Road Runner

34 Comments

    • Pimco's Bill Gross: Jim Cramer Is 'Courageous' and 'Entertaining' [view article]
      Sorry. but I don't find useless stock advice entertaining. It's just "thought polution" for me. Sep 05 12:03 PM
    • Pimco's Bill Gross: Jim Cramer Is 'Courageous' and 'Entertaining' [view article]
      Do you realize that you've pretty much admitted that Cramer is not worth listening to for investment advice by saying that the reason to listen to Cramer is "entertainment&qu... Admit it, Cramer has done a poor job of predicting stocks over the last year.

      And, he is wrong about the Fed. They have done a good job of managing the economy in the last year. This financial meltdown could have led to a much worse problem with the economy. We have yet to have a negative GDP quarter though one or more are finally coming.

      And, I agree with D-D - Cramer changes his mind constantly on a stock. It's hard to take his advice. He often does too shallow of a job analyzing a stock and gets too focused on one part of a business. Then when news comes out about problems in another part of a company’s business and the stock drops, he will say something less than rosy about the stock – but it’s too late!
      Sep 05 10:29 AM
    • Hydroelectric vs. Slow Volcanic Power [view article]
      I don't understand your map. The map appears to say that geothermal is available in over 90% of the US. Is that right? Sep 04 05:34 PM
    • SunPower, Solar Stocks Hit By Panel Price Prediction [view article]
      aquaculture, Where does Photon post? Sep 04 05:15 PM
    • SunPower, Solar Stocks Hit By Panel Price Prediction [view article]
      Isn't the continued drop is solar prices a given?! That's what the whole expectation of reaching grid parity is all about. I don't understand why this is being eccepted as new news. Sep 04 05:08 PM
    • No Matter Who's Elected, Alternative Energy Wins [view article]
      It would be nice if people that post would write their articles like the Wall Street Journal by making it short and to the point. Sep 04 05:00 PM
    • U.S. Wind Power Doubles to More Than 20 Gigawatts in Two Years [view article]
      Go wind. Sep 04 11:55 AM
    • Investing in Water - It's Not Just for Drinking [view article]
      Your article is more of an introduction to an interesting article than an article itself. There little in your article that an investor can use. I agree that water is a critical issue, and maybe a great investment opurtunity. Aug 28 10:08 AM
    • Solar Generation Costs on Track to Achieve Grid Parity [view article]
      Correction. bismuth antimony telluride is used for the thermoelectric effect and not CdTe. Still my point remains that the extremely rare earth metal Te (tellurium) is used. Aug 27 02:33 PM
    • Solar Generation Costs on Track to Achieve Grid Parity [view article]
      nakedjaybird, I believe the technology you are talking about to recover waste heat is the "thermo-electric&... effect. This is a very promising energy advancement. Researchers have made great strides lately. It means turning any heat source into electricity, including body heat. However, this technology is mostly still in the lab, and one of the leading technologies uses CdTe which is the same rare element Te that is used by First Solar. Seems to me that this technology has a lot of maturing to do.

      Also, you make the assumption that energy use in the US will be stagnant. It won't be. It is expected to grow by a staggering 50% by 2030. There will be plenty of room for all new energy technologies and for continued use of fossil fuel.
      Aug 27 02:22 PM
    • Solar Generation Costs on Track to Achieve Grid Parity [view article]
      Good article. I think you are on target with your estimates. You picked some key data points from the massive amount of data out there on the solar market. Go Ausra and Sunpower.

      One thing to add. Solar will reach grid parity at much different times for different places. Southern California will reach it much sooner than most other places. Electricity is high there compared to the rest of the country, the sunlight profile is much brighter there, and its 15 million residences is a large market which will help price reductions through economies of scale.

      For solar concentrating technology (and even solar PV farms), the Mojave desert has one of the best solar profiles in the world because it is a high desert (over 2000 feet in elevation). It is also very close to those 15 million people. Money has already been approved for greatly improving the power transmission lines into the desert for both solar and wind power.

      One more thing about California. It is very liberal when it comes to the environment. Coal fired power plants are looked down on. Alternate energy is loved.

      So when it comes to watching the grid parity game, keep your eyes focused on southern California. It will be one of the first places in the world crossing the grid-parity finish line. When it crosses, and volume of solar installations there starts taking off, it will speed cost reductions and promote installations elsewhere. This is the "critical mass" effect that us investors in solar power are waiting for.
      Aug 27 02:10 PM
    • Events in Russia Could Push U.S. Toward a Clearer Energy Policy [view article]
      You hit on a very important point in your article - it's our national security that is the most important driving force behind getting ourselves off foreign oil and not global warming. I believe global warming is very important, but it is not the argument that is going to force us down the path of energy independence, and thus to alternate energy development. If we work toward the national security goal, we will naturally build the technology and infrastructure to address global warming.

      Oil money for a country ususally lead to bad behavior by the country's leaders. They can use oil wealth to buy off the people of the country and build a military. Russia's military was in very bad shape, but now with oil prices high, they are building it back to something threatening.       Aug 22 07:20 PM
    • Everything They Tell You About Solar Is Wrong - Travis Bradford [view article]
      Nothing new here. Not enough details to be of value to investors. Would Make a nice fluff article in a newspaper (if anyone reads those anymore). Aug 15 03:48 PM
    • SunPower Is a Semi - It Deserves to Be Valued Like One [view article]
      alpha24seven, There alway seems to be at least one person on these blogs that is clueless, and maybe manipulative. Today, you are that person.

      First, all the solar companies are working very hard to reduce costs. There is a huge amount of incentive to reduce cost. They know that the game is reduce cost or die. Have you read any of SPWR annual report? It is full of cost cutting measures. They want to cut costs in half in the next few years.

      Second, the solar companies are in a "chicken or egg" situation. They need higher demand and thus higher production capacity to reduce cost, but demand will not rise until the cost comes down. This is where the government needs to fill the gap, temporarily.
      Aug 04 02:50 PM
    • SunPower Is a Semi - It Deserves to Be Valued Like One [view article]
      It seems to me that the whole silicon based solar play is based on whether the US congress passes the extension of the solar credits or not. If they do, there will be plenty of demand for all the solar supply and SPWR will do well. If they don't, then there will be oversupply and SPWR will take a beating.

      The US is the 800 pound gorilla in the world solar market. We have large cities in the sun belt. The LA to San Diego region is over 15 million people, and it has a very good solar profile, and it is relatively wealthy compared to most of the world, and it has very high electric rates.       Aug 04 01:36 PM
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