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Gold/Mining/Energy : ELC - ELECTRIC CITY CORP (eccc) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (19)	6/2/2001 10:43:30 PM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46

How Bush's Energy Plan Will Power Stocks By Lee Barney Staff Reporter 5/21/01 10:09 AM ET Last week, President Bush suggested numerous ways that the country can increase energy, including increasing oil and natural gas exploration, reviving the nuclear power plant and building thousands of miles of pipelines. Chris Ellinghaus Principal, Williams Capital Group Chris Ellinghaus, a principal with New York-based investment banking firm Williams Capital Group, says Bush's plan is both bold and imperative for the overall health of the economy. He estimates that the ideas Bush is calling for will require $1 trillion worth of investments from the private sector, and that electricity and coal stocks in particular will benefit. While the investments might lead to higher energy costs and greater pollution to some extent, Ellinghaus says that if the country doesn't improve its energy capacity, prices will go sky-high. TSC: Are we really heading for an energy crisis, and if so, what forms of energy in particular are under strain? Ellinghaus: We are in one right now. We have a significant shortage of energy infrastructure at all levels of the energy value chain. That means from exploration and production of oil and gas, to the processing and transportation of that oil and gas, to the creation of electricity and all of the other energy products in the energy chain. If we don't do something to improve infrastructure, things will get dramatically worse, and not just in California but in many parts of the rest of the country. While this might lead to some higher energy prices, it would be a lot more expensive if we don't implement this plan. If we don't, prices will spike sky-high. TSC: How did we reach such a crisis? Ellinghaus: Part of it is due to inaction. Part of it is due to deregulation. And part of it is due to NIMBY [not in my back yard] and environmentalists. The proliferation of so much computer and telecommunications equipment along with the Internet and intranets has also really strained the infrastructure. We have a steadily growing economy. We have immigration and a rising standard of living. Americans have been through energy crises before, but we demand ever-increasing amounts of energy at low cost. TSC: So you approve of what President Bush is proposing? Ellinghaus: He's gone a long way toward proposing some very good solutions. In fact, if I was drawing up a plan, my plan would look largely like his plan. The Clinton Administration put out a directive to the industry that everything should be natural gas because it's domestic and it's cleaner. I believe that is generally a good plan, but you can see already what's happened. By dramatically increasing the demand for natural gas, you spike the price. Bush wants to create greater diversity among the fuel sources. Coal, even though it's less environmentally friendly than natural gas, is an absolutely critical element of our future energy sources. Bush is very correct when he says that electricity is really the fuel of the future. Virtually all service and technology industries are completely fueled by electricity. The only thing I disagreed with is I think it's more of a 10-year plan than a 20-year plan. We need it earlier. TSC: So which energy subsectors would you point to as good investments? Ellinghaus: His plan and our needs go from the very bottom at the oil well to the field service industries to the pipelines to the gas processing businesses, all the way up to the power plants, the transmission lines and the utilities. You name it, it's going to be affected in a big way. One of the key points of his plan was adding 38,000 miles of pipelines. That's like adding a Williams Companies (WMB:NYSE) to the energy mix. Instead of having four principal pipeline companies, you'll be adding one more. And 1,300 to 1,900 power plants is a big project, so that will definitely be a contributor to the growth and profitability of that subsector. I don't know of any company in the U.S. that owns more than 40 or 50 materially sized power plants. It will also affect the wholesalers because we'll be increasing the size of the energy market dramatically and at the same time deregulating it. We're also talking about increasing the size of the gas market by perhaps over 50%. That's really going to have a major impact on the major oil and exploration and production companies. Bush assumes a big increase in gas and oil consumption, along with coal. The ancillary industries that provide equipment and services will also be impacted pretty amazingly. I think there's a minimum of $1 trillion of investment required. TSC: Where is this money going to come from? Ellinghaus: Hopefully, it's coming from Wall Street. Let's put it this way; if you don't invest $1 trillion in the energy infrastructure, you can't significantly add to the Internet capacity. If we think that's going to be a big driver of the future, we had better reinforce the infrastructure to support it or we won't see economic growth. The private sector is going to respond to this call for infrastructure in a big way. TSC: Are you saying that all energy stocks will be good investments? Ellinghaus: I think some will be better than others. The energy sector is something you would overweight in a portfolio. TSC: Since this proposal is likely to take a long time to make its way through Congress and already there are many opponents, do you think the energy sector could remain volatile for a long time? Ellinghaus: I wouldn't say that every stock in each of these subsectors is going to be a great outperformer. As a whole, the energy story is pretty compelling. You could pick any of the principal generators and do well. And if you believe that we are going to have tight energy markets until we complete this plan, they'll have strong economics in those plants as well. If you are talking about increasing the size of the gas market by maybe 50% or more, that means that the exploration and production companies will grow 50%. The gas pipeline industry could also grow that much, which will affect the wholesalers. The utilities could grow pretty significantly, although I would put that at the bottom of the list. It's a very good story across the energy sector, but you still have to be a stock picker. If you are going to make a bet on an industry across the board, though, this is probably one of the sectors that you want to bet on. TSC: And what about concerns about what this will mean for the environment? Ellinghaus: I think it's a little courageous on Bush's part to take a little heat by essentially saying, if we don't increase the emission of pollutants, then we are going to have a stagnant economy. But we can try to implement the cleanest technologies, and face it -- plants that were built in the 1940s look nothing like the plants that are built today. Additionally, this whole process might allow us to replace a dirty infrastructure with a cleaner infrastructure. TSC: So can you name some specific stocks that you believe are good investments now? Ellinghaus: The plan indicates that there is a significant shortage in electricity. The company that is best positioned to add more capacity to the grid is Calpine (CPN:NYSE) . There's also Energy Partners (EPL:) and AES (AES:NYSE) and Reliant Energy (REI:NYSE) and Mirant (MIR:NYSE) and Dynegy (DYN:NYSE) and Enron (ENE:NYSE) . These are the principal companies that are going to help the natural gas and electricity infrastructure. aol.thestreet.com

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (19)	6/3/2001 5:59:23 AM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Respond to of 46

Northern Trust Bank Cuts Energy Use with Electric City's EnergySaver(TM) First Large Commercial Office Facility in Chicago to be Entirely Controlled By EnergySaver(TM) Systems CHICAGO, May 31, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Northern Trust Bank (Nasdaq: NTRS chart, msgs) has the first large scale office facility in Chicago to be entirely controlled by EnergySaver(TM) technology supplied by Electric City of Illinois (Amex: ELC chart, msgs) and PST Corporation, Electric City's dealer. Every light throughout the entire five-story, 500,000 sq. ft. Northern Trust operations facility and its attached multi-level parking structure at 801 S. Canal in Chicago, is controlled by the EnergySaver(TM), substantially reducing the amount of energy consumed by its lighting systems. The level of savings achieved for the facility has been measured and verified at a steady state savings level of 22.8%, which is more than 700,000 kwh each year. "Northern Trust will save over $50,000 annually on its electric bill due to the EnergySaver(TM)," said a senior level Northern Trust representative. The EnergySaver(TM) is a transparent way to reduce energy consumption and save money. "All of our lighting systems, which are 277 volts, are now operating at 220 volts with no visible lumen loss," Northern Trust's head building engineer said. Northern Trust had seven EnergySaver(TM) units installed in its Chicago facility that houses its data center and other business critical applications. Based on the results of this system, Electric City's dealer, PST is working with the company to evaluate installation of additional units at its other facilities. "The Northern Trust application is another project where the EnergySaver(TM) has proven that it safely and effectively reduces energy consumption for lighting while maintaining appropriate lighting levels," said John Mitola, CEO of Electric City Corp. "The resulting energy savings by Northern Trust helps them reduce their bottom line, while it reduces demand on the ComEd utility grid, freeing electricity capacity for use by other customers. We're proud to be working with sophisticated customers like Northern Trust at one of their most critical office facilities. Northern Trust is representative of the many leading companies we enjoy as our most successful customers." Typically, customers can expect a return on their EnergySaver(TM) investment within 18-24 months in just energy savings alone. When coupled with incentive payments frequently offered by utility companies for voluntary load reduction, the return can be even faster. An added bonus is that an Energy Saver(TM) system is extremely easy and quick to install "The installation at such a large facility like the Northern Trust operations center took less than one week and it did not disrupt workflow or require the changeout of any existing equipment," said James Stump, a partner in Diamac Electric, Inc., the local #134 IBEW contractor who installed the units at Northern Trust. "Combining the lighting loads of 24 panels from the buss duct risers made for a clean installation in the main switchgear room." About Northern Trust Corp. Northern Trust Corporation ( northerntrust.com ) is a multi-bank holding company with worldwide locations and is a leading provider of treasury management, master trust and custody, retirement, risk and performance, international and investment management services for corporations, large institutions, and individuals. As of March 31, 2001, Northern Trust had $1.65 trillion in assets under administration and over $337 billion in assets under management About Electric City Corp. Electric City is a leading developer, manufacturer and integrator of energy savings technologies and custom electric switchgear. The Company currently markets the EnergySaver(TM), the GlobalCommander, TP3 and custom switchgear. Electric City is based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois and is traded under the symbol ELC. Additional information is available at the Company's web site at www.electriccityeccc.com or can be obtained by contacting Glenn Akselrod at the Stockpage at 800-797-5683 or at glen@thestockpage.com and Tony Schor at Investor Awareness, Inc. at 847-945-2222 or www.investorawareness.com . Statements made in this release may be construed to be forward-looking and are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1998. Electric City has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words and phrases such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "should," "typical," "we are confident," or similar expressions. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks related to evaluation of additional installations for the customer discussed above, as well as other matters disclosed in documents filed from time to time by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here tbutton.prnewswire.com Source: Electric City of Illinois Contact: Julie Shepherd of Accent28, 847-669-0633, or jshepherd11@yahoo.com , for Electric City of Illinois URL: northerntrust.com electriccityeccc.com News provided by COMTEX User Agreement

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (19)	6/4/2001 7:08:34 PM
From: afrayem onigwecher	Respond to of 46

Energy woes boost business for other firms By Jon Swartz, USA TODAY SAN FRANCISCO — California's energy crisis and its looming summer of blackouts threatens to plunge many into the dark. But some firms are cashing in. Today, a 50% electric power rate increase kicks in for many California users. To cut costs, companies are pursuing: • Energy-efficiency consultants. Demand for conservation consultants has soared. Xenergy, which runs conservation programs for Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern Edison and the California Energy Commission, says business is up 25% in recent months. Consulting firm Schiller Associates expects sales to double. The most popular services: energy audits, which research how customers use, and waste, energy. • New technologies. General Electric reports brisk orders of its new Arctica refrigerator, which uses up to 40% less energy than previous models. Whirlpool, Maytag and others have also upgraded refrigerators to meet higher energy-efficiency standards. Refrigerators cost $12 to $22 a month to power in Northern California, experts estimate. Venture capitalists, meanwhile, are expressing interest in energy start-ups, including one that is pursuing technology to harness the power of ocean waves, says John Freeman, a business professor at the University of California at Berkeley, where Sea Power started as a class project. • Equipment. Hardware vendor Electric City, maker of EnergySaver, a computer-control panel that cuts lighting consumption up to 50%, projects a 300% jump in sales this year. San Francisco International Airport is a new customer, it says. • Contractors. There is heightened interest in electricians and plumbers as customers seek to curb energy use by adjusting air-conditioning and water-heating systems, says Lucien Canton, director of San Francisco's Office of Emergency Services. Schaumann Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing says calls are up 10% this year and will increase as summer nears. "People want to know how they can save money," says sales manager Michael Russell. Power-conscious manufacturers are snapping up established technologies — such as solar energy, continuous power supplies and backup generators — that fell out of favor when power was plentiful and cheap. "When energy becomes more expensive and scarce, a number of technologies that used to be marginal become more economically viable," says Mike Sullivan, an energy-conservation consultant. "We went through this before, during the 1970s oil crisis." Not every entrepreneur is gloating over its good fortunes. "It's a mixed blessing," says conservation consultant Steve Schiller. "The electricity shortage helps our business, but it hurts the overall economy," he says. "In the long run, that's not within any businesses' best interests." usatoday.com