| ISSUE 13 |
S a v e o u r F o s s i l F u e l s |
NOVEMBER 2010 |
SOLAR POWER AS AN INVESTMENT PART 2
Since solar electricity equipment production increased by 92% this year, there are opportunities to profit in this exploding field. Three possibilities are:
1. Buy stock in a solar electric equipment manufacturer or
XXdistributor.
a. This is an extremely competitive area with new entries every month.
b. Although capital gains are possible, few if any of these companies pay dividends.
2. Buy stock in a traditional electric utility.
a. Most large electric utilities are regulated.
b. Many are being forced to reduce pollution by converting from coal to gas or renewable energy
XXsources. This may impact their earnings for a while.
3. Buy stock in a company that is producing and selling solar electricity.
a. This provides a stream of income that increases faster than the rate of inflation. Selling electricity
XXto the public is probably the safest investment one can imagine. Using electricity has become
XXa necessity.
EIG is considering the desirability of getting into the solar electricity producing field. It is a field that can be entered with a modest investment and bootstrapped fairly rapidly.
More next month.
EIG GOES TO LANESBORO
Lanesboro, Minnesota is an attractive small town on the banks of the Root River in southeastern Minnesota. Tourists come to canoe on the river, ski and bike on the trails and attend a little theater.
About 7 miles to the west lays the 80 acre Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center (EBELC). It is surrounded by 800 acres of beautiful unglaciated State Forrest. It receives about 20,000 visitors per year. Early in 2010 the EBELC received a grant from the LCCMR to make the residence of director Joe Deden and his wife into an energy saving demonstration site. New windows have been installed and two layers of insulation are being applied. Heat exchangers will warm incoming fresh air with exhaust air and control humidity. A learning program about Renewable Energy is being developed.
Energy Independence Group (EIG) and Century College have been engaged to design and install a sophisticated solar water and space heating system. This work is being done by instructor, Todd Fink and a team of his Renewable Energy students. EIG serves as the fiscal agent (pays the bills).
The solar system employs five well-insulated, glazed and highly efficient collector panels mounted on a south roof. A pump circulates antifreeze from the panels to heat exchanger coils inside a 400 gallon storage tank. Another pump circulates the heated water from the storage tank to the existing electric water heater. A coil of copper tubing was installed in the heater tank to exchanges heat from the storage tank. This reduces the gas bill for heating domestic hot water. Excess heat is used to augment space heating through the existing radiators. A thermostat system controls the pumps to assure comfortable conditions. In the summer time the excess heat will be dumped into PEC plastic coils buried outside the house.
News releases are being prepared and there will be a grand reopening this fall. We will keep you informed.
| Did you know? |
Only about 10% of the energy used by a bulb creates light, the other 90% creates heat. |