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CORN ETHANOL FUEL - ON A TIGHTROPE
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Year 2030. Imagine yourself driving in a hydrogen fueled electric hybrid car. Your home, offices and factories are powered by a combination of wind and wave turbines, hydroelectric and solar cells. By then, oil shall be used for lubrication and other minor needs. Who will need ethanol? Perhaps, it may be used for health and medical purposes. For a glimpse of the future go to: http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_wind_hydrogen_animation.html Making ethanol fuel from corn is like one walking on a tightrope on a balance. So many factors and processes are involved. Among these are land, fertilizer, seeds, weather, pests, cost of production and the supply and demand factors. Unlike other fuel sources, which are abundant and even free like the sun, wind and water, you start with preparation of the land, seeding, nurturing the plant, harvesting and the production processes. Along the way, anything can happen that may affect the supply. The worst-case scenario might be that there will be no corn supply at all. Considering such predicament, it is better to invest on the fuels of the future- hydrogen fuel cells, solar cells and the likes. I have sold all my Verasun Energy stocks (VSE) for a start. | ||
Comments (1)
Jo-Jo,
___ I toatally agree with with your logical and probitive arguments.The main question is - How does an Investor with some concept of Future-Vision participate in that Utopian Future. More importantly - how can one make Lucrative investments that "do well by doing good" ?
___ Your thoughts have been focused on energy production - as opposed to energy conversion to do useful things. The Main Technological problems in that regard are 1)Energy storage devices and 2) efficient energy consuming devices. Electric cars require compact light-weight high-efficiency and high torque electric motors. Such motors require strong permanent magnetics - the best magnets are Neo magnets made with Neodymium ( a Rare Earth element). Presently, these magnets are used in small motors for disk drives, CD players, computer fans, etc. There is a shortage of Neo now & prices are rising. Such magnets are used in "Regenerative" braking system, which recover the Momentum energy of slowing a car as electricity which is stored in a storage battery system. Shouldn't we be looking for Neodymium like we look for oil or gold. Chevron (CVX)is re-opening a Rare Earth mine in Mountain Pass, CA, which was shut down due to years of Environmental "neglect' and because they ran into highly radioactive Thorium concentrations making it technically problematic to mine. This will be the only Rare Earth Mine in the USA - We rely on China now - they presently produce over 95% of rare earth supply and current estimates are that they will exhaust their deposits in 20 years at today's production rates.
___ Light-weight, compact, efficient and cheap electrical Rechargeable "batteries' will also be required, The best bet now is UltraCapacitors" of which Maxwell Technologies (MXWL)is far-and away THE premier player. UltraCapcitors are made of Ceramics. The Root word of Ceramic is Cerium - another Rare Earth element. Do you catch my drift here about Rare Earth elements as the Wave of the Future. I wanted to write a Blog on this subject, but none of my up-and-comer Future Rockets in your Portfolio Pocket are available on the "SLO stock universe approved list" - some are Foreign - others are too small or unknown to trade at the volumes required to get into the SLO Universe O'Stocks. I'm doing much better in my Real Money Portfolio as the STUFF I do is not "Do-able" in the SLO Contest.
----------------Hope this helps - something to clarify your thinking on these matters. Solar only makes hay when the sun shines - you must store the energy for the night & cloudy days - it's 50% under-utilized ( thus in-efficient in terms of capital invesment per unit of
energy ) from the get-go!
Don Lee Ferk
(aka VikingWarrior )
SLO-Port "RuthLessIntent
Posted by don ferk | November 8, 2007 5:14 PM