"Alternative Energy is definitely going to become an important new technology to follow for long term investments but energy is not the only thing that will come from research being done in this area.

Cereplast (OTCBB CERP) is a small company that is working to produce bio-based renewable, bio-degradable plastics.

Petroleum based plastics have been around for decades now and are not environmentally friendly either to produce, the by-products, or as the breakdown in landfills. Also petroleum based plastics have been linked to many cancers and other autoimmune diseases although absolute proof has not been scientifically established that would ban the use of petroleum in plastics.

Modern man consumes a lot of petroleum based plastic when consuming packaged foods. It has been proven that microwaving food in plastic containers breaks down chemicals that are left in the food. Nature never intended humans to eat petroleum.

Cereplast is developing plastics that come from organic products such as algae which can be grown in abundance rather cheaply nowadays and has similar properties to petroleum. The upside is natural plastic is bio-degradable and safer not only for the environment but for humans who are obsessed with consumer fast food heated in plastic from a microwave.

The breakthrough technology using algae based resins to create plastic could eventually totally replace petroleum based plastics. Algae have proven to be more stable and reliable than corn and other similar products in creating a sturdy plastic that is similar to petroleum plastic.

Algae is a product I have discussed as a possible bio-fuel but it appears from this most recent research that it may well have even more impact in the plastics industry.

Exxon is investing 600 million in Genomics and BP is investing in Martek Biosciences, both companies are involved in algae feedstock.

Algae based plastics can be used in extruded plastic, injection molding, blow molding and are competitively priced to petroleum based plastics. These plastics are essentially one time use plastics that need to be fully bio-degradable. So the products produced are just about anything you would use to eat with or hold food in..."  Martha Stokes, C.M.T.

Member of Market Technicians Association
Senior Technical Analyst: Decisions Unlimited, Inc.
Instructor and Developer of TechniTrader® Stock Market Courses
Martha Stokes, C.M.T. (c) copyright 2009 all rights reserved.

Disclaimer: All statements, whether expressed verbally or in writing are the opinions of TechniTrader®, its instructors and or employees, and are not to be construed as anything more than an opinion. Student/subscribers are responsible for making their own choices and decisions regarding all purchases or sales of stocks or issues. At no time is any stock or issue on any list written or sent to a student/subscriber by TechniTrader® and its employees to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or issue. TechniTrader® is not a broker or an investment advisor it is strictly an educational service.

"I was asked how you find out which companies GE is investing in for alternative energy. This is an excellent question since GE is the #1 Venture Capital company for alternative energy at this time.

You can go to Press Releases and News on the GE websites, stay tuned to any news related item for GE and simply monitor small alternative energy firms themselves for partnerships. There is no magic bullet to finding this stuff, just some good detective work. There isn’t a list anywhere. This is part of the research a good investor does and enjoys doing.

But I also want to remind you that long term investing is a PROCESS. I am writing a book called:

“If You are a Long Term Investor, Why do You Buy Stocks Like a DayTrader?”

Too often I find that investors rush out to buy stocks without thoroughly understanding what they are buying and why they are buying. Self-made wealthy people do not rush their investment decisions; they take time to evaluate every single decision.

We are entering a stage where many stocks will retrace or correct providing new better risk entries for long term. But just because GE invests in a firm doesn’t mean it is a sure thing. Venture Capital figures that if they get 1 out of 10 start-ups to be a big winner, they are doing well.

Take your time evaluating your long term selections. Realize that you may be watching a stock for several years before you actually buy it. Getting to know the little firm intimately is important because you can learn to recognize the winners from the losers.

Little firms are plagued by many problems:

1. Not enough capital to do R&D

2. Arguments among owners and partners

3. Disagreements with inventors or scientists

4. Road blocks in technological setbacks

The single biggest reason a small company fails to grow falls on management. There may be too many original owners. Often inventors or scientists are buddies and decide to go into business only to find they can’t agree on anything.

Or they just don’t get marketing. You can have the best product or service in the world and not achieve dominance in the market. Marketing, promotions, and merchandising are essential.

Or the small firm under prices itself to compete and ends up not making any money. For those of you who have always been employees and consumers, freebies and discounts and no interest payments etc seem so fantastic but ultimately they can destroy a company.

Companies need to make very high profit margins to succeed because there are so many unseen costs.

Service is huge and can wipe out a company if there is a low margin. Consumers always complain about service from firms but are upset when a company charges sufficiently to pay for good service.

Right now what will be the big difference between those companies that succeed and those who go under next year is profit margins..."  Martha Stokes, C.M.T.

Member of Market Technicians Association
Senior Technical Analyst: Decisions Unlimited, Inc.
Instructor and Developer of TechniTrader® Stock Market Courses
Martha Stokes, C.M.T. (c) copyright 2009 all rights reserved.

Disclaimer: All statements, whether expressed verbally or in writing are the opinions of TechniTrader®, its instructors and or employees, and are not to be construed as anything more than an opinion. Student/subscribers are responsible for making their own choices and decisions regarding all purchases or sales of stocks or issues. At no time is any stock or issue on any list written or sent to a student/subscriber by TechniTrader® and its employees to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or issue. TechniTrader® is not a broker or an investment advisor it is strictly an educational service.

"Green aka Alternative Energy is likely to take front and center stage next year.

The latest endeavor involved pumping CO2 gases back into the ground where they originally came from rather than allowing industry to pump these gasses into the air as they have for the past century and longer.

GE is providing Chevron, Exxon Mobile, and Shell with compression “trains” that will pump CO2 back into the ground to create the world’s largest carbon sequestration project. The goal is to pump 3.3 million tons of CO2 that are normally released when mining natural gas into an underground reservoir.

This project is expected to start in the next couple of years.

Although this may sound like a foolish endeavor there are obvious advantages. Natural gas comes from the ground and returning CO2 into the ground rather than continuing to harm the atmosphere may be a temporary solution to a much more complicated endeavor.

All of this is happening in Australia which has agreed to be responsible for the carbon storage underground after 15 years.

This is not a new concept. Underground storage of carbon dioxide has been going on for many years and has been monitored all that time. So far, nothing has escaped back into the atmosphere and it appears to be a safer method of handling CO2 than just pumping it into the air.

At any rate, if it is a success, then Australia could realize a sizable increase in income from the big gas companies over man years of time.

Certainly the 37-40 billion dollars GE is going to receive for the project will give the venerable firm a much needed boost in revenues over the next few years.

The storage of natural gas CO2 paves the way for so called “clean coal” which requires a similar sequestering of unwanted CO2 by products.

What we are seeing right now are interim steps to attempt to reduce the impact of global warming. We are in a transition phase from a world the depends on oil, natural gas, and coal for energy to a world that will be using a variety of new, non-polluting or lower polluting energies in the future.

This means a transition for investors as well.

Many investors will cling to the older energy systems since they have performed well in the past few years but the huge speculative market that we saw in 2007 is signaling the end of an era.

Certainly we could see another huge speculative rise in current energies but newer technologies are being embraced by the mass market consumer and the business consumer..."  Martha Stokes, C.M.T.

Member of Market Technicians Association
Senior Technical Analyst: Decisions Unlimited, Inc.
Instructor and Developer of TechniTrader® Stock Market Courses
Martha Stokes, C.M.T. (c) copyright 2009 all rights reserved.

Disclaimer: All statements, whether expressed verbally or in writing are the opinions of TechniTrader®, its instructors and or employees, and are not to be construed as anything more than an opinion. Student/subscribers are responsible for making their own choices and decisions regarding all purchases or sales of stocks or issues. At no time is any stock or issue on any list written or sent to a student/subscriber by TechniTrader® and its employees to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or issue. TechniTrader® is not a broker or an investment advisor it is strictly an educational service.