9 Days of Green: Repair & Maintain

"They don't make them like they used to."

How many times have you heard this phrase, let along said it. I tend to think a lot of my green ideas are abstract and this one is no different. If something is broke fix it.

This opinion was developed over my time as a manufacturing engineer and as a amateur bicycle mechanic. Repair stuff that is broken and maintain what is not. You want some of your home bills to stay down, maintain you HVAC system. Old or new these systems run more efficiently with clean filters, fans, and sensors. Have an old car that runs well, try adding synthetic motor oil with the next oil change, you may be surprised what your gas mileage is afterward. Bicycles can run and run as long as they are cleaned every year. Heck your home has probably needed an update here or there, did you throw your home away or did you get that new roof, added insulation, or paved driveway.

It is really simple and probably an afterthought that we need to repair things when they break down. I know that after moving into this house my washing machine and garage door opener failed on me. Myself or my girlfriend was ready to purchase something new, thankfully we didn't because a couple of trips to the parts center and some elbow grease later, we had everything up and working. By keeping what we have running, working, and used, it is one less thing to throw away fill up a landfill, or use energy to melt down, not to mention all of the resources and energy to produce a new product.

Electronics are probably my most hated product in terms of maintenance and repair. Most electronics are not very repairable, can require a significant understanding of circuits, can become obsolete rather quickly, and may have the worst warranties in the business. I wouldn't know what to tell you to do with them other than use them as long as you can before your needs change or the machine dies. I know a lot of people know how to repair old radio tuners and kitchen electronics, but the ratio of those compared to the number of tossed equipment definitely isn't favorable.

When faced with the dreaded repair versus buy new arguments, think of it this way. First, what will the life of my product be if I do this repair? Second, what will be the total cost of purchasing and using the new equipment? Then, compare the results. My dad kept cars way past their prime, his reasoning was sure this repair costs a lot but it is cheaper than car payment. I always thought that was a good argument. Realize too that simply maintaining equipment constantly will keep things running longer than you would ever think is really possible. Whether it is a repair or simple maintenance, continued usage of your old stuff can keep numerous other materials and resources safe from harming the environment.

#1 way to “help” the green movement: Reuse

(This is one of the articles I wrote while on vacation last week, so I am no longer in the Philippines even thought I am referring to it. I am excited about what I wrote over there and should have a new update everyday this week, so come back daily)

While waiting in Manila for a flight to Dumaguete, I have been reading the latest Dwell Magazine. This issue is about the popular topic of green building / sustainability and one article in particular sparked my thoughts about what is the most green thing one can do with building or buying anything. The article, about someone’s modern expansion and makeover of a home with new green, recycled, processed, and organic materials and its design process. It’s a very beautiful home but I can’t help think about all of the energy used to make these new recycled panels, parts, and materials, not to mention of the fuel needed to power the equipment used to build the house. Sure they utilized biodiesel fueled trucks, processed hay, denim insulation, special insulating windows, solar panels, and low-VOC paint but what if first they took a trip down to the local recycled materials store (KC Restore, etc) first for windows, doors, sinks, wood, flooring, and tubs. Reusing what isn’t “new” is the best way to keep trash out of dumps and not use time, money, and energy to produce a product. This obsession with “new” is what is truly wrong with the American lifestyle. We all are obsessed with “new”, you suffer from it, and I suffer from it. If we all just stopped at the thrift store first for some clothes, not all, but some, it would reduce some of that time, money, and energy needed to produce new clothes. Just being satisfied with the furniture we have or with the current layout of our kitchen, should be considered just as green, if not more so than some LEED’s certified property built from the ground up. Okay truly if we have to build something new, then using and investing in these new recyclable or more sustainable materials is great and needed, but not reusing older, perfectly fine materials and goods is just reckless, snobby, and wasteful.

Go back just 100 to 200 years ago to America and farmers would use as much wood as they could from the old barn to build the new barn, the old bath tub in the old house would get transferred over the to the new house, the old sink was the new sink, and on and on. The products were typically more robust then, usually made to last a little better than our current throw away society. Somewhere in Americana, we all started to want “new” and more “new”, and in order to afford the variety of more “new”, we needed cheaper and cheaper stuff. First came the old Sears and Roebucks and then came out Wal-Marts, providing us with all of the crap we want as cheap as it can get. At one time the little closets in the old houses Americans owned fit all of the clothes that a person held, all of them. Now we need so much stuff that huge closets and rooms are needed to pack all that crap in. More stuff, more crap, more space, and it all has to be “new”, that is the problem. Enjoying what we have, or reusing someone else’s perfectly good stuff, is the best, most green solution. Magazines may never write about it, media may never promote it, but there really is just no better thing to help the green movement than to reuse.

The best bet on the green movement: PBD ($30-$32 per share)

Let’s get this out of the way, I am a green-loving, bleeding-heart environmentalist, but I am also a logical, data-oriented, high-efficiency manufacturing engineer. Yes, you can be both. I guess what I am saying is that I am all for green initiatives but not at the cost of being stupid.

That being said I want to lie out what I think is currently the best play in the green stock world or rather the ETF world: PBD. PowerShares Global Clean Energy Portfolio (PBD) is made up of the best companies producing and utilizing clean technologies around the globe. This ETF when compared to the other ETF’s of it’s kind is supped up with the best green energy companies available, which not surprisingly are located outside of the US. Besides making you feel good about it containing a diversified group of clean companies, this is a good hedge against both surging oil and utilities prices, and since 70% of its holdings are based outside the US, this ETF is also a good hedge against the falling dollar.

The clean energy industry has seen some recent stock growth in the US from almost every manufacturer in the solar industry. FSLR, STP, SPWR, JASO, and more have all seen rapid growth as people trend towards more renewable energy sources. Alternatively, that is only one sector of green technologies, there are other great companies out there in hydro tech, geothermal energy, biomass, biofuels, rechargable batteries, wind energy, and more that will all start to experience a growth period. Expanding on that last technology, wind will have everybit as much market penitration as solar energy, as sunny areas of the world are not necessarily windy and vice versa. Currently the best wind power companies, other than GE*, are located outside of the US but are well represented in here (PBD). Wind power, not surprisingly, is catching on in windy states like California, Texas, and Iowa and are on the brink to really take off in Kansas and Minnesota. There is also some development in new production facilities of these foreign companies in the US, which is a sign for the expected orders to come. Here is a sample article that I have been finding on such occurances.


Let’s take a quick look at the top 10 stocks held in the ETF:

Weight
Name
More Information

3.41%
JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (ADS)
China based Solar company recently rated as Buy by Piper Jaffrey and Zacks. Has long-term silicone supplier deal.

3.03%
Vestas Wind Systems A/S
Denmark based, premier wind turbine manufacturer recently reporting 500% profit increase year ($68.9 mil) over year ($13.5 mil) and 18% increase in sales.

3.01%
First Solar Inc.
US based solar company with Google like stock earnings due to its reliance on cadmium telluride instead of silicone for panels. Its most recent strategic move was to buy Turner Renewable Energy, a noted US based solar power installer. This allows for the company to sell whole packages to potential large-scale buyers.

2.71%
REpower Systems AG
German based wind turbine manufacturer that currently holds 10% of the German marketplace. Building a promising 5 megawatts wind turbine, one of the largest in the world.

2.69%
Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (ADS)
China based solar company that is extremely value conscious of their product. Has recently signed a long-term silicon contract with HOKU. This company is doing its best to keep prices down and deliver a high quality product (2nd most efficient PV panels).

2.66%
Acciona S.A.
A Spanish mega company specializing in everything alternative including wind, solar, hydro, biomass, and more. Recently began building a new wind turbine plant in Iowa to better serve new US business.

2.65%
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (ADS)
China based solar manufacturer and installer. Another company capable of doing a complete solar install from production to installation. Has had a recent stock-funding event in order to raise $100 mil for further manufacturing and business initiatives.

2.58%
Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica S.A.
Spain based wind and solar producer and integrator that has seen a 52.5% 1-yr sales growth

2.45%
Nordex AG
German based wind turbine manufacturer that has seen a net income increase of $5 bil to $18.5 bil year over year.

2.49%
Scottish & Southern Energy PLC
UK based major utility provider doing its part in construction and utilization of wind farms and solar facilities. Encourages its users to build renewable energy sources into their homes and businesses


To me the trend is in its growing stages and it seems that all renewables are experiencing considerable growth. This stock is picking the best of the best around the world and should be seen as the safest bet to ride this wave. Low management fees of 0.75% of total ETF price (high for ETF’s but still low compared to mutual funds, trades in multiple markets too) helps as well.

Lastly, some friends of mine have noted that nuclear is a possible alternative as a major energy supplier in the US instead of coal, solar, wind, and the rest. I have only one rebuttal is that nuclear is being discussed and solar and wind power are being approved. I think we are truly at the tip of the green revolution and there is definitely money to be made. Just hope the US tax incentives don’t stop anytime soon.



* GE is a great company figuring out many different alternative technologies, but because their brand covers such a diversified group of products, it currently is not a great alternative energy play.