Environmental Services Industry Booming

Aaron

So I have been tracking the activities of industries directly related to peak oil, including associated environmental remediation markets as an indicator of where we really stand in confronting the massive environmental challenges ahead of us.

If there is anything that the so called "free market" system does well, it's getting on top of potentially profitable trends. By examining these commercial efforts we can deduce the level of engagement on a variety of environmental topics, as well as make some meaningful predictions about the future based on the trend analysis.

I like to examine primarily environmental remediation & disaster prevention companies which I consider to have much more real-world impact than stuff like indoor mold remediation for example. These industrial caliber outfits handle things like cleaning up hazardous material sites, radioactive remediation, environmental compliance monitoring etc...

While the governmental side of environmental services is an influential and useful contribution, it can never match the power the market has to transform the landscape of a given market.

Make almost anything profitable, and business will make it happen... guaranteed.

Peak Oil means the smart money goes into oil-alternative businesses, for very obvious reasons. A person could look at Peak Oil, and conclude that there are significant opportunities in environmental services, based on the idea of servicing the needs of oil-alternative companies, who in many cases, will have painful environmental challenges to handle.

Imagine the scope of what is happening to the global energy business as companies & governments struggle with ever increasing prices for conventional oil. We will strip-mine Canada for oil... level the rocky mountains for shale... exploit our nature preserves... convert coal into oil... and on and on.

All these activities have terrible environmental consequences both in terms of destroying ecosystems, and accelerating greenhouse gas emissions from these very dirty fuel sources. Even gentle solar businesses use heroic amounts of electricity in manufacturing.

So, if my theory is correct about the market following trends, then we should see many new ventures into markets to serve these needs.

Sure enough... amazing growth in new companies & new initiatives from existing companies. There is a buying, merging, partnering frenzy going on that reminds me of the DOT com days, where an entire new market was being born in months rather than years.

Fluor, (a giant energy company), is well ahead of the curve looking at co2 sequestration technology for coal power plants, in anticipation of future demand.

aflatoxin · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 257

I climb smokestacks and measure pollution emissions for a living. Stack testing is one of the most expensive environmental services out there, and business has been booming for 10+years.

Anything air pollution related is on fire, and has been for 10 years. Engineering, permitting, compliance, controls, etd.

Air remidiation is a recent phenomenon, and if the air business follows the water and soil business, it will be a huge growth opportunity. I have several clients working on pilot capture/storage systems, with plans for commercial CO2 disposal systems. Surprisingly, these are the same energy companies that deny global warming. I guess the potential to make another dollar from the carbon they dredge out of the ground and sell to the rest of us to burn is pretty appealing.

Of course, if the economy collapses, there will be no way to pay for this.

Scenius · Coal Joined: Jun 27, 2008 Posts: 9

This is the kind of thread that I would like to see more of on this site. I realize that there are a bunch of people here who think that we're headed towards a huge cliff that make such interests totally futile. But I don't believe that anymore than I believed my Merrill Lynch broker.

I've been reading a little about FLR too. It's a good solid stock to own in times of expensive oil/gas.

I thought OilFinder's threads were useful. He/she was pointing out the tremedous profitability of the Barnett and Marcellus Shales for cracking out natural gas.

Well, CHK and REXX and all that group of companies have been putting on a real tear since about the time OilFinder was first posting on the subject. Everybody else on the thread just ganged up on OilFinder, though, because they weren't interested in investing - they were only interested in maintaining their "Nothing can save us" point-of-view.

I just bought some REXX. Gonna buy some more as soon as I can.

Appalachia tantalizes NG drillers
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-02-03-naturalgas_N.htm

Also, InvestcoPowerShares just came out with a Global Wind Energy Exchange Traded Fund (PWND). It's more narrowly focused on wind energy than the other one they've come out with (FAN) which is more diversified.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/07/01/wind-energy-closer-markets-comm-cx_ra_0701markets43.html

I don't see how wind energy can lose. It's cheap.

Scenius · Coal Joined: Jun 27, 2008 Posts: 9

Peak Oiler is #2 Stock-Picker at Motley Fool

sicophiliac

You guys might want to look into TMEN too for a stock play. They apparently have developed or so they claim at least some cutting edge clean coal/coal to liquids technology. They also have water sanitation tech too.

roccman

URS, Tetra Tech, Bechtel, EDAW, etc are big dogs in this field...

I have news for "environmental" remediation/mit compliance/NEPA firms...

And I posted this here about a year ago...