas industry to boost its 20 percent share in the nation's power generation portfolio and even move into the automobile markets.
As a result, natural gas producers like Chesapeake Energy [CHK] had viewed an Obama presidency with optimism.
"This administration will be very favorably inclined to try to do something about introducing natural gas into the transportation network in a more aggressive way than what has happened in the past four to eight years," Chesapeake Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon told analysts last week.
While the major oil companies also produce substantial amounts of natural gas, others, such as Devon Energy [DVN], Apache [APA] and Canada's EnCana [ECA], are more focused on the fuel.
Although substantial hurdles stand in the way of boosting the role of natural gas as an automobile fuel, its emissions are half those of crude oil and coal.
Obama has endorsed cleaner coal technology that would remove pollutants such as carbon dioxide and allow them to be stored, but that technology has not been tested on a commercial scale, and widespread deployment remains years away.
Congress earlier this year canceled a planned test power station because of soaring costs to build it.
LOWER OIL PRICES, NEW ATTITUDE?
Obama, like many other Democrats, initially opposed opening new areas for drilling, but softened his stance to support some moves in that direction as crude oil raced to a record above $147 a barrel and retail gasoline to more than $4 per gallon.
But a sharp pullback that has sliced more than 50 percent from the price of oil since July could move the new president away from that pledge.
"Prices were high, and you had to appear like you had some sort of a plan," said Michael Cuggino, chief executive of Pacific Heights Asset Management in San Francisco, who manages about $3.8 billion. "I don't believe they ever really expected to enact it."
Obama's plan to provide families with a $1,000 tax rebate and pay for incentives for renewable energy sources with a windfall tax on oil company profits could support oil prices if companies are forced to reduce spending to develop new fields, analysts said.
"I think in general an Obama victory and a Democratic legislature will probably be somewhat bullish for energy prices because of some of their apparent effort to favor alternative energy sources," said analyst James Halloran of National City Private Client Group.
Because of the possible increase in taxes, oil companies' stock performance may not capture all of that potential bullishness, he added.
Still, if oil prices stay at current levels of nearly $70 a barrel, producers of the fuel may be better able to steer clear of the negative publicity of recent months and present their case to the new administration and Congress.
"If the economy is healthy and oil prices are low, there's going to be less ill will," said Ken Medlock, a fellow at the Baker Institute at Rice University in Houston. "And they will be free to lobby for more."
Copyright 2008 Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Thanks for the very interesting post. I believe that the defining issue for the world over the next 25 years will be a shift from dirty to clean energy. I also believe that Obama's election as president of the US is a step in the right direction for exactly that.
The Obama White House – what can green business expect?
From green transport to cap-and-trade, nuclear to oil imports, BusinessGreen.com asks what can we expect from the new President-Elect?
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/analysis/2229791/obama-white-house-green
James Murray, BusinessGreen, 05 Nov 2008
The environment looks set to benefit from Barack Obama's election victory
Now the really hard work begins.
The party might still be going on and my ex-pat US colleagues might have not yet made it into the office this morning after a rather late night. But as the world soaks in the historic implications of Barack Obama's landslide victory, it will also be asking itself what an Obama White House actually means.
For the green and cleantech sectors the question has a certain urgency.
In just 13 months time, the world's leaders will gather in Copenhagen to try and agree a successor to the Kyoto Treaty. If you believe the climate scientists, it is no exaggeration to suggest the future of the planet is at stake and all eyes will be on the new resident of the White House to take a lead and break the deadlock that has dominated talks to date.
Beyond this central question, countless other US domestic green issues ranging from nuclear to renewables, carbon trading to offshore drilling will jostle for attention, and given the US's position as the dominant player in the global cleantech sector, almost all of them will have significant repercussions for green businesses worldwide.
So what precisely can we expect? BusinessGreen.com casts an eye over Obama's policy environmental and energy commitments and offers its predictions for the new Democrat administration.
Post-Kyoto
This is the big one.
Obama has refused to make himself a hostage to fortune, by pledging outright to sign up to a deal that is still being negotiated. But everything about his multilateral foreign policy philosophy and willingness to make climate change and energy security a central plank of his campaign suggests that the chances of a workable deal being agreed have just got a whole lot better.
The commitment to deliver an 80 per cent cut in US carbon emissions by 2050 as part of a cap-and-trade scheme indicates that he will be led by climate science and not shorter term economic concerns. Bringing China and other emerging economies on board will remain a challenge, but there is little doubt the obfuscation and delays that dogged the UN negotiating process throughout the Bush years have ended.
Carbon cap-and-trade
In many ways as significant as Obama's victory is the fact that Democrats appear on track to take control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There will be no excuse not to deliver on central manifesto commitments and as such, a US-wide carbon cap-and-trade scheme committed to delivering an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050 and a return to 1990 emission levels by 2020 looks inevitable.
With the EU scheme now well established, Japan, South Korea and Australia all planning schemes and a US scheme on the cards the future of the global carbon market looks assured.
For US firms, Obama has admitted that a cap-and-trade scheme would result in higher costs for heavy emitters as they are forced to buy in carbon credits and it is likely to also lead to higher energy prices as those costs are passed on to customers.
The move will face opposition from some business groups, but it also makes investments in clean coal technologies and energy efficiency look like a good bet.
Renewables
The renewables sector will undoubtedly prove one of the biggest winners from an Obama administration.
The president-elect has outlined plans to ensure energy suppliers get a quarter of their energy from renewable sources by 2025 and this target is to be backed up by government investment of $150bn (£93m) over 10 years in cleantech R &D. In particular, he has pledged to target investment at biomass, solar, wind, plug-in hybrids and clean coal and carbon capture technologies.
Transport
One of the few areas where Obama attracted criticism from environmentalists, was in his support for biofuel subsidies and farmers growing corn for ethanol producers will continue to enjoy generous hand outs.
However, less contentious aspects of green transport can expect a boost, driven in large part by the commitment to double fuel economy standards within 18 years.
To meet this target, Obama's campaign promised a raft of incentives and targets, including tax credits to help automobile makers fund the development of more efficient cars, $7,000 tax credits for customers buying greener cars, a goal of having one million plug-in hybrids in circulation by 2015, and an increase in the target for second generation biofuels to 60 billion gallons by 2030.
Oil
Central to almost all of Obama's green commitments is a desire to cut oil consumption by 35 per cent by 2030 and effectively end US reliance on Middle East imports.
It is a big ask and as a result, the President-Elect has left himself some room to manoeuvre, executing one of the few u-turns of his campaign by claiming he would allow some expansion of offshore oil drilling.
That said, one of the many results of the end of the Bush era is that there will no longer be a self-proclaimed oil man in the White House and the industry can say goodbye to any chance of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. It will also be bracing itself for a windfall tax designed to help families cope with rising energy prices.
Nuclear
As with oil, Obama left himself plenty of wriggle room on the topic of nuclear. An expansion of the US nuclear sector looks likely, but the scale of that expansion is unclear. He has also pledged to grasp the nettle of nuclear waste disposal and environmentalists will be watching closely to see how he takes on that perennial challenge.
Funding
Obama may have once joked that he was from Krypton, but regardless of the press coverage suggesting the contrary, he is not Superman.
As such, much of his environmental agenda will have to navigate the reality that is the US economic crisis. The cupboard is bare and there is nothing about Obama's green policy programme that looks low cost.
This is the big unknown of the Obama presidency, and while the deficit may all be Bush's fault, the Democrat's dominance of all branches of government mean they will not be able to blame the previous president for long if things don't start to go right.
The likelihood is that some of Obama's green commitments will have to be watered down, but it is hard to imagine too many of them being significantly diluted.
That means that revenue will have to be raised through taxation and, more likely, auctioning of carbon credits in the new carbon market. The knock-on effect will be that higher energy costs become a long-term reality, putting carbon intensive business models under yet more pressure.
For years, analysts and market watchers have predicted this would happen, but now it looks a cast iron certainty and as a result the case for investing in energy efficient and lower carbon technologies and business models has never looked stronger.
This board is dedicated to all things related to cleantech and renewable energy, two emerging sectors with significant potential for transforming the American economy and society. Both sectors also hold considerable promise as lucrative fields for traders and investors.
Last Update: 4/2/2009
--------------------------------------------
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20090106 - China's Grid Gets Smarter - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
20090105 - Solar Achieves Grid Parity (Maybe) - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
20081210 - Thar' She Blows! Wind from the Sea! - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
20081205 - Electric Cars on Display in D.C. - news.cnet.com/2300-13833_3-6248179-1.html
20081204 - Solar Car Goes 'Round the World - www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx
20081202 - SoCal Ed Powers Up Rooftop Solar - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
20081202 - Japan and Italy Go Solar Together - seekingalpha.com/article/108526-is-sharp-corp-looking-for-european-solar-power-ventures
20081202 - Canadian Green Goes Public - www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Carbon2Green-Developments-Ltd-Go-Public/story.aspx
20081126 - Watch the Wind in Denmark - seekingalpha.com/article/108153-wind-power-what-we-can-learn-from-denmark
20081126 - Portugal (and Oregon) Prepare to Charge Cars - seekingalpha.com/article/108014-portugal-renault-nissan-set-electric-car-plan
20081126 - India's Orient Green Power raises $55M - www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp
20081126 - France Ups its Solar Game; NY Joins FL & CA and Calls for FITs - www.renewableenergyworld.com:80/rea/news/story
20081125 - Connecticut Jumps on Cleantech - www.renewableenergyworld.com:80/rea/news/story
20081125 - The French Get Down with Solar - www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php
20081120 - Will the Recession Kill the Smart Grid? - www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/industry/Will_the_Recession_Kill_the_Smart_Grid.html
20081120 - Demand for Solar Silicon Wafers goes South for the Winter (and maybe longer) - seekingalpha.com/article/106781-renesola-s-profit-up-153-5-stock-tumbles-on-weak-outlook
20081116 - Caveat for clean tech venturing in China - sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi
20081115 - Hey, you, get offa my Sun! - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
20081112 - Starfish Ventures (Australia) Closes $185M Tech Fund - biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081112/aqw146.html
20081106 - DOE offers $25B in loans for advanced vehicle development - www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx
20081103 - Near-perfect Solar Film - www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx
20081031 - Are there lithium shortages in our future? Maybe... - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10077965-54.html
20081028 - Renewable Tax-Credit Investment Heading Up or Down? - www.greentechmedia.com/articles/renewable-tax-credit-investment-heading-up-or-down-5066.html
20081023 - CPUC Denies Finavera/PG&E Application for Wave Energy Project - biz.yahoo.com/ccn/081023/200810230493284001.html
20081023 - Arnold Praises CA's new Thermal Solar Plant - www.gov.ca.gov/index.php
20081006 - Solar in The O.C. - www.ocregister.com/articles/solar-system-power-2182818-nguyen-energy
20081005 - Q3 2008 VC-backed clean/green/renewable ventures up - seekingalpha.com/article/98556-on-the-paulson-plan-and-greentech
20080715 - Smart Meter Pilot Program in Washington, D.C. (video) - www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail
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Technologies:
A Killer App for Electric Vehicles? - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Batteries are key for electric car rollout - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Big, big batteries for the power grid - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9977209-54.html
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) - investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx
Solar Thermal Electric: The Technology and Politics of CSP - www.salon.com:80/news/feature/2008/04/14/solar_electric_thermal/print.html
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The Big Boys play clean, green, and renewable:
ConocoPhillips - seekingalpha.com/article/98506-conocophillips-cto-stephen-brand-discusses-r-d-efforts-in-cleantech-energy-technology
GE - news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10075889-54.html
Google - seekingalpha.com/article/119910-google-gets-into-home-energy-management
GM - www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/
IBM - www-01.ibm.com/software/solutions/soa/green/
IBM/EDF - seekingalpha.com/article/107333-ibm-to-research-smart-grid-tech
Intel - www.greentechmedia.com/articles/chip-giants-delve-deeper-into-solar-1015.html
Samsung - www.eweek.com/c/a/Data-Storage/Samsung-Unveils-New-HighCapacity-Green-Enterprise-SSD/
UPS - biz.yahoo.com/ap/081027/ups_alternative_vehicles.html
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Resources:
Advanced Metering: California Dreaming is Becoming a Reality - 1-hour webinar with reps from 2 of the Big 3 IOUs discussing the smartgrid/smarthome of the (near) future: uaelp.pennnet.com/webcast/display_webcast.cfm
Better Place - "...working to build an electric car network, using technology available today.": www.betterplace.com/
Carbon-free Prosperity 2025 - a plan for the Pacific Northwest: www.cleanedge.com/reports/pdf/CarbonFreeProsperity2025.pdf
Cleantech Blog - commentary on technologies, news, and issues relating to cleantech, next generation energy and the environment: www.cleantechblog.com/
Florida: Building a Foundation for Excellence in Clean Energy: www.eflorida.com/IntelligenceCenter/Reports/Clean_Energy_MB.pdf
EcoGeek - a somewhat cheeky look at the eco scene: www.ecogeek.org:80/
greentechmedia, a comprehensive and incisive compendium on the cleantech market: www.greentechmedia.com/
Hot , Flat , and Crowded, Thomas Friedman's impassioned call to Code Green: www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-flat-and-crowded
National Renewable Energy Laboratory - www.nrel.gov/
Seeking Alpha/alternative-energy - trader-centric views on the cleantech market: seekingalpha.com/tag/alternative-energy
Smartgrid Primer, Xcel Energy's excellent 7-minute video introduction to the future of the electrical grid: birdcam.xcelenergy.com/sgc/index.html
Smart Meter Primer, video and flash animations from Itron on how their OpenWay meter works: www.itron.com/pages/products_detail.asp
Thin-Film Solar Webinar: 1-hour presentation on all things thin-film: www.greentechmedia.com/events/webinars/thin-film-technologies.html
World Energy Outlook: energy analysis and projections from the International Energy Agency: www.worldenergyoutlook.org/
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