User Page: Tim Plaehn

Sin City gets first U.S. solar thermal mfg. plant

By Tim Plaehn  
December 15, 2007 – 4:22 pm

Yes, Las Vegas, Nevada will be home to the first solar thermal manufacturing plant in the U.S. Ausra, Inc., which is on it’s way to becoming the big player in the field, announced they will build a 130,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant there. The highly automated manufacturing and distribution center will produce the reflectors, towers, absorber tubes, and other key components of the company’s solar thermal power plants. Production at the plant is scheduled to begin April 2008.

Ausra (the non-public company I most wish was public so I could buy stock in it!) is headquartered in Palo Alta, CA and has recently signed several agreements to provide solar thermal power plants to several utilities. The most recent was an agreement to build a 177 MW plant for Pacific Gas & Electric in California. Articles on this site concerning Ausra’s projects are here, here, here, here and here.

Solar thermal power plants can provide electricity with zero pollution at market cost. This plant will be able to produce 700MW of capacity per year, enough to power 500,000 homes. If you are not familiar with the concept of solar thermal this is what the press release says:

“Ausra’s Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) solar technology utilizes the heat from the sun’s rays to create steam. Solar collectors boil water at high temperature to power steam turbine generators, in much the same way as traditional fossil-fuel power plants, but without use of fuels or emissions.”

Having lived in Las Vegas a couple of times, I am pleased to see this type of business set up there. They definitely have enough space and sun for lots of solar power production!

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Space based solar power goes terrestrial!

By Tim Plaehn  
December 14, 2007 – 10:15 am

Emcore Corp, a leading supplier of space based solar power and communication systems has signed a contract to supply 60MW of solar power systems to Pod Generating Group in Ontario, Canada. From their space-based experience, Emcore has formed a Solar Power division to bring advanced technology to terrestrial applications.

On the ground, Emcore provides multi-junction solar cells that are combined into concentrator photovoltiac (CPV) arrays. CPV technology uses lens and mirrors to concentrate the solar power onto the multi-junction cell. The concentrator allow a cell 1 cm square to generate the same power as a 500 sq. cm of solar cells would without concentration. The use of low cost materials to manufacturer the concentrators make the arrays more cost effective than conventional silicon modules.

Emcore developed the first generation of CPV in 2006 and is working on gen II. It appears this sale to Pod Generating Group will be the first large scale application of their technology. Their different approach to solar power generation may make them a company to keep an eye on.

Emcore is a company with several lines of products in broadband, fiber optic, space and terrestrial solar power. The company’s stock trades on the NASDAQ with the symbol EMKR.

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Good news and bad about renewable energy growth

By Tim Plaehn  
December 12, 2007 – 1:44 pm

A pair of recent reports on the growth of renewable energy show how renewable sources are growing rapidly in response to global energy needs. They also show we have a long way to go to replace traditional energy sources.

First, Exxon Mobil has released its annual Outlook for Energy which forecasts energy demand until 2030. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Global energy demand is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 1.3% per year, with the developing world growing a a 2% rate, and the developed at 0.5% per year.
  • Hydrocarbons will make up 80% of energy use through 2030. Oil and gas will be 60% of the total energy use.
  • Wind, solar and biofuels will have excellent growth of 9% per year. However, these sources now only provide 0.5% of world energy use and will be only 2% in 2030.

The U.S. Department of Energy; Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program (EERE) has released a preliminary report on the growth of renewable energy sources. This report has some good news on the growth of renewable energy. Renewable energy use is growing at greater than 10% per year world wide:

  • Excluding large hydro-power, renewable electricity production grew 15% last year and now makes up 5.5% (237 gigawatts) of global energy production.
  • Breaking down renewable sources, first the percentage of renewable power the source provides, and second the growth of production last year (if provided):
    • Wind power: 40% of renewable with 25% growth
    • Small hydro-power: 31%
    • Biomass fueled electricity: 18.5%
    • Geothermal: 4.2%
    • Grid connected PV systems: 3.2% with 56% growth
  • Ethanol production increased 15% to 11.6 billion gallons and biodiesel increased 33% to 2 billion gallons.

These reports show how renewable energy is and will provide outstanding growth in investment potential, jobs and global weather benefits. However, projections show well over 90% of energy will still come from hydrocarbon sources, so there is a long way to go.

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Investing in the future of portable power

Five micro fuel cell companies that could change the world

By Tim Plaehn  
December 10, 2007 – 9:13 am

With over 1 billion portable electronic devices being sold world wide annually, freedom from the recharging cable will make some company’s investors rich. The idea of a refuelable or disposable fuel cell that will power cell phones, PDAs, ipods and laptop computers for extended periods of time without recharging is the goal of several companies. The development of tiny fuel cells that are safe, reliable and cost effective is on the horizon. Here is a list of publicly traded companies hard a work to develop the product that is battery of the future for small electronic devices.

  • Neah Power Systems: This company has taken the direct methane fuel cell (DMFC) in a different direction by replacing the typical polymer membrane with a porous silicon wafer that is claimed to be generate a higher level of power in a smaller format. Neah Power trades on the OTC symbol: NPWS.
  • Medis Technology: Here they have developed what they call Direct Liquid Fuel Cell (DLFC) technology using liquid borohydride. The DLFC is claimed to be passive technology without the internal fluid transfer mechanics required in the methane powered fuel cells. The stock is listed on the NASDAQ: MDTL.
  • VIASPACE Inc.: The VIASPACE Energy subsidiary is working on disposable DMFC technology. VIASPACE uses technology licensed from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The stock trades on the OTC bulletin board: VSPC.
  • MTI Micro: This subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc. (MTI) has their version of DMFC’s called Mobion. With 80 patents that improve the technology, MTI has licensing agreements with Samsung and Duracell to help get their technology into the market. MTI stock is NASDAQ traded: MKTY.
  • Power Air Corporation: Power Air has developed a technology called the Zinc-Air Fuel Cell (ZAFC). Obviously, they use zinc vs. methane as fuel for their products. The company was covered by this site here, and are aiming to have products commercially available by next fall. Stock is OTC BB: PWAC.

So pick your technology: DMFC, DLFC or ZAFC. One or several of these companies have the possibility to radically change how we power our small electronics. And with billions of these devices throughout the planet, that could be a very profitable change.

Picture: MTI Micro Mobion

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Study shows higher ethanol blends may improve fuel economy

By Tim Plaehn  
December 7, 2007 – 3:40 pm

One of the criticisms of ethanol as a vehicle fuel is that fuel economy is reduced due to the lower BTU content of a gallon of ethanol vs. gasoline. However, a recent research study has shown ethanol blends of up to E30 may actually improve fuel economy for cars on the road today!

The research was performed by the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center and the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research. Their report is titled Optimal Ethanol Blend Level Investigation.

The testing was performed using four cars, all 2007 models, a Toyota Camry, a Ford Fusion, a regular fuel Chevrolet Impala and a flex-fuel Chevrolet Impala. The vehicles were tested using the U.S. EPA fuel economy test procedures and they were also tested using the EPA standard emission tests for pollutants. The vehicles were each tested using regular gasoline, ethanol blends at 10% intervals up to E70 and E85. Here are some of the more interesting findings:

  • Three of the four cars had better fuel economy at either E20 or E30 than with regular gas. The best was the flex-fuel Impala, which had an improvement of 15% on E20. The others has a small improvement on E30.
  • All of the cars has significantly reduced emissions on higher ethanol blends.
  • The non-flex-fuel cars were able to run and perform without problems on blends of up to E45.

What I take from this is that cars on the road today could run on ethanol blends up to around E30 without a loss of fuel economy or performance and flex-fuel designed vehicles may even have improved fuel economy. The U.S. currently consumes 400 million gallons of gas per day. Replacing 25% of gasoline with ethanol would reduce annual gasoline consumption by 40 billion gallons, and probably send the Saudis to the poor house!

The report said the government should do further testing to confirm the results of this relatively small sample. If the results are verified it could be very good news for the ethanol industry.

Source: Alternative Energy News

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Biodiesel production could yield many benefits to India

By Tim Plaehn  
December 5, 2007 – 11:20 am

I read a headline today on plans in India to use satellite imagery to find land that is currently wastelands that could be used to grow jatropha curcas as a biodiesel feedstock. A little research revealed the cultivation of jatropha in India may provide some valuable additional benefits.

First up are the better known benefits of biodiesel:

  • Renewable fuel to reduce dependence on oil.
  • Cleaner burning than traditional diesel for lower emissions.
  • Biodiesel can be used at different blend levels to work best with local vehicle requirements.

Some additional benefits that could result:

  • Using land that is currently considered wasteland to grow the oil feedstocks does not displace and food crops.
  • Advanced technology can be used to locate the plantations to have optimum results in land use, refining and transportation costs.
  • The jatropha plantations could provide additional employment to to India’s large population.

An Indian government study shows 20% of the country or about 64 million hectares qualified as wasteland. This study hypothesized a 5 hectare jatropha oil plantation would provide a family a 60,000 rupee annual income at today’s prices.

To sum up the benefits I will take a quote from the study above: (NCR is the region around Delhi)

“As NCR has both urban as well as rural areas, the bio-diesel production will thus lead to growth of economy in both urban as well as rural sector. In urban sector, it will provide an environment friendly fuel, which will save the non-renewable sources of energy and would thus save the urban area from more pollution. In rural sector, it will provide employment to many people and will thus solve the problem of unemployment to a great extent. Also, the well-connected road network in this area would thus help in transportation of fuel as well as raw material in an efficient manner. “


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Electric Delivery Trucks Coming to U.S.

U.K. manufacturer to build all-electric trucks in U.S.

By Tim Plaehn  
December 4, 2007 – 5:39 pm

Smith Electric Vehicles has decided to bring their electric trucks to the U.S. They plan to set up manufacturing and produce up to 10,000 of the electric trucks per year. Smith Electric Vehicles is based in the U.K. and has introduced their electric delivery trucks to their home market and Europe. Now they plan to expand into the U.S.

Smith will produce their Newton model truck (pictured above). The Newton is the world’s largest high-performance electric truck. This truck has a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of up to 24,000 lbs. GVW is the weight of the truck including payload. The Newton offers these performance statistics:

  • Battery powered 120Kw drive system with a max speed of 50 mph
  • Fully charged range up to 150 miles
  • Regenerative braking to recover energy from braking process
  • Payload capacity up to 15,800 lb.

In the U.K., Smith Electric Vehicles is on track to ship 250 trucks in 2007. Customers include DHL, Starbucks and the Royal Mail. Production in the U.S. is projected to start in 2010.

As a fully electric truck, the Newton has zero tailpipe emissions. Replacing the thousands of diesel powered delivery trucks in urban areas with trucks like these would have a significant positive impact on our cities’ air quality.

Source: Alternative Energy News

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5 Benefits of Bioenergy

By Tim Plaehn  
December 3, 2007 – 3:26 pm

C. Scott Thomas, a consultant to bioenergy companies, recently gave a speech where he outlined what he calls: Bioenergy’s “Top Five” List. I see it as the five benefits of bioenergy. Here is Mr. Thomas’ list with links to further details of each point:

  1. Convert solar energy into liquid fuel. Points out we need liquid fuels for many of our energy uses, not available from wind and solar power. link to details
  2. Reduce greenhouse gases. link to details
  3. Remediate ecological disasters. link to details
  4. Revive depressed economies. link to details
  5. Expand energy freedom of choice. link to details

I found the discussion of the individual points interesting and though provoking. To me, point three had a different slant on excess biomass in both forests and urban areas that can be converted to liquid fuel. Also, some good information on the advanced technologies coming in the biofuel industry. Take a quick scan or read in detail. You will get some good information.

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Record flight by fuel cell powered aircraft

By Tim Plaehn  
December 3, 2007 – 3:11 pm

A small electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) achieved the record flight time of 7 hours powered by an advanced fuel cell system. The fuel cell system was provided by Protonex Technology Corporation ProCore fuel cell system. The UAV was an AeroVironment (AV) Puma small hand-launched electric AUV. (Note: AV link did not work at the time of this writing)

Protonex is a leading provider of advanced fuel cell power systems for portable and mobile applications. The ProCore UAV can provide up to 5 times the energy density of advanced battery systems.

The AV Puma has a flight time of approximately 2 hours on it’s standard battery power. The over 7 hour flight duration by the Puma using the Protonex ProCore fuel system far exceeded the flight duration of the Puma using any other power technology. AeroVironment has developed a number of solar and fuel cell powered vehicles and unmanned aircraft.

Both Protonex and AeroVironment are publicly traded companies. Protoniex trades on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol PTX, and AeroVironment is a NASDAQ company, symbol AVAV.

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The other side of replacing carbon energy: Conservation

5 companies that reduce energy demand

By Tim Plaehn  
November 30, 2007 – 3:55 pm

For me it is easy to get excited about the growth in renewable fuel and energy sources. As an investor, I enjoy learning about companies making profits in solar, geothermal and wind energy. Or producing biofuels from various renewable sources. However, a big factor in reducing our dependency on petroleum and coal energy is demand side conservation, and there are companies working to make an impact in this arena. Demand side technologies are aimed at reducing energy consumption in homes and commercial buildings. These technologies may include building components that reduce energy use or intelligent systems for managing power consumption.

Here is a listing of companies the NEX index includes as demand side companies and are U.S. based:

  • Cree, Inc. CREE: Cree is the only independent LED (light emitting diodes) supplier for lighting manufacturers. They are also said to possess the best technology in the LED industry. LED lighting is a significant way to reduce electricity consumption.
  • Echelon Corp. ELON: Echelon is a leading provider of network technology that is used to manage and reduce energy consumption.
  • International Rectifier, IRF: is a leading power management company. Leading manufacturers of computers, energy efficient appliances, lighting, automobiles, satellites, aircraft, and defense systems rely on the company’s power management solutions to power their next generation products.
  • Itron, Inc. ITRI: Itron provides solid-state meters, automated meter reading technology, enterprise-wide software platforms, and real-time analytic applications for energy and water providers.
  • Comverge, Inc. COMV: Comverge provides energy solutions that enhance grid reliability and enable utilities to increase available electric capacity during periods of peak energy demand.

There you are, five companies trying to meet the need of reducing future energy consumption. Take a look and see if some of them meet your investing needs.

Article is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities.

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