Natural gas for Buses and Trucks!

15-Apr-2011 | Reggie | Green Investing Market Strategies Oil & Gas

Encana Corp is one of the biggest explorers and producers of natural gas out there.  Last year Encana spun off their oil production into another company, Cenovus making Encana basically a pure gas play.  As a result their fate has been tied very closely to the price of natural gas something that has been evident thanks to ECA’s stock price recently.  Rather than sit around with their wells shut in waiting for prices to rebound before turning the taps back on, Encana is taking action to change their destiny.

One way that Encana can improve their sales is by increasing demand.  Yes, its that easy.  Encana has been a big proponent of coverting vehicles to natural gas and putting the infrastructure in place to make that possible.  With gasoline prices back up over a $1.00 a liter and over $4.00 a gallon in the United States Encana’s plan is getting a very warm reception.  There is currently a huge abundance in natural gas making this a very logical step forward for the industry.  Environmentalists should be happy as well thanks to natural gas being a relatively clean burning fuel.

 

So far commercial trucks and buses are the main target for the conversion and have to potential to increase the demand for natural gas by a substantial amount.  I absolutely love how Encana is putting their future in their own hands and not relying on the whims of the market.  If this catches on, which there isn’t really any reason it shouldn’t, it will change the market for natural gas and gasoline forever.

 

For more information check out the Globe and Mail’s article here

 

 

 

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Big bet on the Electric Car

14-Jan-2011 | Reggie | Commodities Green Investing

Lithium has rapidly replaced Alkaline as a key ingredient in the creation of long life batteries.  Lithium batteries are now used in almost all portable devices including cell phones, cameras, and laptops.  The next logical step is to use the increase in power and life of Lithium batteries in electric cars.

Following this line of logic one would see a pretty big opportunity to invest in lithium with the possibility of its use being widely expanded via electric vehicles.  Over the past couple of days there has been 2 major financings for Canadian lithium miners.  Canada Lithium (CLQ.T) is looking to raise $200 million for the development of their mine in Quebec where they hope to be able to produce 20,000 tonnes initially.  Another miner, Talison (TLH.T) is looking to raise $60 million in order to finance the expansion of their mine in Western Australia where they are looking to increase their capacity to 62,000 tonnes.

That’s 2 companies right there with the capacity to meet nearly 80% of current lithium demand.  Never mind other producers and potential producers.  Investing in lithium right now is basically making a bet that there will be a major shift towards battery powered vehicles which is probably still a pretty big gamble at this time thanks to the huge amounts of new oil & gas being discovered and the peak oil story basically falling apart for the time being.  Cheap oil and gas prices would put a serious dent in the adoption of electric vehicles especially since the range of many of these vehicles is still so relatively short.  There is also some pretty serious concerns coming from environmentalists on how lithium is mined thanks to the toxic waste produced from the extraction of the compound.

The huge amount of momentum and excitement behind lithium is making for some great potential return.  However, it would be a good time to exercise caution because of the poor outlook for supply and demand of lithium.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Save the Planet by shooting water down a hole: Geothermal Energy

08-Sep-2010 | Reggie | Green Investing Investment Ideas

Geothermal heating has been utilized for thousands of years.  The first couple recorded instances were the use of hot springs in China in 300 BC and the Roman Baths a few hundred years later.  Geothermal energy is made possible from the plethora of hot spots spread throughout the world but concentrated near geological fault lines.  Thanks to rising energy prices and environmental concerns Geothermal energy is being further developed on a larger scale.

 

There are a few different Canadian companies looking at doing this by injecting water between 1 and 3 km into the earths surface where it heats up before being brought back up to the surface to turn a turbine and create electricity.  Considering how much energy is spent mining for coal or other hydrocarbons to burn, utilizing the earths infinite amount of heat makes great sense.

 

One Canadian company doing just that is Magma Energy Corp.  Based out of Vancouver, Magma owns a few different projects including one in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Iceland.  Currently, Iceland and Nevada are the two projects currently producing just under 200 mega watts of electricity.  By 2015, Magma hopes to have their Chile project producing 100 mega watts.

 

While these geothermal projects haven’t been wildly popular with investors over the past few years, the combination of the energy being inexpensive, renewable, and clean should help the industry gain traction with investors.  Magma energy trades on the TSX under (MXY) for $1.15 with a price target of $2.40 by Wellington West.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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Trading Day Summary

11-Aug-2010 | kate | Green Investing Mining New Announcements Stocks

The Toronto Stock Exchange fell 265.08 points after the American dollar has one of her best rally in recent history climbing 1.4 cents against the Canadian dollar.  The American dollar is currently trading 1.0474 US dollar per Canadian dollars.

Base metals prices were affected by the American dollar rally and were pushed down.  Septembers Copper contract fell down six cents to $3.26. Teck Resources led the way falling $1.48 to $34.58 while Labrador Iron Mines closed at an even $5.00. All 14 TSX subgroups finished downward, with metals and mining leading the way. Metal and Mining were down 4.3%, global base metals 4% and energy s 2.8%.

Meanwhile, on the economic front, Statistic Canada announced that our nation’s trade deficit widened in June to 1.1 billion from Mays 695 million. Economist were looking to narrow the deficit to $300 million.

I have harsh words regarding Manulife’s day, but they are not suitable for publication, so we will just say that they ended the day down again $13.41 (4.28%). The company’s stock has been having a couple hard weeks after announcing their 2.4 billion dollar quarterly loss last week.

It wasn’t all bad news today as Rona Inc, reported their second quarter and had profits of $67.8 million and increase of $1.4 billion year over year.  Supermarket Chain Metro also reported strong earnings today of $120 million.

New Issue Alert!

Sounds like GasFrac, the green fracers are going to be coming to the market soon under the symbol GFS. Instead of water, GasFrac pumps inert gases into the formation and therefore does not pollute the water beds.

To read more on GasFrac, please read out previous blog by clicking here.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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What Does the Belangers know about SunGro that you don’t?

25-Jun-2010 | kate | Agriculture Canadian Investing Green Investing Market Strategies Stocks

Today we are taking a look at a company called Sun Gro (GRO.UN) who produces and sells peat moss for both commercial and residential gardening purposes.

Peat Moss is harvested from bogs that are drained and their crops picked and packaged to head to the nearest Canadian Tire. North America’s peat moss supply is supplied entirely by Canadian producers. All in all, the peat moss world is pretty nice and on a business end of things, it’s pretty close to being recession proof.

So although this would sounds like a story about a great green, recession proof investment, it is really a question about what do industry players know about this company and we don’t.

But the story is really about the Belanger family of Quebec who started buying shares in 2007 and has accumulated around 23% of Sun Gro shares since. But what is really interesting is that the family owns Premier Tech Industrial Equipment Group, who is Sun Gro primary competitor and the number two competitor in the industry. So the question becomes, what do the Belangers know that all the sellers of Sun Gro do not?

Sun Gro went public several years ago listing on the market for 10 dollars a share and has headed south and never recovering fully from the 2008 lows partly due to expanding to quickly (debt) and the housing crisis forcing them to cut their distribution.

Well the Belangers, who were interviewed by a globe and mail writers, stand firm on that they just like the company management, their business (obviously) and the company over all, it seems to be that there might be more to the story and that’s all. No take over; no offers are in the near future.

Mr. Weaver, CFO of Sun Grow, says that their business is turning around and that they have been working hard on cutting cost, paying down debt and getting ready for the future. Their net income has almost double in the recent quarter and volume and revenue per unit is up in the United Sates.

Also strange is that the globe reporter found that IKO the shingle maker has been a big buyer of the stock as well.

So the question comes down to, if the stock appears to be a good investment to industry players, an upside might be materializing while are busy hunting around for companies with dividends.

This blog has been prepared by the Retire First Team. The blog expresses the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of Retire First Ltd. Statistic and factual data are from sources Retire First believes to be reliable but their accuracy can not be guaranteed. This blog is furnished on the basis and understanding that Retire First is under no liability whatsoever in respect thereof. It is for informational purposes only and is not be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of securities. Retire First Ltd. And its officers, directors, employees and their family may from time to time invest in the securities discussed in this blog. This blog is intended for individuals where Retire First Ltd is registered as a dealer in securities.

Retire First is a member of the Canadian Investors Protection Fund.

Commission, trailing commissions, management fees and expense all may be associated with mutual funds. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. A recommendation of any of the mentioned investments would only be made after a personal review of individual portfolio. Third Party research has been used in formulating the writer's opinions.

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