maverick
04-01-2008, 07:35 AM
Sustainable Wealth Creation-Liquified Coal
No Energy Source can make the dyanimcs of fossil fuel. As Crude Oil dries up all over the globe, those who own Coal mines will be able to part in a revolutionary technology that seeks to convert Coal to liquified Coal. That I call sustainable wealth creation.
Imagine it's 1908, and a skinny, middle-aged man named Henry Ford asks if you want to invest in his new company that is going to mass produce something called a "horseless carriage."
Imagine also that you're given the opportunity to invest in a young oil company called the Texas Fuel Company (soon to be known as Texaco) and in Harvey Firestone's company, which was going to make the tires for the horseless carriages.
And then, along comes a guy named Thomas Edison asking if you'd be interested in backing his new invention called the incandescent lightbulb.
Those would have been fantastic investment opportunities, and they are similar to the opportunities we have today in the green energy revolution. The chance for you to build wealth for yourself, your children, and your children's children is here, and it's just getting started.
This is a 20- to 30-year build out. Oil prices are rising as crude becomes less and less available. We're seeing an increase in mandates to tax carbons and a push to reduce greenhouse gases and pollution.
The $5 billion in venture-backed capital that went into solving these problems this year was just the beginning. And the wealth that was made this year was nothing in comparison to what the future holds.
As investors we want our money deployed in the multi-billion- dollar solutions to the billion-dollar problems in the alternative energy space -- and the companies that will make billions because of them.
Here are the big problems with several alternative energy solutions:
1) Cellulosic ethanol: The enzyme required to produce it is way too expensive and the pre-treatment process wastes too much sugar.
2) Geothermal energy: It's hard to access magma without inadvertently causing a little seismic activity.
3) Liquefied coal: Turning coal into liquid fuel requires vast amounts of water -- another dwindling resource, particularly in coal-producing regions. But just imagine how much money the company will make that's able to turn coal into energy that we can use in our cars.
4) Nuclear energy: This is the political third rail -- no one wants it, and there is no 110% safe place to put the spent fuel.
5) Solar power: We've made a ton of money in solar energy but highly-refined silicon panels may never be as inexpensive as fossil fuel.
6) Wave power: There are only 40 sites on Earth that offer tidal ranges greater than 16 feet, and those only work about 10 hours a day. So, we need a technology that could duplicate that in order to make money from this resource.
7) Wind power: We also have a recommendation in wind power, but it's an intermittent power supply, i.e., when the wind doesn't blow, there's no energy. So far, no one has come up with a way to store and transmit that energy.
8) Fuel cells: It currently requires more energy to create power than the power generated by the fuel cell, which makes them very inefficient.
The greatest wealth creation in the next 20 years is going to come from being invested in the companies that find the solutions to these multi-billion- dollar problems.
You simply have to be in this space.
Let it Bloom
I'll give you a great example of a breakthrough company in fuel cells: Bloom Energy.
With the backing of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), other big investors like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Morgan Stanley (MS), and a few small players,its vision is to use solid-oxide fuel cells to allow homes or stores to generate all of their own electricity.
The fuel cells would use, but not burn, hydrocarbon fuel, and produce half of the carbon dioxide that today's power plants do. One fuel cell should be enough to serve one home, and homes could sell the excess power back to the energy grid.
Bloom's biggest hurdle is cost. It needs to get the price of its machines below $10,000 apiece, perhaps with some added tax incentives from the government.
Next year, this company will sell $250 million worth of its power cells to Wal-Mart, because Wal-Mart wants to be the greenest company in the world. And what Wal-Mart wants, Wal-Mart gets.
Lighting the Way to Profits
Another example is MIC Electronics which produces the innards of solid state lightbulbs, which are going to replace the incandescent lightbulb. On average, these new bulbs last 37 years and cut your power consumption from lighting by 90%.
White light-emitting diodes or LEDs are the new lightbulb. We're seeing mandates to switch from incandescent bulbs to more-efficient lighting in many countries (besides the United States) like Australia, Europe and Canada -- and I bet you're going to see it in China, too.
Building Generational Wealth
But, let's go back to my original point. Where we are in the green energy trend is similar to when Ford, Firestone and Edison were just getting started with their life-altering inventions.
We have the potential for huge growth in this space -- I'm talking about going from $10 billion to $200 billion a year in sales and services -- because it's the way of future and because being held hostage to rising oil prices not only kills our economy, it's a threat to our security.
This month NBC had a special "Green Week," and usually when NBC starts talking about something, I say that marks the end. But this time, they got it right -- the Green Energy Wave is here.
This wave is only just beginning, and for you,as an investor, it's the chance to build what I call generational wealth -- wealth that will last not only through your years, not only through your children's years, but through your grandchildren' s years.
No Energy Source can make the dyanimcs of fossil fuel. As Crude Oil dries up all over the globe, those who own Coal mines will be able to part in a revolutionary technology that seeks to convert Coal to liquified Coal. That I call sustainable wealth creation.
Imagine it's 1908, and a skinny, middle-aged man named Henry Ford asks if you want to invest in his new company that is going to mass produce something called a "horseless carriage."
Imagine also that you're given the opportunity to invest in a young oil company called the Texas Fuel Company (soon to be known as Texaco) and in Harvey Firestone's company, which was going to make the tires for the horseless carriages.
And then, along comes a guy named Thomas Edison asking if you'd be interested in backing his new invention called the incandescent lightbulb.
Those would have been fantastic investment opportunities, and they are similar to the opportunities we have today in the green energy revolution. The chance for you to build wealth for yourself, your children, and your children's children is here, and it's just getting started.
This is a 20- to 30-year build out. Oil prices are rising as crude becomes less and less available. We're seeing an increase in mandates to tax carbons and a push to reduce greenhouse gases and pollution.
The $5 billion in venture-backed capital that went into solving these problems this year was just the beginning. And the wealth that was made this year was nothing in comparison to what the future holds.
As investors we want our money deployed in the multi-billion- dollar solutions to the billion-dollar problems in the alternative energy space -- and the companies that will make billions because of them.
Here are the big problems with several alternative energy solutions:
1) Cellulosic ethanol: The enzyme required to produce it is way too expensive and the pre-treatment process wastes too much sugar.
2) Geothermal energy: It's hard to access magma without inadvertently causing a little seismic activity.
3) Liquefied coal: Turning coal into liquid fuel requires vast amounts of water -- another dwindling resource, particularly in coal-producing regions. But just imagine how much money the company will make that's able to turn coal into energy that we can use in our cars.
4) Nuclear energy: This is the political third rail -- no one wants it, and there is no 110% safe place to put the spent fuel.
5) Solar power: We've made a ton of money in solar energy but highly-refined silicon panels may never be as inexpensive as fossil fuel.
6) Wave power: There are only 40 sites on Earth that offer tidal ranges greater than 16 feet, and those only work about 10 hours a day. So, we need a technology that could duplicate that in order to make money from this resource.
7) Wind power: We also have a recommendation in wind power, but it's an intermittent power supply, i.e., when the wind doesn't blow, there's no energy. So far, no one has come up with a way to store and transmit that energy.
8) Fuel cells: It currently requires more energy to create power than the power generated by the fuel cell, which makes them very inefficient.
The greatest wealth creation in the next 20 years is going to come from being invested in the companies that find the solutions to these multi-billion- dollar problems.
You simply have to be in this space.
Let it Bloom
I'll give you a great example of a breakthrough company in fuel cells: Bloom Energy.
With the backing of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), other big investors like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Morgan Stanley (MS), and a few small players,its vision is to use solid-oxide fuel cells to allow homes or stores to generate all of their own electricity.
The fuel cells would use, but not burn, hydrocarbon fuel, and produce half of the carbon dioxide that today's power plants do. One fuel cell should be enough to serve one home, and homes could sell the excess power back to the energy grid.
Bloom's biggest hurdle is cost. It needs to get the price of its machines below $10,000 apiece, perhaps with some added tax incentives from the government.
Next year, this company will sell $250 million worth of its power cells to Wal-Mart, because Wal-Mart wants to be the greenest company in the world. And what Wal-Mart wants, Wal-Mart gets.
Lighting the Way to Profits
Another example is MIC Electronics which produces the innards of solid state lightbulbs, which are going to replace the incandescent lightbulb. On average, these new bulbs last 37 years and cut your power consumption from lighting by 90%.
White light-emitting diodes or LEDs are the new lightbulb. We're seeing mandates to switch from incandescent bulbs to more-efficient lighting in many countries (besides the United States) like Australia, Europe and Canada -- and I bet you're going to see it in China, too.
Building Generational Wealth
But, let's go back to my original point. Where we are in the green energy trend is similar to when Ford, Firestone and Edison were just getting started with their life-altering inventions.
We have the potential for huge growth in this space -- I'm talking about going from $10 billion to $200 billion a year in sales and services -- because it's the way of future and because being held hostage to rising oil prices not only kills our economy, it's a threat to our security.
This month NBC had a special "Green Week," and usually when NBC starts talking about something, I say that marks the end. But this time, they got it right -- the Green Energy Wave is here.
This wave is only just beginning, and for you,as an investor, it's the chance to build what I call generational wealth -- wealth that will last not only through your years, not only through your children's years, but through your grandchildren' s years.