Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
As much as alternative energy analyst Tom Konrad believes peak oil is about to force the American middle class onto buses, he also is anticipating a bear market that requires owning alternative energy companies with solid earnings, as opposed to companies with great sounding technologies that have yet to prove themselves in the marketplace.
“I call it energy planning for a recession,” Konrad said during an interview with EnergyTechStocks.com, adding that, in his opinion, two of the best alternative energy stocks to own during lean economic times are Johnson Controls and Honeywell, both of which trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Konrad said he thinks these two companies will do well during a downturn because they are major energy efficiency services providers. Because Konrad expects peak oil to cause energy shortages, and because energy efficiency generally offers the best short-term return of all energy investments, he expects these two firms’ efficiency services to be in great demand. “I see a gigantic boom coming” in energy efficiency, Konrad said.
While Konrad likes both companies, he inferred that he likes Johnson Controls a little more, because Johnson Controls also is a major player in the lithium-ion battery industry now taking shape in response to widespread demand for cars and trucks that can run on something other than gasoline. Johnson Controls, together with its French partner Safte, is developing lithium-ion batteries for both “mild” hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Mild hybrids have the same fundamental technology as the non-plug-in hybrids currently on the road, but have been tweaked to give the vehicle better fuel efficiency. Plug-in-hybrid are vehicles which, when they are introduced in a couple of years, are expected to be able to go anywhere from 40 up to 300 miles or farther on a single “fill up” of electricity from an ordinary outlet