Tesla Saga, Part 937.4

So the City of San Jose is distraught that Tesla pulled the plug on their planned factory in San Jose. Check out their math.

Construction would mean 600 jobs and $40 million in wages, according to an analysis by city staff, and the facility ultimately would employ 525 people with an annual payroll exceeding [...]

Solar industry growth dimming with economy

The good news is that solar is still growing at a pretty good clip, the bad news is that like almost every other durable good and infrastructure industry it is tied to pedantic factors like financing. I find it incredibly troubling that an entire industry is banking on increasing federal subsidies, on top of what [...]

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Top Solar Stocks
The Best Solar Stocks
Read more on Solar Power at Wikinvest

Smart Solar Application

I saw these today at Home Depot, solar powered attic ventilation fans. This is really smart for a couple of reasons, the first being the fact that heat built up in the typical house attic results in excessive AC usage in the summer as the attic heat keeps the house warm even with insulation. Ventilating [...]

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Top Solar Stocks
Don't Sleep On Solar
Solar Stocks on the Nasdaq
Read more on Solar Power at Wikinvest

Tesla’s Rough Road Ahead

Luxury car manufacturers are always trying to convince themselves that they are recession proof. It’s foolish.

Let’s take a look at Ferrari, they sell an average of 600 new cars a month… in November they sold 92, laid off up to 300 employees and announced plans to idle their Maranello factory for 20 days in December. [...]

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Death Of The Luxury Brands?
mr.dividend, the third earner
Read more on Luxury Consumption, Auto Makers at Wikinvest

Why Gasoline is Still King

Facts are facts, it’s hard to avoid the reality that hydrocarbons are very efficient energy supplies. Given the choice between buying an expensive new technology electric vehicle that has serious range and “refueling” constraints, or a moderately expensive gas burning vehicle that is cleaner (ULEV or better), well I’d choose the latter. This is the [...]

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Time's Short, Odds Long On Gasoline
Crude Drifts Lower
Crude Rebounds Back Above $70
USO vs UGA: The Trade is Complete
Read more on Gasoline Prices at Wikinvest

The Dishonest Debate Over Clean Energy

Beware of people who claim that forcing a shift to renewable energy will result in an economic boom. The technology boom of the last 30 years did not come as a function of forced change but rather efficiencies and cost advantages that were self-evident. If you want renewables for reasons other than economics then great, [...]

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Renewable Energy Statistics
Renewable Energy Investments
Read more on Renewable Energy, Arbitron at Wikinvest

Cap-and-Trade Carbon Plan Coming

Get ready for the new Congress and a dedicated push for cap-and-trade carbon emissions legislation. I’ll leave it to the comment section to debate the merits of the underlying problem that cap-and-trade attempts to address, but for me the big loser here are workers because for such a system to work the initial credits will [...]

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Carbon Credit Trading
Carbon Emissions Trading
Carbon Trading is a Scam
Read more on Carbon Trading at Wikinvest

Tesla’s Innovative Capital Financing

It’s interesting to look at this one statement regarding Tesla’s finances, $9m in the bank after taking deposits on 1,200 orders. I picked a number at random, a number between the $4k and $60k deposit required when placing an order calculated that they have taken $20m in deposits, which means they have burned through half [...]

Actual Plug-ins Needed, Not Announcements

We’ve been hearing from practically every car manufacturer that they will be releasing plug-in electric models of popular cars. Enough with the announcements, we need actual sellable cars in dealerships. Instead, we have Volt in 2010 (and it’s arguably a pretty significant development that is coming in on schedule), Toyota is dragging their feet on [...]

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Whitman Sampler Of Value Stocks
Toyota Motors (TM) Gets Sell Rating, Time to Buy?
How Toyota Sees the Future
Li-on Car Batteries a Ways Off per D.O.E. Conference
Read more on Toyota Motor, Mobile Mini at Wikinvest

Chevy Volt - Concept or Production?

The results are running neck-and-neck. After seeing it for the second time, it doesn’t look as disappointing but I’d still prefer the concept. Count me in for one at any rate, I’m buying one of these as soon as it’s available.

On a related note, the EV1 from GM was fugly, if they had made it [...]

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