Tag Archives: Clean Energy

Dave Martin/APTechnicians monitor the refueling process on a reactor at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Athens, Ala., in March 2011. Republicans are blasting a plan by President Obama to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority, a New Deal-era agency.

By MATTHEW DALY

WASHINGTON — In a political role reversal, Republicans are blasting President Barack Obama‘s plan to consider selling the Tennessee Valley Authority, an icon of the New Deal long targeted by conservatives as an example of government overreach.

Obama‘s 2014 budget proposal calls for a strategic review of the TVA, the nation’s largest public utility with 9 million customers in seven states from Virginia to Mississippi.

Selling the U.S.-owned power company could reduce the federal deficit by at least $25 billion and “help put the nation on a sustainable fiscal path,” Obama says in a budget document.

Not so fast, say GOP lawmakers in the region.

“It’s one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a longtime TVA champion.

“There is no assurance that selling TVA to a profit-making entity would reduce electric bills in the Tennessee Valley, and it could lead to higher electricity rates” for customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, Alexander said.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., vowed to “carefully study any proposals to restructure TVA” to ensure it continues to deliver affordable electricity throughout the region.

Privatizing TVA has been proposed before “and been determined to be a very bad idea,” added Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn.

Administration officials emphasized that privatization was just one option being considered. Sale of the agency has been discussed by prior administrations, but nothing has happened.

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Indeed, proposals to sell TVA date back to soon after the agency was created in 1933 to reduce the risk of flooding in the region and bring electricity to rural communities in poor areas of Appalachia. It was a key part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program, which used government spending to help the nation recover from the Great Depression.

President Dwight Eisenhower called TVA “creeping socialism,” while President Ronald Reagan criticized it as an example of big government. Republicans from Barry Goldwater to Newt Gingrich have pointed to the TVA as an example of where the private sector could provide services more cheaply and effectively than bureaucrats.

Republican antipathy for the TVA led many in the Southeast to assume that any proposal to sell TVA would come from the GOP — not a Democratic president fresh off winning a second term.

The privatization proposal “is making our heads spin here in Tennessee,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit group that promotes alternative energy throughout the region.

“For the first time that I’m

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/16/obama-budget-plan-sell-tva/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Warren Buffett's Green Energy Profit

April 9, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Doug Ehrman, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

In a recent letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett wrote: “We will keep our foot to the floor and will almost certainly set still another record for capital expenditures in 2013. Opportunities abound in America.” The legendary investor was largely referring to Berkshire Hathaway‘s tradition of using profits to drive growth through the acquisition of additional assets or profitable businesses. Over the past few weeks, several environmentally friendly developments have had an impact on two of Buffett’s most critical businesses: Burlington Northern Santa Fe and MidAmerican Energy Holdings.

The railroad announced a pilot program that will investigate the use of natural-gas-powered locomotives, while energy efficiency improvements are expected to outpace organic rises in demand. BNSF is the second-largest consumer of diesel fuel in the U.S., second only to the Navy, meaning that the potential cost savings are significant. On the electricity side, weakening demand means that the company can target its own efficiency for growth and respond to actual customer needs.

The potential of LNG
To stress the importance of shifting locomotives from diesel to liquefied natural gas, or LNG: In 2012 the average price for a gallon of fuel was $3.97 relative to less than $0.50 for a comparable quantity of LNG. The cost of converting a single engine to use LNG is estimated at $1 million dollar, although the company hopes to achieve some economies of scale when it looks to convert the bulk of its 6900 locomotives. The upfront cost of such an undertaking is significant, but the ultimate savings potential is dramatic.

Companies like Clean Energy are already working hard to make LNG available across the U.S. for a number of consumer and industrial uses. In a recent press release, the company estimated that LNG reduces greenhouse gas emission between 23% and 30%, depending on vehicle type; the U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, estimates that as much as 98% of LNG consumption is sourced in North America. The overall stability offered by LNG is significant.

The electrical shakeup
PacifiCorp’s Rocky Mountain Power projects a 0.6% decline in energy demand this year. Power companies including American Electric Power and Xcel Energy have seen similar pressure on sales as a result of efficiency improvements to everything from appliances to light bulbs. Xcel, which carries a dividend yield of 3.6%, recently touched a new 52-week high; despite the sales pressure, the stock has been strong. American Electric is behaving similarly and showing few signs of slowing. The DOE expects only a 0.4% increase in electricity usage for the year, also driven by improving efficiency. These types of improvements are behind the expectation for MidAmerican that capital spending will end up being $2.4 billion less by 2021 than had been expected.

The combined impact
Last year, these two businesses accounted for $9.8 billion of capital spending by Berkshire, making them the two largest uses of capital in Buffett’s empire. Where PacifiCorp is expected to slow …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Global Oil Demand Could Soon Peak

April 7, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Arjun Sreekumar, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

Citigroup stoked a major debate when it argued earlier this year that America would become energy independent by 2020. Now the bank is out with another bold new call. In a research paper titled “Global Oil Demand Growth — The End Is Nigh,” Citigroup argues that global oil demand is “approaching a tipping point.”

The bank suggests there are two factors underpinning this expected trend. Let’s take a closer look at both of them, as well as the shocking conclusion Citi draws about the future of oil prices.

Shift toward natural gas
The first factor is a transition away from oil and toward natural gas as a fuel source. The shale gas revolution has already provided American consumers and companies with cheap and abundant supplies of the clean-burning fuel. It has even ushered in a so-called “renaissance” for domestic manufacturers, including chemical manufacturer Dow Chemical and steelmaker Nucor, which have moved or are planning to move plants that were previously relocated abroad back to the United States.

In addition, several U.S. truck manufacturers are capitalizing on cheap natural gas by equipping new vehicles to run on nat gas instead of diesel. For instance, Navistar reckons that over the next two years, a third of all its new trucks will be powered by natural gas instead of diesel.

Natural gas engine manufacturers such as Cummins and Westport Innovations will play a major role in driving this shift. In February, the two companies said their joint venture, Cummins Westport, is providing engines for two of the biggest natural gas transit fleet orders ever filled in North America.

Both see massive potential in the North American long-haul trucking market, especially as companies such as Clean Energy Fuels develop the natural gas refueling infrastructure necessary to support the transition toward gas-powered vehicles. Having already built dozens of new LNG truck fueling stations, Clean Energy plans on completing an additional 70 to 80 LNG fueling stations adjacent to long-haul trucking routes and key warehouse distribution centers across North America.

If the price of natural gas remains cheap compared with diesel, projects such as these should continue to flourish.

Improving fuel economy
The second major factor that points to a peak in global oil demand, according to Citigroup, is improving fuel efficiency among new vehicles. According to Citi’s estimates, fuel efficiency among new cars and trucks is improving at an annual rate of 3%-4% and 1%-2%, respectively. Combining the two, the bank suggests new vehicles’ fuel economy is improving by around 2.5% every year — an estimate it deems conservative.

Since the U.S. passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which enforced higher Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, vehicle fuel efficiency has improved drastically. The trend also appears to be catching on in other parts of the world, with the European Union, Japan, and Canada having passed similar mandates.

Though Citi …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is Natural Gas Finally Changing the Fuel Industry?

March 27, 2013 Bartle Doo 1 Comment

By Matthew DiLallo, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

Business is so good at EQT‘s natural gas fueling station that the company is adding a second fueling island at the station. That’s really good news for the Pittsburgh-based exploration and production company — it’s a validation that natural gas is beginning to catch on as a transaction fuel in the region. The company, which is one of the lowest-cost producers of natural gas in the Marcellus, is just one of many companies investing to increase demand for natural gas.

The EQT station, which incidentally is just down the road from my home, is a steady reminder of how cheap natural gas is as a transportation fuel. Every time I pass the station it’s at least a dollar and a half cheaper than regular gas. Apparently, that difference was not lost on its growing customer count, who have deemed the difference being worth the cost of conversion.

The station has seen its monthly transaction count spike from just 200 last January to more than 1,000 by December. While the company had anticipated that customer growth would come, it never had anticipated that it would need to expand the station after just 18 months in operation.

EQT, of course, is not the first producer to make an investment in natural gas fueling infrastructure. The nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer, Chesapeake Energy , invested $160 million for a stake in Clean Energy Fuels . That deal provided Clean Energy with big cash infusion to help fuel the build-out of America’s Natural Gas Highway (pictured below).

Source: Clean Energy Fuels

While Chesapeake is looking to divest of its stake in Clean Energy, that has nothing to do with the future of the natural gas fuel business. Clean Energy is growing rapidly; its gallons delivered jumped 25% year over year to 194.9 million gallons. The company believes it’s well-positioned for an exciting year in 2013 as its sees the beginnings of a transition to natural gas by the heavy-duty trucking industry.

That means a bright future for natural gas engine partners Cummins and Westport Innovation . While there are currently 16 million natural gas vehicles in use around the world, just 126,000 of them are in North America. The industry believes this number will explode over the coming decade with more than 50 million natural gas vehicles in use across the world. That could yield explosive growth for the Cummins Westport joint venture given its technical leadership in the industry.

While lack of refueling infrastructure had been holding back the growth of natural gas vehicles in the U.S., that burden is quickly being lifted thanks to companies like EQT and Clean Energy. This is a really exciting time in the energy industry — each passing day we take one step closer to a natural-gas-powered future.

This movement toward a natural gas future is really gaining momentum. That means Clean Energy Fuels, which focuses its natural gas efforts primarily on …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will Investors Regret Hating This Natural Gas Stock?

March 14, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Matt DiLallo, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

A few years ago Chesapeake Energy was one of the market‘s hottest stocks. From 2003 until its peak in 2008, the company’s shares, fueled by a rise in natural gas, went up by more than 700%. Since its peak in July of 2008 shares are off by nearly 70%. With so many investors being burned over the past five years, no wonder the company is hated by investors.

That hate has turned some investors to actively bet against the company’s future success. At last count, 13.5% of its outstanding shares were sold short. While the short interest is down slightly from the end of last year, investors still hate this stock. Are these investors too focused on the past to miss a potentially exciting future?

Why it’s hated
I’ll be honest with you, there are some good reasons to hate this stock. Under the leadership of CEO Aubrey McClendon the company has undergone an ambitious growth phase which enabled it to become the nation’s No. 2 natural gas producer. The problem here is that its growth came at a great cost as the company took on massive amounts of debt. With the plunge in natural gas prices, the company is having trouble managing this heavy debt load while also investing to grow.

In order to fund its capital expenditures Chesapeake has turned to selling off assets to make ends meet. Last year the company sold its interest in Access Midstream Partners , along with a host of other assets, in an effort to raise billions in cash. Chesapeake is planning to sell $4 billion-$7 billion more in assets in the year ahead. It already sold a portion of its Mississippian Lime acreage to a Chinese national oil company and has put its stake in Clean Energy Fuels up for sale. The concern here is that the company’s precarious debt position is forcing it to sell these assets at fire-sale prices.

While the company labels these sales as non-core, the assets are top-notch. Access Midstream for example is a stable, low-risk, cash flow asset. Clean Energy just happens to be the company behind America’s Natural Gas Highway and is helping to spur the growth of natural gas demand. For investors shorting the stock, they see a debt-laden company that needs to sell excellent assets in hopes that those asset it keeps turn out to be worth more in the long run.

Why it should be loved
Now, with that out of the way, let’s get to why you’d want to buy this company. Chesapeake is an emerging liquids story and is now the 11th largest liquids producer in the country, and is aiming to grow that production by 27% this year to a total of 26% of its production. As you can see in the map below, Chesapeake has acreage positions in most of the top onshore plays, positioning it to continue to grow …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Chinese Firm Invests in U.S. Natural Gas Fueling Stations — Reuters

March 14, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By 24/7 Wall St.

Filed under: Oil & Gas Industry

Add China’s ENN Group Co. to the rather short list of companies rolling out a network of natural gas fueling stations along U.S. highways. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) have a head start, but there is plenty of room for competition.

Clean Energy Fuels, which is controlled by oilman T. Boone Pickens, got some help in 2011 from a venture fund set up by Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) to begin building the natural gas refueling stops. ENN Group plans to build 50 refueling stations this year, according to an exclusive report at Reuters, at a cost of about $1 million per station. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that there are currently just 28 liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling stations in the United States.

The refueling stations are aimed at supporting the conversion of the long-haul trucks that crisscross the country to LNG fuel. Currently about half the nation’s garbage trucks are fueled by natural gas, but the refueling stations are local. ENN and the others are looking to a far larger market.

ENN Group and its U.S. joint venture, Transfuels, also operate a company called Blu LNG, which plans to build liquefaction plants, according to Reuters. LNG is easier to transport and requires less storage than the compressed natural gas used to fuel most garbage trucks.

The benefit to natural gas producers like Chesapeake and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) will come in the form of higher prices for their gas production. In addition to the 50 stations planned by ENN, Clean Energy plans to open 50 to 60 stations this year, and Shell plans a total of about 100 over time.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Oil & Gas Tagged: CHK, CLNE, RDS-A, XOM

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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Don't Fret Chesapeake's Sale of Clean Energy Stock

March 11, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Taylor Muckerman and Joel South, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

During its first few years, funding was of the utmost importance for Clean Energy Fuels . If the proposed stock sale by Chesapeake Energy had happened back then, it might have spelled doom for the nascent business. Now, however, some of the biggest companies in the world are buying into Clean Energy‘s vision for a cleaner driving America.

Just recently, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith professed that he sees a major shift for fleet vehicles toward liquified or compressed natural gas over the next 10 years. This support is huge given FedEx’s fleet of around 90,000 vehicles. He was also outspoken about the need for the U.S. to approve exports of LNG, one of the few CEO proponents not employed by the energy sector.

T. Boone Pickens’ brainchild is gathering momentum. Should you climb on board?
The movement toward alternative energy is gaining momentum. One potential opportunity in this field is Clean Energy Fuels, which focuses its natural gas efforts primarily on trucking and fleets. It’s poised to make a big impact on an essential industry. Read all about Clean Energy Fuels in our brand-new report. Just click here to get started.

More details can be found in the video below.

The article Don’t Fret Chesapeake’s Sale of Clean Energy Stock originally appeared on Fool.com.

Joel South has no position in any stocks mentioned. Taylor Muckerman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Clean Energy Fuels, FedEx, and United Parcel Service. The Motley Fool has the following options: Long Jan 2014 $20 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, Long Jan 2014 $30 Calls on Chesapeake Energy, and Short Jan 2014 $15 Puts on Chesapeake Energy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.
We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why Should Investors Be Confident in Clean Energy Fuels?

March 9, 2013 Bartle Doo Leave a comment

By Brian Pacampara, Pacampara, The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool’s free investing community, alternative-fuel provider Clean Energy Fuels has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at Clean Energy and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Clean Energy facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Seal Beach, Calif. (2001)
Market Cap	$1.1 billion
Industry	Oil and gas refining and marketing
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$334.0 million
Management	Co-Founder/CEO Andrew Littlefair CFO Richard Wheeler
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	(9.7%)
Cash/Debt	$146.7 million / $331.0 million
Competitors	Atlas Copco AB Chesapeake Energy Mansfield Oil

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 97% of the 1,753 members who have rated Clean Energy believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just last month, one of those Fools, LouPerna, succinctly summed up the Clean Energy bull case for our community:

With [natural gas] prices low and with major portions of the Natural Gas Hwy complete, industry has a compelling reason to switch to natural gas. This should lead to major revenue and profit increases over the next few years. The wide moat should discourage competition.

The movement toward alternative energy is gaining momentum. One potential opportunity in this field is Clean Energy Fuels, which focuses its natural gas efforts primarily on trucking and fleets. It’s poised to make a big impact on an essential industry. Read all about Clean Energy Fuels in our brand-new report. Just click here to get started.

Want to see how well (or not so well) the stocks in this series are performing? Follow the TrackPoisedTo CAPS account.

The article Why Should Investors Be Confident in Clean Energy Fuels? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Pacampara has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Clean Energy Fuels and has options on Chesapeake Energy. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Bartle Doo Article Archives

Tag Archives: Clean Energy

Republicans Blast Obama's Plan to Sell New Deal Icon

Warren Buffett's Green Energy Profit

Why Global Oil Demand Could Soon Peak

Is Natural Gas Finally Changing the Fuel Industry?

Will Investors Regret Hating This Natural Gas Stock?

Chinese Firm Invests in U.S. Natural Gas Fueling Stations — Reuters

Don't Fret Chesapeake's Sale of Clean Energy Stock

Why Should Investors Be Confident in Clean Energy Fuels?

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