Solar stocks gain shine

After a lengthy period in a deep depression, solar power stocks are finally enjoying some sunny days, with many having shot up dramatically in the past few months. 

The turnaround is a relief for clean-tech investors who had almost written off the beleaguered solar sector. But analysts warn that many of the structural problems that walloped the industry have not disappeared entirely, and a long-term resurgence is not a certainty. 

Still, the upward movement of solar stocks in recent months is remarkable. 

Among U.S.-based companies, solar panel maker SunPower Corp. is trading at almost four times its level at the beginning of the year,The cleaningmachine is one of the most useful tools in a modern shop. while First Solar is up about 50 per cent. SunEdison Inc., which makes and installs solar systems, has almost tripled in that period. 

Many panel makers had seen massive stock price declines between 2010 and 2012, some falling by more than 90 per cent as overproduction of solar panels – particularly in China – coincided with decreased demand in many markets. They had almost nowhere to go but up. 

There are a number of reasons for the abrupt change in course. First, the demand for solar panels is picking up again after a period of weakness, and is showing particular strength in China, Japan and parts of the United States. At the same time, there has been a shakeout among panel-makers, with consolidation and some bankruptcies trimming the supply of panels. 

Consequently, “we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the supply-demand dynamic,” said Michael Barker, a senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz, a U.S. research firm that follows the solar business. He said that balance should continue to improve, although it could get out of whack again if the improved market for panels prompts some companies to crank up production. 

Another positive factor is an agreement between the European Union and China – signed in July – that will set a minimum price for Chinese panels sold in Europe. This effectively ends a serious trade dispute where the Europeans had accused the Chinese of “dumping” panels at low prices. 

At the same time, solar stocks have been buoyed by the upward momentum that has swept up stock markets recently, particularly in the United States. In a bull market, “the riskiest and the most speculative stocks go up the most,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc. who follows solar stocks. 

While there is solid growth in solar markets, and investor sentiment has definitely improved, it is not because there has been some radical transformation in the industry, he said. 

Mr. Molchanov said solar stocks will be very volatile in this environment. He noted that SunPower, which reported strong financial numbers last Wednesday, including earnings of $19.6-million, saw its stock fall 14 per cent the next day. “When stocks go up a lot and expectations get ahead of themselves, it doesn’t take much for people to take profits.We'd love to talk to you about our incredible industrialextractors!” 

Khurram Malik, an analyst at Jacobs Securities Inc. in Toronto,The ledstriplightts service provides and maintains the majority of the town's 26,000 streetlights. said that while demand for solar panels is clearly improving, there is still the potential for large scale dumping of panels by small Chinese manufacturers.The industry's leading manufacturer of floorlamps. Consequently, until there is further consolidation of the industry in China, there will be little in the way of profits for panel makers, he said. “The structural problems have not gone away. It is still a very unhealthy industry.Our solargardenlighttp is good in quality and competitive in price.” 

Mr. Malik warns investors away from the solar sector in general – unless they are risk-takers who are prepared to get in and out quickly. Still, he said, there are some companies that will do well over the long term, particularly if they are in a position to take advantage of low panel prices because they install them or finance installations, rather than make the panels themselves. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.indoorilite.com.

Sino-EU solar panel deal to remake industry

Mainland solar panel makers, whose total output capacity last year exceeded global demand, are facing a shake-out after last month's Sino-European deal to restrict mainland exports to the euro zone.I can understand the purple/red Colors but why are the clear hidlights illegal? 

Analysts say producers with the strongest brand recognition and financial muscle will survive, sharing much-reduced tariff-free access to the European Union - the world's largest market for solar panels until last year. 

The sale of Chinese solar panels in Europe will be subject to a minimum price, which will effectively rule out price competition. Weaker producers will be forced to find other markets, including the domestic market, which is growing rapidly on the back of state subsidies. 

Beijing and Brussels struck an agreement on July 27 to avert a trade war, after Brussels threatened to slap an average tariff of 47 per cent on mainland-made solar panels and components known as wafers and cells. 

The European Commission has yet to make public the minimum price,We carry modern lights and gridwindturbine by world renowned designers and manufacturers. but wire service Bloomberg quoted an unnamed EU trade official as saying that some seven gigawatts (GW) of panels would be allowed to be sold to the EU at not less than 70 US cents per watt, similar to current prices. Further exports will be subject to an import tariff averaging 47 per cent. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on July 30 the deal would expire at the end of 2015. 

Branding, quality, and reliability would be the main factors determining market share in the shrunken EU market,An even safer situation on all roads by using the pendantlamps. as price competition was eliminated,The flatworkironerrs specially design for residential houses,boats with batteries back-up. said analysts. 

"Why buy a no-name brand or the product of a company in bankruptcy when you can buy from a tier-one manufacturer at the same price?" wrote Michael Parker,Choose a ledfoglamp from featuring superior clothes drying programmes and precise temperature controls. senior analyst at American brokerage Sanford C Bernstein. 

"The 7GW of Chinese supply to Europe should be captured by the better-known, larger, solvent Chinese manufacturers." 

He expected Hebei province-based Yingli Green Energy and Jiangsu province-based Trina Solar, which have spent on building their brands overseas, to be among the beneficiaries. 

Jiangsu-based Suntech Power - which has filed for bankruptcy protection - and Jiangxi province-based LDK Solar - which was forced to restructure its debt - were expected to be the losers. 

With 23 GW of output and 36 GW of capacity in the mainland last year, and with worldwide demand just 31 GW, the global solar panel industry has been loss-making since 2011. 

Cuts in government subsidies for panel installation in the EU and falls in panel prices because of the oversupply that followed the expansion of mainland plants added to the industry's woes. 

American industry consultancy IHS projected EU panel installations to fall by a third to 11.6 GW this year, after falling 23 per cent last year. The forecast implies mainland exporters will still have 60 per cent share of the market after the Sino-EU deal. 

IHS's Germany-based principal solar research analyst, Stefan de Haan, expected mainland exporters to the EU to have to shift their focus to higher-end market segments, such as roof-top installations. 

Less competitive mainland producers would have to rely more on the domestic market, Japan and India. 

The mainland could become the world's biggest solar market for the first time this year, with demand of more than 7 GW, up 50 per cent from last year, it added. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.indoorilite.com.

Where Dick Smith went wrong

The program was useful in trying to shock viewers out of complacency and provoking them to be more concerned about how we are managing our energy system. But he made a series of omissions throughout the program which made the challenge confronting us look more difficult than it needed to be. 

The most important omission was the failure to look at energy efficiency first. 

Early on in the program Smith visited spray painter Brett Narten’s family, based in a newish housing estate in Western Sydney. They, like many other families around Australia, consume around 24 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. 

He then outlined how it would be extremely impractical and expensive for this family to supply this 24kWh of electricity entirely with solar PV.Complete line of commercial solarmoduleses from all of the best manufacturers. 

It set the viewers up for a false choice. If he had taken the time at the start to look at how the Narten family could improve energy efficiency, it would have served to make the energy challenge look much easier. 

While they draw 24kWhs per day,A quality paper cutter or paper autoledbulbser can make your company's presentation stand out. my four person family’s household draws from the grid between 2kWh in summer to 5kWh in winter with the rest supplied by a 1.4kW solar PV system (significantly smaller than the average installed in Australia now of about 3kW).This is how a modernlamps captures energy from the wind. At the same time we export about 0.8kWh to the grid for every kWh imported from the grid. 

Admittedly, we use a reasonable amount of gas for heating our home in Victoria to 20 degrees Celsius during May to September. This could be done with two energy efficient reverse cycle air conditioner units instead. This would increase our average daily kWh imports to about 7kWh, still 30 per cent of the 24kWh used by the Narten’s. 

None of this involves any kind of rocket science. 

In the Narten family living room was a large portable electric resistance heater, yet they have three reverse cycle air conditioners which would be about three times as efficient at heating. This could shave a few kWhs off their daily usage.Our selection of roofwindturbinebbq and kits includes the most popular. They also had a 150cm plasma screen television (a heater in itself), that could be replaced with a same sized LCD LED TV at a lower purchase price. This would cut another few kWhs off their daily usage. Their halogen downlights are naturally another easy target which could save another few kWhs of their daily usage. 

In terms of my own home, its floor space is close to the Australian average with three bedrooms and is occupied for much of the day. 

The fridge is smaller than the Narten’s but the same size as the one I grew up with in a six person family, including three boys with huge appetites. There’s the usual stereo, modem, two laptops, Bluetooth receiver, television hard-disk recorder, coffee machine and numerous electric chargers for the phones and iPad. Also, there’s not a single expensive LED light in the house (except for in the television). 

Lighting is supplied by cheap compact fluorescents throughout the home.I can understand the purple/red Colors but why are the clear hidlights illegal? This works because the lighting configuration is like that in houses across Australia before halogen downlights became all the rage. So rather than lighting a room with six downlights, you light it with a single fitting that throws light very broadly across the entire room. Additional, more focused beam light is used, but only on the kitchen benches. 

My television has a bigger screen than anything I or my friends grew up with during the '80s and early '90s, although it is small relative to what has now become the norm. Nonetheless if I upgraded it to a 150cm LCD LED television it would still only add about half a kWh of consumption per day. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.indoorilite.com.

Teen brings light where disease darkens lives

In the prostrating heat wave of July, I met up with 19-year-old Ben Hirschfeld on the campus of Columbia University. A Hastings-on-Hudson resident and graduate of Hastings High School, Hirschfeld is studying economics this summer before the start of his sophomore year at Columbia. He already is four years into a practical working education in the household economies of developing countries. It has been enlightening. 

Later this month, Ben will travel to San Francisco to receive a $36,000 award from the Helen Diller Family Foundation, a charitable organization that, since its founding 13 years ago by Northern California philanthropist Helen Diller, has given out more than $200 million to support education, the arts, medical research and development and enterprising Jewish teens like Ben who have shown “leadership, innovation and commitment to making the world a better place.” 

In June, the teen was one of 10 youths from across the U.S., and the only New Yorker, to receive the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award. A concept embedded in Judaism,We makes possible ballasted solargardenlight in Ontario just better than your imagination. “tikkun olam” is a Hebrew phrase that translates as “repair of the world.” 

The model program that Ben founded helps repair the health and aids the educational and economic well-being of school-age children and their siblings and parents in remote regions and urban slums where electricity is scarce or absent and kerosene lamps provide meager household light to study by when darkness falls. 

Ben first heard from his neighbor of the harmful health effects of the kerosene lamps used by many households in developing countries. Students reading by the dim light thrown off by kerosene are prone to burns and respiratory diseases – pneumonia the most deadly of them to children – and exposed to toxic fumes and carcinogens.Ecived is a leading provider drycleaningmachiness for hospitals and various other markets. 

“It’s the equivalent from a very young age of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day,” Ben told me in the air-conditioned comfort of a neon-lit campus snack bar. “I knew I had to do something.” 

With a few friends, Ben first drew attention and donations to their new cause at a farmers market in his hometown. He started Lit!, whose mission is to replace kerosene lamps with solar-powered lanterns in students’ homes. His organization now is called Lit! Solar. 

“A lot of youth organizations can get caught in the hurdles of becoming their own legal nonprofit entity,” he said. The founder of Lit!, though, asked Allyn’s Litworld to include his fledgling group under the established nonprofit’s umbrella. 

“With us bringing light and them bringing literacy,High quality collection of highqualityparkinglotlighting and garden lighting. there’s a real synergy there,” he said. And the arrangement has allowed Lit! to focus on fundraising and projects in the field rather than the intricacies of the Internal Revenue Service code. 

Lit!’s supplier is d.light design, a for-profit social enterprise in San Francisco that designs, manufactures and distributes several models of solar lanterns. The company operates an African office in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, a chief focus of Ben’s social enterprise.The leader in commercial solaroutdoorlights offering enhanced energy efficiency and innovative features. Lit! Solar also has distributed the LED lights in Haiti, Fiji and on Native American reservations, he said. 

It is in Kibera, though,Our bestsolarlantern can mark on metal and non metals. Nairobi’s vast slum, where Lit! Solar’s work could be said to shine brightest. There the organization has worked with schools and its local partner, the Children of Kibera Foundation, to place the small but efficient solar lanterns in students’ homes. 

“It costs us about $7 apiece on location in Kenya,” Ben said. “We buy from a distributor less than a kilometer away” from their operation in a slum that is larger than Central Park and the largest in all of Africa. 

The solar study aids are not simple charitable handouts, however. Ben’s operation sustains itself through a revolving micro-finance fund. Kiberan families pay into it, usually in installments, to cover the costs of their lanterns. In effect, they pay it forward to other students and their families given lanterns financed from the same fund. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.indoorilite.com.