Our World and Everything in It

I’ve been interested in investing in “green” business and/or stocks but didn’t know who or where to look for these particular type of stocks and ran into this great website, InvestorIdeas.com, that lists almost 400 “green” stocks in 16 categories. There are a handful of mutuals featured too.

Every company listed is an active link and has a little description and history about the company. I especially liked the categories. Already people have preferences. I know I lean toward hydrogen fuel cell technology and yup it’s a category. There is the basic solar, wind, geothermal, and hydrogen technologies along with biogas, ethanol, and clean power plants to the companies that supply parts like turbines and flywheels.

So there are a lot of choices out there already. I guess I lean toward hydrogen fuel cells because Daimler-Chrysler was the company that supplied Iceland with their first commercial hydrogen buses back in 2003, and recently GM said that was an avenue they will pursue. Just yesterday I saw the commercial for Honda’s new fuel cell car that emits only “clean water vapor.” Hydrogen is on its way. If you ever get a chance to catch the Eco Tech series on the Science Channel watch for the engineer that invented hydrogen pellets that supply power on demand. He commented that we may be putting pellets in our tanks before long.

While I don’t know about that one, automakers are leaning toward hydrogen. Hopefully we will utilize hydrogen power and clean our water in the process. Now I would like a piece of that!

Check out this informative investment website: http://www.renewableenergystocks.com/Companies/RenewableEnergy/Stock_List.asp.
 

Imagine fueling your car with a biodiesel that gives off the sweet smell of chocolate and costs around $1.16 per gallon. That is a reality for Andy Pag of London and John Grimshaw of Poole. They are planning a trip from England to Timbuktu in their FORD Ford Iveco Cargo truck. Notice the emphasis on Ford. You know if other people in other places are fueling our cars and buses with different, and this one is different, biodiesels than what’s our hold up? Chocolate of all things. I guess it keeps the engine lubed better too. 

The article in Environmental News said the company, “Ecotec developed a proprietary process for converting waste chocolate from the nearby factory into bioethanol on an industrial scale. Previously this waste was thrown away in landfill sites but now the bioethanol it makes can be used for fuel in petrol-burning cars and in the production of biodiesel.” So there really are chocolate factories.

It said Andy and John would be carrying “2,000 liters of biodiesel produced from 4,000 kilos of chocolate mistakes…” I wonder if it smells faintly like chocolate in its biodiesel state? I could not endure the 4500 mile journey with the constant smell of chocolate. I wonder what this biodiesel tastes like?

Read the story. It’s probably one of the most unusual substances used for biodiesel so far. Who knew bad chocolate is just thrown away and whoever heard of a chocolate mistake of all things?

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2007/2007-11-26-02.asp.

It’s really funny to me that scientists from around the world declared global warming to be real and that we are the cause of a lot of it, and people–senators, judges in England, all types, argued and some are still arguing the point, but once again capitalism and the old pocketbook is the catalyst for change in America.

Rising oil prices have industry scrambling to invest in energy saving technology. Wind is taking off so fast, GE, one of the biggest producers of wind turbines, are strapped to keep up with demands. Four billion gallons of ethanol were produced last year. We have 100 ethanol plants already, although I don’t like this trend. Wind good, corn NOT.

The MSNBC article I read stated that it’s no wonder. Industry consumes 1/3 of all energy. Without cutbacks, their profits get squeezed. Since there are some government incentives to invest in alternative energy sources, high oil prices are just the catalyst needed to drive industry into conservation ur umm going green, never mind that without massive change we suffer bad, bad consequences. Fires, floods, tornadoes, no matter, the real motive is profit.

I say, whatever works! I’ve read other articles that predicted the retail and industrial market is what will drive environmentalism forward. Those articles speculated that governmental policy in this administration would not likely be the catalyst, duh. The article also said what I blogged about before, there is more and more capital available for going green.

It’s a very encouraging article about how companies are cutting costs, making changes that are driving the market forward. This is good folks. The more interested industry is, the better the innovation gets, and the lower the cost to us.

Read: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12040418/.

I just read an interesting article in U.S. News and World Report called “Power Revolution.” It says that due to Silicon Valley’s money, ideas, and push for alternative sources of energy they may make the green movement happen faster and with better alternatives. Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and venture capitalist, is one that is interested in promoting alternative energy now. He believes the government will move when entrepreneurs get interested and start moving. One estimate shows venture capital funds for green investments tripled last year to $2.4 billion working toward a clean future.

In the solar arena, there is Pacific Gas and Electric that announced it will install 5 times the amount of solar power available in the U.S. Their motto is cheaper, bigger, and faster. One of its partners, Solel, an Israeli firm will use mirrors much like the Kramer Junction solar plant, but PG&E is looking to reduce the silicon used for conductivity down to an ultra thin film. It will lower costs. The plan is to concentrate the energy reflected by the mirror film to one point. By increasing the energy and lowering the cost, the flat lands of the desert should provide enough solar resource to provide six times what California uses today.

One of the most promising renewable energy sources is one that isn’t often mentioned–deep geothermal heat. And how do you like this?  Bush’s Crawford ranch is heated this way. He’s killing us with his thrust for more oil exploration, and more money in his civilian pocket, but uses geothermal energy himself. Anyway, MIT is working on improving this technology. Cold water is pumped down miles into the earth causing fissures in hot molten rock; the cold water is heated when it enters the fissures. The heated fluid flows back up to the production wells at the surface. The steam from this hot fluid is separated and used to turn a turbine generator. The article said that MIT stated it “could provide 10% of the U.S. base energy needs if the nation would spend $1 billion on its development over the next 15 years—less than the cost of one coal plant.” Hear that DTE?

As far as keeping ethanol in the equation, everyone pretty much agrees corn isn’t going to cut it. But, Range Fuels, founded by Khosla, received Dept. of Energy grants to make cellulosic ethanol fruition soon. A new commercial plant is set to go up outside a Georgia forestland in order to use all the timber waste wood. Range plans on using heat and pressure to change the wood into gas. Range’s senior exec used to be a VP for Apple Computer. Techies aren’t just providing capital; they’re on the job too.

Finally, not to be left out of the successful techie trek to the renewable energy market is Google. Google is sticking its money into plug-in hybrid cars. Google figures this is the quickest fix to lower our CO2 problem.  It has a lofty goal of getting 100 mpg out of some cars. They want to see the big automakers mass produce plug-ins. From a program that I saw on Eco Tech on the Science Channel, there is the possibility that a plug in car can have a spare charge. When it’s plugged into an outlet again, the excess power goes back to the grid and shows up as a credit on the homeowners electric bill! That’s just too ingenius!

For the whole article: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2007/10/26/power-revolution.html.
 

Ann Arbor, Michigan has added one dozen hybrid buses for its midcity service. Plans are to replace all the buses with hybrids. Although the buses cost more, in the next 5 years the hybrid buses will save the city 2 ½ million dollars in fuel costs. The best part is that the fare remains the same. Go Ann Arbor!  It’s a start, but many cities have to run to catch up with the Big Apple.

New York boasts the largest hybrid bus fleet already, and its taxis are switching over. They’re ahead of many major cities for energy consumption because most people use mass transit systems or walk to get around. They’ve also switched their traffic lights and walk signals to light emitting diodes that use 90% less. New York has replaced at least 180,000 old refrigerators in its public housing projects to energy savers. What a nice bonus for poor families. They get new fridges.

 Even the Statue of Liberty and all of Ellis Island are efficiently lit by wind power. New York has mandated that all it city government offices use energy efficient A/C, copy machines, cars, and soon computers. New York is a leader that is being noticed by other major cities and could soon be a model of what to do, and how to do it, quickly. Mayor Bloomberg “wants the remaining tax-delinquent housing stock in the city’s hands made available to developers with energy-saving building designs.” It needs to. Even though we’re told energy expenditure is predominantly from auto emissions, in New York City, the biggest energy expenditure comes from its thousands of old buildings.

Taking the lead to change is the Hearst Corporation.  The new Hearst Tower is a marvel. Over 90% of its structural steel is recycled material. I watched the details about it on the Science Channel. It’s not only functional but also beautiful. There is a 3-story waterfall inside that both humidifies the air in winter, and cools it in the summer. I have family in New York. The next time I travel there, I want to see this building.  To take a virtual tour goto: http://www.hearstcorp.com/tower/facts/. Read more about New York’s biggest changes:  http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/nyregion/11efficiency.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 

Connect the dots. The Bush Administration was caught altering reports about global warming. I watched an investigation that showed the altered reports on a Canadian news channel. And many scientists have come forward to speak out about censorship. I just received a new petition in the mail to urge the latest EPA official to use science not politics in its reporting about the environment. So they did it. It needs no explaining. They are oilmen.  

U.S. automakers followed the government’s lead, and produced and kept selling gas-guzzlers. They sidestepped what should have been their business savvy and figured surely the Bush Administration would come through. All the while, Time Magazine and many other publications were reporting about Toyota’s push to be number one. Toyota is now way beyond introducing a hybrid. They are working on perfecting it. I wrote a blog about this because I thought is was in the poorest business sense for the Big 3 to overlook the competition. We can do just as well, but needed to get going on it yesterday.   

Then earlier this year, we watched as the Big 3 scrambled to Washington, only to be snubbed by the president. I thought the scramble was curious. What would prompt the automakers to do that? And why the sudden snub by an oilman president who should love these guys? 

Lately one of our own federal governmental agencies, Health and Human Services, suggested its employees should buy hybrid. They suggested the whole federal fleet should go hybrid. This suggestion was via e-mail to 67,000 employees! A spokesman for Health and Human Services said no malice was intended. Like a lawyer asking to strike a comment, it’s too late. Secy. of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt, took office Jan. 26, 2005. Prior to this he was head of the U.S. EPA. Does this strike anyone else as odd? The EPA has been full of scandal. Reports of global warming must have been altered when Mike was there. And now what the heck, let’s go green and buy foreign comes from his agency?

What??? This is clearly an effort to hurt the U.S. automakers and not because they haven’t produced hybrids, since it was fine with this administration just last year. The only other reason to hurt a U.S. industry this quickly would be to break the unions. Excuse me, but I missed something if there is another reason. Leavitt isn’t part of the new congress that is pro environmental. He’s been buried in the Bush administration all along when it went from pro-polluter to environmentally friendly??? 

I might not have the dots connected perfectly but there are far too many questions with this whole scenario. It looks like the environment is suddenly the order of the day when it comes to vehicles, something that is a real stretch to believe of the Bush Oil Administration.

What is really becoming clear is that the environment is being used as a pawn lately for all types of spin, pitting the environment against jobs here in Michigan. Now it’s being used to work against U.S. automakers by the feds. Rep. Dingell said it right when he said, if we go green, everyone goes green. The auto industry should not be singled out. It looks to me like that’s exactly what is happening.                              

It’s Sunday so I’m preaching. If we read the bible and are befuddled by the meaning, know this, some words like “light” always mean the same thing. Light means knowledge, knowledge of the Word. Well, the word on the street is about global warming evidently. That knowledge or light is turning on everywhere, literally.

 People are buying CFL lights like hotcakes. My husband ran to Home Depot yesterday. As usual it was a madhouse. I forgot to tell him to pick up some more CFL lights. He said they were all picked over. Everyone was buying them. One guy had a basket full. Another was wondering about them. My husband en”light”ened him about all the varieties out there now and told him everyone he works with changed their houses out with the new bulbs. My friends are changing out.

Lowe’s has a good selection too. They have smaller CFL’s, different shapes, 3 way, flood lights, etc. We have to hand it to light bulb manufacturers. They saw the opportunity change brings and jumped on the bandwagon. Three years ago I bought 2 CFL full spectrum lights for my bird for the winter. They cost $20 each! Now I can buy a 4 pack for half. The old bulbs used to flicker and take way too long to actually go on. That’s been fixed. People demanded variety and the bulb manufacturers not only produced, but passed the reduced cost onto us with lower prices.

To finish up my preaching, I hope the wave of light keeps moving and rubs off on big energy. Had they invested in the infrastructure for alternatives like ethanol years ago, (remember the ethanol pumps in the 70’s), we wouldn’t have polluted the earth anywhere near as much. Big energy would still be richer than Roosevelt with the new endeavor, and maybe we would be up to par by now. By that I mean I am grossly disappointed that we are not the Jetsons yet. I so looked forward to that back in the 70’s. I figured we’d be in hovercraft. We could board a mass transit tube of some sort and be shot home. But noooo, we still roll around on rubber, burn fossil fuel, and depend on ourselves to actually steer, accelerate, and brake while the distractions we engage in while driving grow, (cell phones, booming music, On Star). Tell me it’s not so. This cannot be the 21^st century.

So this,  the eve of another 21^st century year, can we please push the big guys to move to the future. Can we shake off the dust of the 1900’s. It will be 2008 by time we have American hybrids that run on hydrogen, ethanol, or electric. We’ll still be rolling around on rubber, driving cars that go way too fast for the speed limits, (what’s the sense?), and that we can’t legitimately drive anyway if we stop for a few beers. I’m for skipping the whole morphing process. It’s too slow, we’re already behind for my taste, and quite frankly if I could crawl into a tube after drinking too much and be shot home safely, great.  Now that would be one heck of a ride. 

     There are all types of casualties we endure on a daily basis especially during times of war. Losing someone or something precious can happen moment to moment. And although our lives are upset to the point we don’t think we’ll recover, we do. I just wonder how many people realize the biggest casualty of all is happening in small increments every day that none of us will recover from if we don’t turn it around.

Our environment is taking hit after hit, and many of us still do not know that when it’s stated we have 10 years to do something, it does not mean we have ten years before we start doing something. It means if we do not start today toward reversing global warming by controlling our pollution it will be irreversible within 10 years. It’s a good idea to control pollution to begin with. By all the water bottles I see these days, I realize that everyone does get the idea that maybe our water isn’t all that clean, and probably our air.  What I also see by those same water bottles is that we really aren’t getting it at all. Where do you think those plastic bottles go? If your community recycles that’s great. If you recycle on your own, then bless you, but unfortunately only 70% of all our garbage is recycled. Those bottles end up in landfills of which there are approximately 6000 in the U.S.  Plastic takes around 500 years to decompose. Do we love our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren? Then what are we doing?

The intent of this news blog is to be in your face about our world because we’re all in this together, and if you or my other neighbors don’t jump in and help, the experience of living won’t be what we once knew. Right now it is what it is “An Inconvenient Truth” as Al Gore aptly named it. Many of our little conveniences in life may have to be abandoned to save our earth, save ourselves. It’s a rude awakening, but the sooner we snap out of it, the sooner we turn it around. No more burying our heads in the sand or waiting for “they or them” to do something. They or them is us, all of us.

Anyone who has any questions about anything environmental feel free to blog. If you know something you don’t think the rest of us are aware of blog it. If you don’t quite believe in global warming yet let us know why. Anyone who has already adapted his or her lifestyle differently to save on anything let us know how, so we might adapt. One idea becomes a ripple that becomes a wave and the whole community benefits.

None of us are perfect angels about the environment. I still drive a gas hog, although I’m looking at all hybrids and beseeching Ford to revive the cobra body style with an electric/ethanol motor. I’m a baby boomer that wants a hybrid sports car. Any baby boomers out there want to weigh in on that? Doesn’t an environmentally friendly sports car sound good? My tip to any other gas hog drivers out there, consolidate your running around. I’m down to 2 days per week. Group up and ride to work together. Quit running your kids around and enjoy family nights. Quitting our rat race can help the environment.