zigger

There's Been Major Deflation for Some Products

the inflation we're all concerned about is in the last year or less. What if you recalculated for that period? I'd be interested to see that, but based on my own experience at stores, I think you'd see everything has gone up.

In the Cat Bird Seat: A Review of Emcore’s Business

_scorp,

maybe not a major player, but they did just supply 22 miles of cable to the IBM/LANL roadrunner project. I don't know anything about fiber costs and profit margins, but assume that isn't much of a sale, and may be why you say they are a peripheral player?

As for their solar piece, they have 2 operating 25KW modules on their property. these are 2nd generation modules, and went up very fast. they are now producing the structural module components in Mexico, and have an Albuquerque production line that can make 10,000 populated cell modules in a week (that is, a 3/5 cell mounted to an isolated substrate with a secondary optic enclosure and the necessary interconnects/diodes to wire it in.) some of these cell modules will go into the structural modules being made in Mexico, while some they will sell to customers as-is, for integration into their own modules. The cell module production line was just started in the Spring, and I understand they are now starting a second line, which I assume means they have the demand to justify the capital equipment cost. that might be an assumption that is going to be put to the test, but i'm long on this one.

Record Decline in Driving, Record Level of Conservation

dang, i should learn to proofread before publishing; average ORT mileage is 5 mpg.

Record Decline in Driving, Record Level of Conservation

whoops, i mean gasoline use is about 180 x 10^7 gallons per month.

Record Decline in Driving, Record Level of Conservation

carlosz,

10 mile per gallon seems low, i'd like to check the math; where did you get the 20 mil. barrels/day on the EIA site? Is that only for transportation use, or does it include all uses? I found on the EIA site motor gasoline sales to be about 180 x 10^6 gallons per month, for all grades of gasoline sold in the US. Dividing that into 245 x 10^9 miles/month gives about 175 miles/gallon! so something is off in my calculations. One thing you didn't address; is the 245 billion miles traveled per month for passenger traffic, or does it include over the road truck traffic. ORT average mileage is about miles per gallon of diesel. What is the calculation if you divide passenger traveled miles by gasoline useage? Then i'd be interested to see what a 5 mpg improvement would do to our useage.

let me know if this makes sense.

Dynamic Dynegy - Cramer's Lightning Round (5/19/08)

Strange to hear Cramer say that this is an overcrowded segment.... Solar may well be overcrowded, but there are only two players that make cells for concentrating PV; Emcore and Spectrolab. Spectrolab, aside from being a division of Boeing, is only selling their cells for the satellite market, and hasn't entered the terrestrial market. This leaves emcore as the only player in the terrestrial cell market, so I wouldn't exactly call that section "overcrowded".

Where Are Emcore's Commercial-Sized Orders?

deadpumper,

is is time to cover yet?

Where Are Emcore's Commercial-Sized Orders?

having done some work for Emcore in the past, I can say that they've put a lot of effort (starting about 4 years ago) into solar terrestrial PV. And, their cells have always been very near the top of the heap for overall efficiency. I am very impressed with the advances they have made in the past 4 years. Whether or not they capture a significant market with this technology remains to be seen, but i believe they are on the right track.