Take Stock of Renewables

In light of the proposed energy bill that's being tossed about in DC, I've been doing a lot of research into renewable energy companies. Solar, wind, biomass (still trying to figure out what that is exactly - I think it means "fuel from carbon things") wave technology, geothermal tech ... the list gets longer and longer every day. Renewables are a fast growing sector on Wall Street and, depending on Congress and the POTUS and what they do/don't do with the energy bill, this sector could be GINORMOUS in a matter of months.

With that in mind, here is a website with a very comprehensive list of the players, both big and small, currently dabbling in renewables. You'll notice that many of these companies are foreign and aren't even traded in US markets. The US is behind the rest of the world in renewable energy R&D (which goes hand in hand with our present woefully pathetic energy policy) but we, meaning the private sector, are rapidly catching up. Small speculative companies are popping up every where and even big guys, like GE, are suiting up to play as well.

Take Covanta Holding Corporation for instance. This New Jersey waste management company
is in the business of creating energy out of an abundantly available resource: trash. They pick up your refuse, transport it to an energy processing facility, burn it at upwards of 2000 degrees to heat water, convert the water into steam that rotates turbines, thus creating energy. Something to that effect. Now is that an efficient business model or what?

While considered a "renewable" technology by government standards, this process is not completely without its drawbacks. However, it's still contributing to the renewable effort. The ash that is leftover is used to make asphalt and other industrial stuff, and the process helps keep trash out of landfills, which creates ozone-depleting gas.