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Technology Stocks : Plug Power (PLUG) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gary105 who wrote (87)	1/8/2000 10:53:00 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 783

Yes it may be overpriced but what the hey, you earn $100,000 a year, have a stock portfolio of $1 million and you want back up for those overhead lines that have a habit of coming down in big wind or ice storms. Lokk at France recently, 1 in 4 homes were without power and telephone for at least a week in many cases. So what's $10,000.

To: Gary105 who wrote (87)	1/9/2000 12:34:00 AM
From: Anthony@Pacific	Respond to of 783

For now I think Ill just sopend the 50 bucks but thanks for asking He he he heh

To: Gary105 who wrote (87)	1/9/2000 11:27:00 AM
From: Rande Is	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 783

Gary, I realize you are trying to help people understand and sort truth from hype. . .and I do appreciate that. So lets PLUG in some real numbers into your scenario. According to 1998 stats from the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, the average consumption nationwide is 864kwH, not 500 as your scenario claims. Likewise, the average electric bill is $71.40, not $50.00 as yours claims. Now if you are one of the millions of folks that happen to live in the Eastern United states, your bills are far higher. A new York City resident pays $0.137 cents per Kwh. The average electric bill in Texas is $92. And I personally know a dozen people that pay more than $100 each month for their residential electricity usage. One man I know pays over $400 per month for 6 months of every year. I don't buy your $300 per year on fuel either, but I don't want to spend any more time on this than necessary. You failed to consider "idle time", where zero fuel is used. . .I guess it was just an oversight. Your illustration seems to suggest that the unit must run at full capacity year round. From information I have read about on the units planned for homes in the coming years by Plug Power and their competitors, the units will output 7 to 10kw and reportedly are projecting a cost of anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 when they begin selling a few years from now. So do your math with these numbers. I will try to plug in the numbers. . .but feel free to correct my math. . . Average U.S. house in 1998 consumes 864kwh per month of electricity. . .X $0.827 per kwh or $71.40 per month X 12 = $856.80 per year. Average cost of running a fuel cell unit is reportedly closer to $100 per year. So this average American home [I often pay double that avg electric bill..how about you?] . . will save closer to $756.80 per year. So if the unit costs $7,000 an saves $750 bucks per year would you buy it then? Now look at the statistics on average residential retail revenue per kilowatthour and you will see that the price the consumer has paid for electricity has risen steadily each year going back at least 10 that I checked. And this is while the cost to sell this electricity dropped over the last half of last decade. Now if you are like me and spend well over $1000 per year on electricity, then I could see my investment returned [at say $800 per year] in just a single decade. . . and I am that much closer to self-sufficiency. . . . I'll use my savings to dig a well. . .so I can cut my water lines, too. Add to that any U.S. EPA rebates that may help get the ball rolling with fuel cells. . .and I am ready to sign up . . right now! Cut my lines, baby, I'm making my own electricity. . . no more of those damaging power surges that have destroyed so much of my expensive computer, electronic and musical equipment over the years. . .even using surge protectors. . . sign me up, baby! And don't forget that most states still have a law in the books, requiring the electric company to buy from consumers any excess electricity made by alternative means . . get yourself a half dozen wind turbines and become an electric company. . . now you can get yourself some safe, clean fuel cells and sell back to the electric company enough power that you could generate POSITIVE income. You cannot say that this movement and associated technology is a scam or a hoax, because you know that it is not. It is as revolutionary as the internet itself. And while I don't believe that PlugPower will increase share price by 10,000% over $30 bucks where that prediction was made. . . I do believe that beginning next year, the company will start a parabolic rise, as mutual fund managers begin to see revenues trickle in from sales to GE for General Electric Fuel Cells and recognize the possibilities in the fuel cell industry. General Electric, Detroit Power and even MKTY will all benefit from this project. Ballard Power in Canada should receive some fallout as well, though they are primarily concerned with automotive uses for fuel cells. OT> I realize you don't like hype. But new technology like this MUST be hyped for it to ever reach its critical mass of support. Imagine if there were insufficient hype for motor cars, radios, phonographs, televisions, video games, Broadway shows, sporting events to catch on. We would have a drab, boring society much like the USSR had for 80 years. Hype does have its place in American society. FURTHER READING: Here is an interesting site built by the U.S. Department of Defense on their nationwide fuel cell program. It shows actual statistics on fuel cell efficiency: dodfuelcell.com And don't forget, these are also being tested in automobiles. Here is a fascinating info from the Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Technology on the progress of fuel cells as a replacement to the internal combustion engine: ott.doe.gov Best wishes in all your trading, Gary and everyone. Rande Is

To: Gary105 who wrote (87)	1/11/2000 12:51:00 PM
From: dwight martin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 783

The average house consumes about 500 kw -hr per month. In high cost areas, electricity is about 10 cents per kw-hr. So the consumer spends about $50/month or about $600/year on electricity. Uh-uh. There are 4.15 x 168 = 697.2 hours in a month. Your number translates to an average daily usage of .717 kW-hr. That's just a few light bulbs left on, a refrigerator, and a computer. What about hot water heating and air conditioning, to say nothing of washers, electric dryers, stoves, and house heat, etc.? I'll bet the average is closer to 12-1500 kW-hr per month. I will inquire and post.