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Non-Tech : Alternative energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (10864)	5/11/2011 7:26:40 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16955

I would venture that #7 is about to get worse... not better.. Not food ?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (10864)	5/12/2011 10:57:13 AM
From: Eric	Respond to of 16955

Good post Jacob. I agree with all of the points.

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (10864)	5/12/2011 12:51:03 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16955

1. The world's population is growing faster than ever - in numerical, if not percentage, terms - and it's getting older. I dont believe that the first half of your statement is true. economist.com According to the UN, the world’s population will surpass 7 billion at the end of October, a few months earlier than had been expected. The global total will continue to rise slowly until 2100, when it will flatten out at 10.1 billion. During the period of fastest growth, in the late 1980s, the world’s population was rising by over 88m a year. Now annual growth is down to 75m and by 2050 it will be only 40m. Slacker

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (10864)	5/25/2011 5:20:57 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 16955

solar gross margins: 2010,1Q11,company: 46% 46% FSLR 33% 27% YGE 31% 27% TSL 29% 26% JKS 23% 20% SPWRA 22% 17% JASO 22% 30% LDK (estimate; they still haven't reported) 21% 16% HSOL 17% 19% STP 15% 15% CSIQ comments: Margins mostly fell, or at best held steady. Given that ASPs continue to fall, and at a rate much greater than the decline in manufacturing costs, I expect 2Q11 margins will be lower than 1Q11. There may be individual exceptions, but the overall trend is down. In 2Q11, there may be some benefit for some companies (and harm to others), due to lower poly prices. This depends on what fraction of their business comes from poly. LDK's higher gross margins are probably due to the reasons discussed in this article seekingalpha.com and isn't good news. They estimate GM 24-29% for full year 2011. If they hit the top end of that range, they will greatly improve their rankings on the list. I doubt it happens. I don't expect LDK, or anyone else, to improve YOY gross margins in 2011. Otherwise, the rankings didn't change much. FSLR remains far in the lead, with YGE, TSL, and JKS in the second tier, and everyone else well below them. It will be a lot easier to compare numbers, once all these companies are fully vertically integrated. The ones that aren't yet, are trying to get there as fast as they can. The rest of 2011 should provide an excellent "stress test" for solar companies, allowing investors to pick the winners. During good times, even poorly managed companies with non-viable business plans can look good. If anyone is aware of any other interesting companies we should follow, let me know.