Cleantech roundup: Ethanol and solar suffer, wind and geothermal growing, and more
Here’s some news on various cleantech sectors to take you into your Thanksgiving:
1) Ethanol burns its investors
2) Expensive turkey? Blame biofuels
3) Weakened energy bill may dent solar projects
4) Wind power set to triple by 2015
5) Geothermal projects continue to gain momentum
6) Singapore is the latest to open a carbon exchange
7) Global warming may cause conflict
Market shifts put the heat on ethanol companies — Falling market prices due to overproduction and rising material costs (more on this in second item, below) both contributed this quarter to push ethanol companies into the red. The average investor putting money into ethanol in December 2006 has now lost 25 percent of their money, according to Bloomberg News. Some individual companies have taken worse hits, with evidence of the pain appearing in those that are publicly traded. Ethanol stocks tumbled Monday, with Pacific Ethanol leading the decline with about an 18 percent drop and continuing to fall as news emerged that an investment fund backed by Bill Gates is selling its shares.
Biofuels, especially ethanol, push up food prices — We’ve reported before about the effect of ethanol production on food prices, but the issue may now be entering the public consciousness in the United States. Take, for example, this CNBC article, which points out that the price of most Thanksgiving foods (turkey, stuffing, and so forth) has risen due to increased ethanol production in the U.S., which cuts directly into supplies of corn previously used for both human consumption and feedstock. In fact, corn prices are at a ten-year high, with a bushel now going for $3.80, versus $2.50 in September 2006. If the general level of awareness grows due to similar mainstream media articles, public enthusiasm for ethanol may fall off. That could have a big effect on the alternative fuel, which currently still enjoys political support and large government subsidies.
Weakened energy bill could hurt solar investment — Reconciling the differences between House and Senate versions of a new energy bill will likely result in dropping several important sections. Provisions mandating higher usage levels of renewable sources by utilities, as well as tax breaks for solar projects and other renewable sources, are the most endangered. Public stocks in solar companies have fallen as a result, although it remains to be seen whether the bill’s final version will hurt private investment in solar, which tends to be more oriented toward new technologies than expensive public projects.
Wind power may triple by 2015 – A firm called Emerging Energy Research has released a report claiming that the power generated from wind projects will triple by 2015, although a number of factors could defy forecasts. Earth2Tech has a good summary.
Geothermal projects continue to gain momentum — Take a look at this recent story about a new 150-home community near Toronto, which uses underground piping to help heat and cool homes, to get an idea of the growing enthusiasm for geothermal. Although it’s difficult to establish intellectual property based around underground heat sources, the current surge of consumer interest in green tech is providing enough capital to make geothermal startups worthwhile for startups anyway. We’ve written about two other startups separately, Altarock (our coverage) and Thermasource (our coverage).
Singapore opens local carbon exchange — Investor interest in carbon trading has encouraged seven stock exchanges in four continents to establish separate carbon exchanges, although the market is still only in the initial stages of development. The eighth to add its name to the roster is the Singapore Exchange Ltd, which will mainly compete with the Asian Carbon Exchange.
Global warming may cause conflict — A new study suggests that changing temperatures equate with global unrest, basing its claims on historical data, although it stops short of blaming higher temperatures in Crawford, Texas for any recent wars.
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About the Author, Chris Morrison
Chris Morrison writes about cleantech and environmental issues for VentureBeat, with occasional forays into gaming and semantic technology. He got his start writing about tech for Business 2.0 magazine, but quickly realized new media was the ticket when that institution closed its doors in 2007. Chris has also covered public equities and regulatory issues. He originally hails from southern Virginia, graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington, and now lives in San Francisco.