What is the Conclusion?
I have been trying to understand this market for awhile and it looks like any investment in ethanol
might be a mistake.
-Solar cells, Cadmium/Telluride $1.19 per watt, 11-13% efficient.
-Solar cells, thin-film Copper-Indium-Gallium-diSelenide (CIGS)
-Solar cells, mono-crystalline silicon, $2.40 per watt, 22.4% efficiency now, should be 28% next year.
Price should fall in half by 2012.
-Corn into ethanol, 1% efficient after you compensate for the fuel required for fertilizer, planting and
harvesting and energy used to distill the ethanol and separate it from the water.
-Ethanol: Pacific Ethanol said it has suspended construction of a new ethanol plant in California, the
latest project to fall victim to the shrinking profit margins for the biofuel.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1060592620071210?rpc=44
-Switchgrass to ethanol, 3-4% efficient.
-Algae, not sure the efficiency, but “everyone says it is a lot more.” Makes most sense when using the
CO2 from coal power plants.
-Electricity plus CO2 and H2O can create ethanol. Electricity can come from windmills, nuclear or
solar cells.
-Ethanol cannot be used in pipelines so perhaps Butanol will be more popular in time.
-Batteries are getting better. Solar cells are getting cheaper.
-Why not charge my plug-in hybrid car rather than using the electricity to make ethanol.
Next
Options Index
I have been trying to understand this market for awhile and it looks like any investment in ethanol
might be a mistake.
-Solar cells, Cadmium/Telluride $1.19 per watt, 11-13% efficient.
-Solar cells, thin-film Copper-Indium-Gallium-diSelenide (CIGS)
-Solar cells, mono-crystalline silicon, $2.40 per watt, 22.4% efficiency now, should be 28% next year.
Price should fall in half by 2012.
-Corn into ethanol, 1% efficient after you compensate for the fuel required for fertilizer, planting and
harvesting and energy used to distill the ethanol and separate it from the water.
-Ethanol: Pacific Ethanol said it has suspended construction of a new ethanol plant in California, the
latest project to fall victim to the shrinking profit margins for the biofuel.
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN1060592620071210?rpc=44
-Switchgrass to ethanol, 3-4% efficient.
-Algae, not sure the efficiency, but “everyone says it is a lot more.” Makes most sense when using the
CO2 from coal power plants.
-Electricity plus CO2 and H2O can create ethanol. Electricity can come from windmills, nuclear or
solar cells.
-Ethanol cannot be used in pipelines so perhaps Butanol will be more popular in time.
-Batteries are getting better. Solar cells are getting cheaper.
-Why not charge my plug-in hybrid car rather than using the electricity to make ethanol.
Next
Options Index
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