Alternative Energy Index

Alternative Energy Indexes
Fuel Cells, Alternative Fuels, Batteries, Controls, Motors, Solar

Quote du jour: 03/23/02: "After four very happy years, our EV-1 went back to GM today....The salesman who checked it in was the same one we dealt with four years ago. He said, "I could place ten of these a week; it is a real shame GM doesn't make them available." I said I'd be back for the GM fuel cell car in the year 2079."

06/29/17
10:01:13 EST

Active Indexes
Index raw numbers are based on delayed closing quotes and are updated once per day after trading hours, with one check after that.
Closing Index prices are recorded after trading hours and charted once per day.

Alternative Energy Index:
[7/19/1999=100]
Index At Close Of Most Recent Trading Day:
26.72
Percent Change From Close Of Previous Trading Day:
-3.36%
A-E Index Graph

http://www.herecomesmongo.com/images/ae.png

Battery Index:
[8/30/1999=100]
Index At Close Of Most Recent Trading Day:
54.28
Percent Change From Close Of Previous Trading Day:
0.01%
Battery Index Graph

http://www.herecomesmongo.com/images/battery.png

Alternative Energy Index
ARTX BLDP EVRC FCEL FSYS GAIA MHTX MKTY MXWL SATC SPIR

H2 2015: removed VLNCQ
01/24/13: removed ENA, ENERQ, DYMTF
5/20/08: adjustment for 1:8 reverse split for MKTYD
Fall 2006: IMGC acquired, dropped.
06/20/04: APWR bankrupt, shares in index sold at zero (news stories indicate shareholders will get nothing).
03/03/02: MEOH removed: A tough call because I think Methanol is competing to be a fuel of the future, but they don't care about making theirs renewably and their positions on such matters as MTBE are somewhat inconsistent with good activist principles. Hard to make the call on removing them also from the fuel cell index because methanol is being directly considered for fuel cell use by such companies as MHTX and MDTL and is a component of some biodiesels.
12/18/01: HIPC (pure-play, ethanol) bought out by Abengoa of Spain, replaced with Dymtf.ob (pure-play, bio-fuel-from-wood-and-such)
06/02/01: MXWL, IMG added
03/07/01: ELSI(E) dropped

Battery Index
ARTX ENR EVRC IQPR.OB JCI ROV SAFT.PA ULBI WIRX

H1 2016: removed LITH.OB, PWTC.OB
H2 2015: removed VLNCQ
January 24, 2013: removed ENERQ
August 31 2009: SPCBQ.PK delisted (0.3555555556 index shares sold at zero)
September 06: ALA dropped, SAFT.PA added.
May 2004: Remainder of Bankrupt Exide finally dropped.
07/02/01 ALA ENR EX IQPR JCI PWTC ROV ULBI added
03/07/01: ELSIE dropped

Retired Indexes

Wilder-Hill Fuel Cell Index (Retired):
[9/13/1999=100]
[11/2/2007=130.745]
Fuel Cell Index Graph

Fuel Cell Index:
CWBYF.OB BLDP DESC DKNDF.PK ENER FCEL HYGS IDA IMCO ITMPF.PK MCEL MDTL MEOH MHTX.PK MKTYD PLUG SATC SYNM

Notes to Fuel Cell Index

Other a-e stocks:
ACPW AEAM AEE AMSC ASRF AZD CHP CPST CTAL ECCO EURO.OB FDEG FTMTF JLMI KOR LPWR M MAG NEG.CO NPW OILS.OB ORBT PNM PNW POWR.OB PX SGII SO SOA SOC STG.V TIRIF TMG.V TMO TOUP.OB UCR USU UTL VWS.CO WPT.TO ZERO

Note: The following sector lists and definitions are my own, imperfect and not comprehensive. Most symbols are yahoo conventions.

Other Solar Companies
ATA.TO EMKR XSELE.OB UNS ENERW ESLR KYO SANYY RD BP EMKR SWV (German)
In 1999 the six largest solar companies produced 71% of worldwide solar panel shipments. These six are BP Solarex, Kyocera Corp., Siemens Solar Group, Sharp Corp., AstroPower Inc., and Photowatt Int'l S.A.
The top seven manufacturers accounted for about 82% of the world's PV shipments for 2001. They were (in approximate order) Sharp, BP Solar, Kyocera, Siemens Solar (recently purchased by Shell), AstroPower, RWE Solar, and Isofoton.

For the well-heeled, Thai Photovoltaics, made a pitch for investment at a conference I attended in June, 2001. I wrote then: "They're trying to build a 20 megawatt amorphous silicon plant in Thailand and hope to be up and running partly in about 18 months. I am passing the info on, because of the dearth of solar investments. I am a little wary of being used, and they certainly were guys with their hands-out, but I saw nothing awry. Minimum Phase II investment seemed to be about $102,000, unfortunately. I wonder if their Phase III Loan will allow smaller bond-holders."
Now, 05/05/02, they have written me with an update that they have completed Phase 1 and are working on Phase 2 of their need for investments. They also said they're trying to allow smaller investors some options. I have no idea if they're a good investment. It's so very hard for the little guy to find reasonable pure-plays for his desire to invest in solar-PV. The sector seems very ripe for investment. Many of the large makers seem to be investing in their own capacity. Examples are Sharp and Sanyo.

Other Water-Related Companies
CLX WWAT MXWL PWREE.OB CCC SWWC AWR SCW GAIA GWTR.OB A water investment web page is at www.waterinvestments.com (Great Page!)
Other Bio-Fuel Companies
Abengoa of Spain, ADM CPO DYMTF.OB FTEK MWGP STDE.OB SSPC.OB WMB 03/04/02: A good biofuel information page. I think biofuels (biodiesel, pyrolysis oil, ethanol, etc.) are arguably a primitive form of solar power and a piece in the puzzle of the future.
Some Utilities of Note:
FPL ETR GMP GPU DQE DTE SO
Other EV Companies
AEAC BAAT BBDA.TO MXWL UQM ZAPP
Other Fuel Cell Companies
EGYV.OB KSE
Other Wind Companies
IHII, YORK, VWS.FRA (Vestas... ".fra denotes traded on the Frankfurt exchange), FPL (utility with some nuclear exposure but some renewable-leanings), MX gears for Windmills. Aeromax: appears to accept some small private investment. Thx to Tomi From Finland), MXWL (trying to put their ultracapacitor to work turning windmill blades).
2 Private San Diego Wind Companies: Seawest, Tomen
Other Battery Companies
ULBI EX PWTC.OB ALA BOLD
Natural Gas - Related Companies:
EOG ENE APC OEI WMB BR UPR APA NBL STR PPP EEX CNG SNT
Hemp- Related Companies: (copied from the investment page of globalhemp.com)
FRBW.OB GAIA KMB LEA
Mutual Funds with an alternative energy aspect:(there aren't many).
NALFX, GCBLX GCEQX, trilliuminvest.com ($600,000.00 minimum). Nuveen has three defined portfolios for fuel cell investing. Here is one of them.
From Tomi in Finland: A list of the holdings of Merrily Lynch's New Energy Fund (hard to say if this fund is available to US customers, though I'm not surprised there are holdups: US investors are usually kept blind to exciting overseas alternative energy investment opportunities and this fund seems to have a focus on that): "...(this info is from summer 2001. ENER is at the moment their biggest holding, with 9% stake of the fund)

CANADA: Ballard, Dynatek Industries, Global Thermoelectric, Hydrogenics, Stuart, Turbo Genset, Westport Innovation
USA: Active power, American superconductor, Astropower, Beacon Power, Carninus, Capstone turbine, Catalytica energy, DCH technology, Energy Conversion Devices, Evergreen solar, Fuel Cell Energy, H Power corp, Impco technologies, Intermagnetics general, Millenium Cell, Plug Power, Proton energy systems, Satcon technology, Xantrex technology
DANMARK: NEG Micon, Vestas Wind
GERMANY: Energiekontor, Nordex, Plambeck New Energy, Solarworld, Umweltkontor renewable energy, Windwelt
SPAIN:, GPO auxiliar metal
UK: Innogy holdings, Johnson Matthey
AUSTRALIA: Renewable energy

"Socially responsible" mutual funds with some small alternative energy aspect:
DIEQX DSEFX
Large-Caps With Significant Influence On The Direction Of Renewable Energy Efforts:
ARLP BPA CAG CANNY CNX DCX DD DOW DPH EIX ENE EPG F GE GM HAL HMC KYO MMM NSANY PTBRY RD SASOY SMAWY SNE SPI SRE TM TOS TXN UTX VLKAY WMB XOM YPF
Private Alternative Energy Companies of interest:
Greenmountain.com, Atlantis Energy (Solar), Woodfuel.com, SolarFlex.com
Other private companies and activities:
Bechtel, Intergen (joint Shell-Bechtel venture)
Other A-E Company list pages:
An Alternative Energy Stocks Page
alt energy news
Investgreen.ab.ca, does a better job than this page, especially with tracking down investments in solar, wind, etc. outside of North America.
Worldwatch, Eco-Web.com
Page which focuses on brainstorming microcap investment ideas: Microcaptrader.com
Other sources of environmental information and news:
www.worldenvironment.com (worldwide info, not just US)
Lycos's environmental news service (convenient email service)
www.solaraccess.com: solar and other renewable news (convenient email service)
www.evworld.com: Electric Vehicle news and editorials (convenient email service)

Fossil Fuel Funds and Stocks:
SSGRX OEI

Miscellaneous

08/12/01: Update: To this day, no ethanol promoter is bothering to put forth information on the current price of Ethanol. Price of Ethanol 04/11/00: $1.33 per gallon (fuel grade) (1 gallon ethanol = 76,000 BTU = about .67 gallon gasoline by energy content)
To buy E-85 or Biodiesel (20% or 100%) and have it delivered to your home, try worldenergy.net This should also give some idea of retail pricing to consumers. Biofuel Discussion page.

Renewable Energy News Web Page - Clipping Service (convenient email service)
Yahoo Alternative Energy News

Ebay listings for vacant land in the Western US (such as for building solar-to-fuel farms) (Note: no matter how land brokers present themselves, so far I have found them to all be sellers' brokers, without any interest in guiding you toward what you really want or to letting you know of others' property for sale. I know of no site which really helps us get great deals on land. I know of no-one anywhere who yet sees vacant Southwestern Land as an "alternative energy" investment, even though what was yesterday's "waste" land is tomorrow's valuable land if solar energy is to be harvested in a widespread fashion. Note also that much Southwestern Land is either Indian Reservation property or government-hoarded.]

Software credits: Original CGI/PERL Software by Howard Jow. Extensive Further Modifications by Don Simonetta.

AE Index, FuelCell Index, Battery Index design and stock weightings copyright herecomesmongo.com.

Indexes designed primarily with spreadsheet software in Sun's Office Suite, downloadable from sun.com. It used to be free, now it costs about $76.00 for the latest version. A terrific deal as against the price of its rival, the MS Office Suite.. My personal view of this suite.

Over-complicated HotDog used for web page html design to avoid the characters often snuck into a page by free programs such as Front Page Express.

Stan Ovshinsky, father of the NiMH battery: "The people who are saying that [electric vehicle] battery technology isn't ready are absolutely wrong," he says. "It's part of the party line. It's self-perpetuating. It's very sad. You tell a lie big enough and long enough and people start to believe it. The fact of the matter is volume. That's the only reason batteries are the cost they are."

My opinions:

11-08-04: A spreadsheet with my (undoubtedly flawed) attempt to examine some (but not all) of what looks like ballot stuffing in Florida in the 2004 Presidential Election.
04-20-02: The Senate bickers over CAFE and ANWR and California Drilling 7 months after we are attacked by those funded by us.
02-25-02: Lost in the noise.
02-02-02: The type of car the oil companies fear: The SDSU L3: A 260 hp grid-chargeable hybrid diesel-electric that operates as a pure electric at driver discretion...."HGCEVODD"...0 to 60 in 7 seconds or less, depending on gearing, and it gets better than 2 miles per kWh depending on how it's driven.
12/20/01: Rambling thoughts about the Energy Bills to be voted upon in February 2002.
12/11/01: Pros and Cons of Ethanol as an alternative Fuel.
10/29/01: Advice to Republican Strategists to help with their 2004 Presidential Campaign Efforts.
10/29/01: Some of my comments from the HIPC board on yahoo about our own funding of the terrorists, via purchase of Saudi Arabian oil, and general purchase of world-market oil which helps fund such terrorist nations as Iran.
03/31/2001Is Mr. Bush doing everything possible to address the energy crisis?
03/16/2001 Understanding how bad it's really become: US and World Oil Demand, US Dependence on imports for Oil.
03/16/2001: Reaction to Democratic Energy Proposals
03/07/2001: Comments to the Cheney Energy Team
02/22/2001: Some comparisons of vehicle mileage per standard unit energy, and costs per mile.
02/01/2001: A comment or two on the California Energy Crisis.
10/15/2000 Some notes on the Presidential Election and the emerging issue of Energy Policy.
10/07/2000 The European Crisis
03/09/2000 Why didn't we rid ourselves of OPEC dependence following the Gulf War?

Others' opinions and research:

08/28/04: An Alternative Energy Blog from London, England
01/05/04: The Legalization Of The Looting Of Corporations by Jane Ellis
09/05/2002: A June 2000 "Draft" report (in pdf format: sorry) from the California Air Resources Board giving extensive analysis of different types of Electric Vehicle Batteries, with cost comparisons and other pros and cons. Two-years outdated, I still find it useful, particularly given CARB's relatively unbiased position.
07/03/2002: In San Diego, Don Bauder's column today summed up many current complaints with the investment system. Do American CEOs really make 400 to 500 times what the average employee makes? He claims that four decades ago their income was only 60 to 80 times that of the average worker.
03/09/2002: A paper from Tompaine.com, "The Perverse Subsidies of Fossil Fuels" by Myers and Kent. Also from Tompaine.com: "What's At Stake in the Energy Debate" by Laura Ephraim.
02/18/2002: The Village Voice reviews our growing strategy of using Russian Oil to counter our dependence on Saudi Oil. As Secretary Abraham put it: 'Greater energy security through a more diverse supply of oil for global markets -- these are key elements of President Bush's National Energy Policy.'
02/09/2002: Greenpeace report on subsidization of the Oil Industry.
02/02/2002: Jack Doyle discusses the $200,000 per minute leaving the U.S. Economy to pay for Oil, and the smokescreen the Big 3 and The Bush Administration are putting up to avoid better mileage requirements.
01/24/2002: The full text of Senator John F. Kerry's speech outlining his progressive energy policy proposals, which include some real consideration of alternative energies and conservation and better-mileage vehicles, in opposition to the Bush Administration Proposals.
01/18/2002:Is the U.S. Solar Industry falling behind the Germans, Japanese and others? Is the industry one of the most important industries of the future?
01/16/2002: Arafat and the Ayatollahs Exposed: William Safire's summary of Iranian and Iraqi funding of Palestinian Terrorism, the persistence of their efforts to acquire Nuclear Weapons, and some indication that they'd love to use them on Americans and Israelis.

"Teheran has again shown itself to be the world arsenal of terror. Iran's ayatollahs have been increasing their sponsorship of terrorist war - yesterday on the "Great Satan" of America, today on Israeli Jews, tomorrow on the whole non-Islamic world. Iran's Hashemi Rafsanjani reminded us recently of the glorious day "when the Islamic world acquires atomic weapons". He acknowledged that in a nuclear exchange the nations of Islam would suffer damage, but only one great nuclear blast 'would destroy Israel completely'."

01/15/2002: All U.S. Electric Power needs could theoretically be supplied by wind? A British article on European and worldwide expansion in Wind Power Efforts.
01/06/2002: One of the best articles I have read summarizing some of the history of oil pricing, prognistications of "running out" of energy, the difficult economics of trying to innovate with alternative energies in a cheap-oil environment where global warming externalities are not reflected in fuel pricing.
12/27/2001: California Energy crisis discussion, Southern Cal's regular practice of storage of energy in dams by reversing the water flow and then using it as needed, and some solar installation and rebate discussion.
11/21/2001: ExxonMobil funds the skeptics attacking the Theory of Global Warming and the public policy push for Kyoto. The report was prepared by Greenpeace and was found on an anti-Esso page.
11/16/2001: A superb PBS Frontline in-depth show about Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism (the Saudi Fundamentalist variant of Islam), and the funding of Educations in Violence and Terrorism througout the Middle East by Saudi Money. This link is to the web page which corresponds to the documentary that aired on TV.
11/11/2001: Fouad Ajami, A scholar at Johns Hopkins, examines the situation in the Middle East: "Those were not Afghans who flew into those towers of glass and steel and crashed into the Pentagon. They were from the Arab world, where anti-Americanism is fierce, where terror works with the hidden winks that men and women make at the perpetrators of the grimmest of deeds."
11/03/2001: The latest from hondaev.org about availability: EV1's still being junked? Ford Th!nk availability is limited to some areas (in California, within 35 miles of a dealer, of which there are only five), Toyota RAV4 not yet available to general public if it ever will be.
10/31/2001:

Iran's Ongoing Efforts to acquire Weapons of Mass Destruction, and their possession (already) of medium range balistic missiles capable of reaching Israel or Turkey.
Department of Energy table: Japan supports terrorist efforts (however inadvertently) by importing and paying for 500,000 barrels per day of Oil from Iran. (Note: I absolutely admire so much about Japan and their companies' inventive efforts in alternative energy and in other fields. I urge change in their energy importation policies so that they can help stop funding the bad guys).
CIA Presentation detailing warnings about various nations' (Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, etc.) extremely dangerous terrorist efforts, and some nations' records (Russia, China) of helping them acquire weapons and delivery systems.

10/30/2001: Leonard Peikoff's full-page New York Times ad calls for a more clear dedicated war on Terrorism and the nations that sponsor it, particularly Iran.
10/26/2001: An update on the GM EV1 situation indicating perhaps they are maintaining some existing vehicles after all.
10/21/2001: A New York Times discussion of American Dependence on Saudi Oil and their resulting influence on our Foreign Policy, despite their funding of the Taliban.

"To a certain extent," said Philip K. Verleger, an independent economist and a senior adviser in the Carter administration, "we let U.S. foreign policy be dictated to us by the house of Saud."
"It is unclear what the United States can do to loosen its ties to the Saudi regime, so long as it remains reliant on its oil. Mr. Bush urged the Senate last week to get to work on a comprehensive energy policy. But the White House and most Republicans want to focus on developing domestic oil supplies. Given the fact that the United States has only 3 percent of the world's known reserves, increased drilling will do little in the long run to decrease dependence on the Middle East."

10/17/2001: A New Yorker article about the long-standing corruption of the thousands of Saudi "Princes", their knowing funding of terrorists via "religious" donations and such, and the persistence of our dependence on them and alliance to them including very clear refusals by any administration to redefine the relationship.
09/28/2001: A Brown University Anthropology Professor discusses the huge oil deposits in provinces near Afghanistan, our desire to build a pipeline through Afghanistan and Pakistan, and our past support for the Taleban calculated to have resulted in successful building and control of the pipeline.
Other papers by Beeman:

Understanding Osama Bin Laden
Why Do Middle Eastern Terrorists Hate The United States?

09/19/2001: General Motors Destroys The Evidence That They Made A Great EV.... even though it would help US Citizens to stop buying Middle Eastern Oil.
07/23/2001: Former GM CEO Bob Stempel's reaction to the supposed non-viability of Electric Vehicles reprinted from Design News. If someone will forward a link I will link it properly.
07/01/2001: An Sfweekly article on how Detroit Auto and Big Oil have succeeded in their campaign to prevent Electric Vehicles from coming to mass production.
06/15/2001: A fantastic Wall Street Journal Article warning of the promoters and scam artists who have flocked to the field of offering alternative energy stocks.
06/14/2001: On The Subsidization of Gasoline... for those who think that defense of Fossil Fuels is equivalent to Defense of Free Market Principles. This one seemed pretty good too, a similar analysis from our own Governmnet Accounting Office, of massive subsidies for petroleum and ethanol.
05/29/2001 : A Washington Post article discussing the solar subsidy program in L.A. and why installations have been much slower than had been expected.
05/27/2001: Excerpts from Taken For A Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution, by Jack Doyle.
04/24/2001: A law school paper by Jeffery Weiss of San Diego, examing the Precautionary Principle, increasingly a matter of discussion in Environmental Law circles. Any Law Journal wishing to publish an updated version of this article please contact me at webmaster@herecomesmongo.com and I'll try to put you in touch with Mr. Weiss.
04/17/2001: Bush Administration backs continued funding for Coal and Nuclear Research, cuts already minor solar and wind research.
04/02/2001One opinion on the The California Electricity Situation (pro-deregulation).
03/26/2001: Bravo Clint Eastwood for installing and making and selling solar energy, and supporting progressive legislation.
02/17/2001: San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy bravely suggests that Solar Energy is a great idea for the city and its buildings and fields.
02/11/2001: Bush Energy Policy is heavily influenced by the CEO of Enron.
An article and survey demonstrating that auto manufacturers are lying when they say that no one wants to buy Electric Vehicles.
On the Economics of Solar Energy
03/01/2000... "The fundamental driverof the 20th century's economic prosperity has been an abundant supply of cheap oil." (C.J. Campbell, March 2000)... A thought-provoking (if conspiratorial) essay suggesting that there really might not be that much Oil out there.
Influence in the White House: a brief listing of White House Aides and their Auto-Oil Industry Backgrounds.

Getting an EV update:

Hondaev.org seems to have some up-to-date info.

02/01/02: The RAV4 is available to California Consumers (not just fleet-buyers) by going to http://rav4ev.toyota.com. Thank you Toyota. It is not yet available to consumers outside of California. It is available to fleet buyers nationwide by calling Greg Glander at 310-468-4042. It is not clear what non-California consumers who are not fleet-buyers can do to acquire the RAV4 electric except to lie and somehow convince Toyota that you are qualified to buy as a fleet buyer. You would be asked for your business's tax forms or something. I don't think Toyota has set up a phone number for you to register your interest, as they did for Californians.

12/28/01:Toyota shows some leadership and has made their RAV4 Electric available to all California Consumers (along with big state incentives). This was partly in response to customer demand and perhaps partly due to weakened 2003 CARB ZEV mandates still in place. It is not clear to me why Toyota chooses not to make this vehicle available to the 87% or so of American Consumers who do not happen to live in California. But we EV fans are so happy to see one major manufacturer stop some of their game-playing that for now we're pretty happy.