Alternative energy for vehicles has come a long way, but unfortunately we are not yet at a point where we can go without gasoline. Hybrid cars, however, are the first step to the future.

Finding alternative energy for vehicles will eliminate the need to purchase oil from other countries. The less we need to depend on other countries for our transportation needs the better. It is also a good way to be earth friendly because vehicles that use this technology will not emit pollutants into our atmosphere like gasoline powered vehicles do.

Our dependencies on other countries and the oil that they have along with the air pollution problem will fuel the search to find a alternative energy for vehicles that is user friendly. Most vehicles that utilize some of the alternative energies available today have their downfalls along with their specific benefits to our environment.

Electric vehicles use batteries that need to be recharged about every 150 miles. This can be time consuming as most batteries require four to eight hours of charging before you can hit the road again. Hybrid vehicles use the same method as the electric vehicles but they don’t need to be plugged in to recharge. They recharge themselves by using regenerative braking and still have the power of a gasoline engine. The electricity used in a hybrid vehicle allows a smaller more efficient gasoline powered engine to be used and the electric is generated to add extra power to the motor when needed.

Alternative energy for vehicles has come a long way since the idea began when the first hybrid electric vehicle came onto the market. Advances in how alternative energy works in vehicles has been used to produce a fuel cell vehicle. Fuel Cell Vehicles are expected to be very popular and widely seen on our roads in the future.

New developments with fuel cell vehicles that are powered by pure hydrogen will change the way we look at alternative energy for vehicles. These vehicles will be powered by a certain form of hydropower. This means that they will produce no harmful air pollutants into our atmosphere like gasoline powered vehicles do. Instead, the waste from the production of electricity will be water. This, of course, represents a more than slight improvement over the carbon dioxide currently produced.

As new information is discovered about how pollutants have an affect on our atmosphere and the world around us, more people will consider owning a alternative energy vehicle. With the possibility of oil prices soaring in the near future, an alternative will be welcomed by most people who have the resources to purchase one of these alternative energy vehicles. We are not yet at a point where we can have a true alternative energy vehicle, but it is only a matter of improving the technology of batteries and such.

DIY Rehabbing

The oil market is not the only one looking up. Alternative fuel stocks are also attracting many investors. Because oil and gas are expensive, Americans are looking for cheaper nonfossil fuel and that demand is boosting the alternative fuel stocks as well. This is especially good for anyone who cares for the environment — the greens. If you consider yourself an environmentalist or a preservationist, this is perfect for you, for you are now able to support efforts to preserve the environment while at the same time profiting from those efforts. It’s a win-win situation. Consider this: Pacific Ethanol Inc., a small ethanol-producing company started in 2003 by Bill Jones, the former secretary of state for the state of California, has trebled its stock price on NASDAQ to about $30 a share within a year of going public in March of 2005. Like many other similar renewable fuel start-ups, millions of dollars in private equity money are being thrown at Pacific Ethanol like the world is coming to an end. Billionaire Bill Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, is one of those investing in renewable fuel stocks. Gates’ investment company, Cascade Investment, has agreed to pump $84 million in Pacific Ethanol.

The U.S. government has recognized alternative fuel as the fuel for the future and has included a number of tax incentives in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the energy law signed in the summer of 2005, to spur growth in the alternative fuel sector. If you haven’t already, you should give alternative stocks a try as it will make you feel morally stronger. It’s been nearly three decades since efforts to promote alternative fuel floundered after the 1973 oil crisis, but it’s making a comeback. Still, alternative fuel remains a small industry, with small cap companies dominating. Since 2005, 15 of the 36 companies in the WilderHill Clean Energy index have made huge profits. That includes hydroelectric power and wind energy, solar energy, and fuel cells.

Some of the most successful companies in the renewable fuel sector are huge conglomerates, like General Electric and Germany’s Siemens, and also big oil companies, like BP, that are hedging their bets. Investing in these companies offers a chance to own a clean energy stock. Here’s some information about GE worth knowing: It made close to $2 billion in sales from production of wind-powered turbines in 2005, treble what it made from that business unit in 2002. However, that’s only 1 percent of GE’s revenues.

There’s a lot of hope that alternative fuel technologies developed by some of the smaller companies will become commercially viable and help support the sector. As a result, stocks for these companies are expected to soar. WilderHill Clean Energy Index gained 26 percent in the past 12 months alone, compared with 50 percent for oil. That’s not bad, considering this is not an established sector in the United States.

Moreover, since continued oil supply is uncertain, a lot more consumers are going to turn to coal, which is abundantly available in the United States, China, and India. Coal used to be frowned upon because of its dirt, but technology has improved enough to make it just as clean as other fuels. Shrewd investors could buy shares in U.S. coal producers, including the two biggest, Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc., both based in St. Louis, Missouri. Coal companies have profited from the current oil boom.

Investing in coal doesn’t mean that Big Oil isn’t safe anymore. It only means that you are on much firmer ground when you have a diversified portfolio. If you look at both types of stocks, the difference isn’t large. Exxon Mobil, for instance, returned 36 percent to its shareholders in market appreciation and dividends in 2005 and BP returned 21 percent. Peabody Energy stockholders, meanwhile, did far better in the same time period. They more than doubled their money, and Peabody shares have risen more than three and a half times since the company’s initial public offering in 2001. Arch Coal stock returned 65 percent in 2005 as well.

Coal producers have benefited from increased demand from power plants and steelmakers in the United States, China, and India. Massey Energy Co. of Richmond, Virginia, for instance, said its average selling price for coal used in steel-making jumped 38 percent in 2005. Consol Energy, Inc. of Pittsburgh, the third largest U.S. producer, plans a $500 million mine expansion to keep up with orders.

Soaring prices for natural gas have given coal demand another lift. Many electric power plants have switched from gas to coal, which costs about half as much. In the spring of 2006, Duke Energy Corp. closed on a deal purchasing Cinergy Corp. for about $9 billion, in large part because of Cinergy’s coal-fired plants.

Back to oil, we’ve also seen that the market has been good to minnows as well. In fact, some smaller oil companies also have outperformed the giants. For instance, Apache Corp. of Houston produced a 12-month total return of 51 percent for its stockholders, helped by increased first-quarter selling prices of 51 percent for crude oil and 11 percent for natural gas. Apache recently bought property from Shell, BP, and Exxon Mobil and its profit rose tremendously in 2005. Oil transport companies have not been left behind. Overseas Shipholding Group of New York made an acquisition in 2005 that made it the world’s second-largest oil tanker company. The bigger fleet, combined with higher tanker rates, boosted the company’s 2005 earnings by about 40 percent. The world’s biggest owner of oil tankers, Teekay Shipping Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, capitalized on high energy prices in yet another way. In the fall of 2005, Teekay raised $132 million through the public sale of a 20 percent interest in Teekay LNG Partners LP, whose ships carry liquefied natural gas and crude oil.

Is it too late to buy energy stocks, large or small? BlackRock, Inc., which manages $391 billion, doesn’t seem to think so. It reported to the SEC in late summer of 2005 that after $870 million in purchases, it owned stakes in Peabody, Arch, Consol, and Massey ranging from 3.3 to 8.8 percent. The money manager also has a 4.7 percent stake in Newfield Exploration Co., an oil-and-gas company that returned 49 percent to its shareholders in 2005.

The bottom line is this: The world needs a lot of energy, but supply is getting tighter; an “überspike” in oil prices is in the making and the potential rewards for the savvy energy investor are huge.

Copyright © 2006 George Orwel

DIY Home Improvements