New Zealand legislators are trying to completely ban dirty power plants in the small island nation in less than 20 years. The government is hard at work on a 10-year ban of the construction of any new coal or gas power plants.

The country is hoping to have 90% of the country’s power generated by renewable sources by 2025. According to Bloomberg, state-owned power plants in New Zealand are already banned from building gas-fired plants. Soon, a decision will be made on whether to extend this ban to private companies.

It’s an ambitious plan. And a sign of the worldwide attitude changes on the future of fossil fuels and those pesky carbon emissions.

Of course, a plan like this would seem wacky in the U.S. — or impractical, in the least. After all, New Zealand already gets almost two-thirds of its electricity from wind, hydro and geothermal sources. Here in America, we not only consume more energy, but we produce most of our electricity in dirty coal plants.

If nothing else, the sheer expense — both economical and environmental — of fossil fuels will ultimately force our hand. Laws like those being pondered by New Zealand legislators will slowly make their way across the Pacific. Some are already washing up on the California coast…

That’s right. Here in the U.S., the Governator signed off on a laundry list of new laws promoting solar energy and water efficiency in California. Among the new legislation is the Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act, which offers incentives to reach 200,000 solar water heating systems in the state by 2017. Then there’s the Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act that requires the energy commission to approve a statewide limit on the amount of electricity used for lighting.

This is why we turn our attention to renewable resources. The cost hurdles of wind, solar and other earth-friendly power-generation techniques will continue to plummet as new technologies are perfected.

Geothermal is the renewable resource no one is talking about. It’s a proven power-generating system… In fact, this system produces more than 25% of the power in Iceland, thanks to that country’s unique geology. And it could be an energy savior, even in parts of the U.S.

Because Iceland is so volcanically active, this nation can feed its power needs through geothermal power. A geothermal power plant uses steam produced naturally from deep inside the Earth to power its turbines. As an added bonus, this process does not produce any harmful emissions, unlike burning fossil fuels.

Of course, the effectiveness of geothermal power has historically depended largely on location. Iceland is one big volcano, with geysers and steam flowing up from almost every crack in the ground.

But there are also optimum conditions for geothermal power plants here in the United States. Dry steam fields dot the West Coast — most notably The Geysers in

Northern California. Only about 70 miles north of San Francisco, this is the largest geothermal development in the world.

Geothermal power stations at The Geysers have been operational since the 1960s, with a current total capacity of 900 megawatts. The Geysers are made up of 21 separate power plants utilizing steam from more than 350 producing wells. Calpine Corp. (OTC:CPNLQ) operates 19 of the 21 facilities.

Many alternative energy enthusiasts are familiar with Calpine Corp. Calpine became the world’s biggest geothermal power provider in the late 1990s.

Unfortunately, Calpine was too far in front of the times. After a fantastic run up, the company went bust and declared bankruptcy in 2005:

Calpine’s unfortunate fate shows that the U.S. was simply not ready for alternative energy at the turn of the century. But today is a very different day…

With New Zealand (among the many other countries resorting to a higher concentration of alternative energies) and California leading the call for a change, the next few years should see a much different result.

Best,
Gunner
November 12, 2007

P.S.: Although Calpine has much rebuilding to do, five other tiny, penny stocks are in position to lead the next rally. Fortunately for us, they are still “underground” plays. Once discovered, they will go from under $3 companies to multibillion-dollar blue chips.

Only 2,500 people are being told about this revolution. In just the first few hours, 148 reports have been claimed.

Greg Guenthner

Greg Guenthner uses his experience as a former journalist to dig up the hard-to-find headlines that could lead to big gains for your micro-cap portfolio. Greg offers his readers the scoop on topics ranging from alternative energies to biotechnology, digging up the best penny stock opportunities before they’re discovered by the mainstream media. On top of contributing to Penny Sleuth, Greg also heads Penny Stock Fortunes and Bulletin Board Elite. Special Report: Imagine Getting Rich as Ignored Stocks Soar - You could turn $200 into $1.2 million!

More on this topic (What's this?)

A Wee Bit of Good Environmental News (naked capitalism, 10/30/07)

The Best Investment for Riding the Green Energy Bubble (Blogging the Commodity Bull Market, 10/21/09)

Wind Power Stocks (Energy and Capital, 10/14/09)

Read more on Investing in New Zealand, Renewable Energy at Wikinvest

View articles by Greg Guenthner