With the Israel’s 60th birthday giving the little country a big stage for world attention Shimon Peres took the opportunity to showcase what he considers their secret weapon for fighting Arab terrorism: the electric car.  I previously noted this project, called “A Better Place” and have used it as a model of one part of my recommended energy policy.  Denmark became the second country, after Israel, to adopt this model as a national policy.  Now Peres says it is also part of Israel’s defense policy because it will …

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The March/April edition of Harvard Magazine contains an article by Michael B. McElroy, Professor of Environmental Studies titled, “Saving Money, Oil, and the Climate: Using non-fossil energy sources to power our vehicles.”  It’s a survey course on the future of cars and trucks packed with good data and argumentation on why future considerations of cost and environmental safety will required a move away from petroleum.

Prof. McElroy comes out in pretty much the same place I have.  To whit: eventually cars and trucks will be all-electric and electricity will be supplied …

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Here is a report, courtesy of a reader, on global lithium supply. It points to the high concentration in SQM’s reserves, among other things.  There seems to be a lot of lithium around. 

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What we need is an electric City Car that can do the running around jobs using electricity, not gasoline.  It should look like a Honda Element - utilitarian and light weight - and it should cost $20,000 max.  The Volt looks like a souped up sports car, it costs almost $50K, and it is mainly useful for going quite long distances on very little gas.  That is a noble objective, but not our first priority.  Somehow, this does not seem like the answer for either G.M. or Peak Oil. …

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As The Wall Street Journal (3/27/08) reported, a Danish utility has joined forces with a Palo Alto company to design a personal transport system based on renewable energy.  The utility’s partner is also part of an Israeli consortium that  is  implementing a system for running cars on solar power.  In Denmark, the renewable source is wind, but the principle is the same. 

The elements of both systems are non-fossil-fuel based electricity generation, electric powered vehicles, and a national network for recharging and battery exchange.  Although renewable solar and wind …

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Below is reproduced a post from The Energy Blog, an excellent source of news about green technology.  It concerns a new electric “town car” made in Norway.  What I find most interesting about the announcement is that General Electric is investing more money in both this car company and a related battery company. 

Most interesting of all, I think, G.E. has used the phrase, “the electrification of transportation” to define the mission of which this investment is a part.  I believe that electrifying transportation is exactly what needs to …

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In a further step down the road to the electric hybrid lithium-ion battery solution to automobile fuel efficiency, GM and Toyota have abandoned efforts to develop a hydrogen fuel cell technology.

I recently stated my own opinion than fuel cells are an impractical fantasy.  This news confirms my view of the future and is a further reason to own lithium producer SQM.  It is also a good reason to be short GM (which I am) on the theory that the most poorly managed company in the history of business will …

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Technology Review, an MIT publication, ran a piece on plug-in hybrids in its recent March/April issue that focused on the green implications of substituting grid-based power for gasoline.   In other words, would it be a cleaner alternative?

The piece caused me to think further about our current hybrid products and the more efficient next generation of lithium-ion based hybrids. Clearly, they are a means to greater fuel efficiency.   They do nothing to eliminate our dependency on petroleum; they only make our fuels go further.   

Fuel efficiency is good, …

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2008 Thus Far: A Preview of Coming Attractions

My concern has been that at some point shortages of oil will cause a falling-stocks, rising-oil phenomenon that will crush my oil related stocks along with the whole market. 2008 has started like that. Oil was up 6.34% as of 2/29 (per the ETF symbol OIL) but stocks were down 8.5% (in terms of the S&P 500 ETF symbol SPY). For oil-related stocks, the falling stock market trumped the rising oil market, as I have expected. IYE, a broad-based oil-stock ETF, was down …

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A consequence of NAFTA, whether unintended or not, seems to be the take-over of the Mexican used car market by old U.S. clunkers.  The trend is likely to lower Mexican fuel economy substantially and to mute the impact of higher efficiency cars being bought in the U.S.  That happens because the old, less fuel efficient cars that the new ones replace do not die; they are used in Mexico (and various other South and Central American countries).

Here is the full story from the L.A. Times:
In Mexico, old U.S. cars find …

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Successive press releases by GM on February 6 and 7, 2008, make it clear the company is committed to producing many more E85 capable vehicles and even producing ethanol itself via a joint venture with Coskata, Inc, a private company, starting in 2010.  GM states that if the three American manufacturers, GM, Ford, and Chysler, meet their goals for the number of E85 cars they will sell by 2020, they could jointly achieve a reduction of 29 billion gallons or 18% in the U.S. use of gasoline.   Of …

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Ford claims this prototype car will get 120 mpg city and 70 -80 hyway.  It could be available in five years.   One of the main reasons for investors to understand this possible development is to put future oil prices in perspective.   I have said that the price of oil could be $300 in 2012, which is a surprise to some people.  Well, that’s only three times the current price.   If we can get cars in …

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Here is a comprehensive discussion of the properties of and market for lithium and the companies that produce it.  The easiest way to invest in this commodity, as far as I can tell now, is through ownership of a NYSE traded ADR in a Chilean company called Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, SA, symbol SQM.

I note that a number of astute funds are owners of SQM.  It sports a very attractive chart.  The EIS portfolio has added this stock recently.  There is further discussion of lithium in an post …

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The author of this article argues, among other things, that there is not enough lithium in the world for a complete dependence on lithium ion batteries to power HEV’s.  He advocates a different technology called a Zinc - Air battery.  The piece contains much useful information about lithium and how, where, and by whom it is produced. 

In the end, it seems to me this piece does not offer an effective argument against investing in lithium production.  On the contrary, it points out the strong trends driving growth in lithium demand currently …

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There was a debate regarding the best way to have clean aut0motive transport.  Is it better to substitute biofuels for petroleum or to build plug in hybrids.  Actually, I am not sure the two are mutually exclusive.  Anyway,  Tom Konrad, an astute analyst whose web site, Alt Energy Stocks,  is now listed among “Jim’s Recommended Sites”,  has weighed in with an alternative position.   You can read it here.

It is an interesting discussion for those who come at the subject from a global warming perspective. I’m sure some farmers …

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