Just letting readers know that over the next couple (few?) months I’ll be transitioning over from the Blogware platform to WordPress. Tucows, the Toronto-based software company that owned Blogware, has decided to stop supporting it and is letting it die a slow death. To be fair, they’re not booting me off. I’ve been given fair warning that I need to find another host at some point, so I’m just assuming it should be sooner rather than later. I liked using Blogware, but like anything in life I’m comparing that against not using anything else. So I’m looking forward to trying out WordPress. Change is good.

Now, I’m told the transition will be relatively smooth. I can preserve all my past posts — more than three years worth — and comments, though all past comments will unfortunately be relabelled “anonymous.” All links will be preserved, though I’m getting the sense that I may loose some of the pictures associated with past posts — no biggy. I’m sure there will be some glitches and pain during the transition, but I’ll try to make it as smooth as possible.

The most important thing you can do right now is make sure your browser’s Favorites list or your blogroll goes to www.cleanbreak.ca, rather than the Blogware URL tyler.blogware.com. The www.cleanbreak.ca address will always been the same, regardless of what platform I use.

I’m toying with the idea of changing the logo, because I’m not sure the current colours match any of the WordPress themes. I’ll try to keep it simple. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Cheers.

P.S. — the lack of support for Blogware explains why some of you have had problems with the captchas — i.e. the blurred characters you must enter to have your comments posted. This has been frustrating for many readers here, so the move to WordPress will eliminate this problem.

Xantrex shares shot up 23 per cent this morning — reaching their highest point since 2004, the year it went public — after the company put out a vague press release announcing “it is in exclusive negotiations with respect to the sale of the company.” It warned that the negotiations might not be successful.

This isn’t surprising. Xantrex was always a success story that investors didn’t fully appreciate. The company, after going through some rough times in 2005 and 2006, has been on fire selling its power electronics and inverter products to the solar and wind sectors. Just recently it inked a $5 million inverter deal with SunEdison, though this is just the latest in a string of sales deals with the who’s who of the renewable-energy sector. One financial analyst I spoke with said he wouldn’t be surprised if the likely buyer is Siemens or Schneider Electric, as clearly some of these bigger companies are looking to gain a stronger foothold in the booming renewable energy sector. After all, when you’ve got calls for 100 per cent renewable and clean energy on the U.S. grid (Al Gore) or 20 per cent wind power in the U.S. (T. Boone Pickens), the possible outlook for sales is quite impressive.

Looking at the stock, it could turn out to be a $400 million-plus acquisition — not a big sale by U.S. standards, but given that Xantrex is probably one of the largest and most successful cleantech companies in Canada to date, this is a big deal here. I have to say, I’ll be sad to see the reins handed over to a foreign company. Xantrex is truly an all-Canadian cleantech success story.

You have to give credit to 6N Silicon for moving fast. In the two years since this Mississauga-based solar-silicon company was founded (in founder Scott Nichol’s basement, I might add), it has raised a whack of dough (More than $26 million at last count, but likely higher) and is now ready to construct its first manufacturing plant in Vaughan, a city just north of Toronto. The Ontario government announced today it is giving $8 million to 6N toward construction of the $50-million plant, which will create 84 new jobs in the province. The politicos are touting it as a sign that green jobs are coming to Ontario, pointing out that many of the workers at the plant will come from the province’s struggling automotive sector. Of course, we need to keep in mind that 84 new jobs don’t replace thousands lost in the automotive sector. But it’s a step in the right direction, similar to the announcement in May that Menova Engineering (maker of combined solar thermal, PV and lighting systems) had taken up space and labour at a Toronto-area automotive tool and die shop that had been hit hard by the automotive downturn.

Now we just have to replicate this 30 to 40 times. But small steps are good. Better than no steps. It wouldn’t hurt to expand our attention to offshore wind turbines/components and vehicles batteries, among other “green collar” manufacturing opportunities.

There’s no shortage of speculation about EEStor Inc., the Texas-based energy storage company that claims it will change the world with its super-dooper, disruptive, “this changes everything” ultracapactor. But one anonymous blogger has been digging around and is managing to piece together a decent — although not necessarily accurate — picture of what’s going on at the secretive company. Some have accused this blogger of being Dick Weir, EEStor’s media-loathing founder and CEO, or Ian Clifford, CEO and founder of ZENN Motor Co., which is a minority owner in EEStor and has exclusive license to use its technology in certain vehicle applications. But the blogger in question attempted to clear the air today, pointing out he’s not an employee of EEStor or ZENN, has no friends at the companies or special relationships. He’s just an average joe — in the D.C. area, I have learned — interested in the technology and who likes to dig around. A ZENN stock pumper? Impossible to know. But if you’re to believe the posting, he seems to be having more success than professional journalists like me. One financial analyst, who has access to EEStor, told me Dick Weir talks to this blogger because, “It amuses him. He gets a kick out of it.” There you go.

So what’s the latest poop on EEStor from blogger central? You can read it here if you’re interested. Some of the points raised I’ve heard as well, but haven’t been able to nail down as fact. But if you’re to believe what you read, EEStor is almost done its Web sites, has filed 21 new patents, and is putting a plan together to raise capital that would go toward a seven-fold expansion of its current pilot production line. Apparently the long-awaited permeativity tests, not yet released, have been known for some time. Dick Weir is simply choosing to release the results at the same time as putting up the new Web site and announcing the new patent filings. At which time, he’ll be prepared — and more accepting of — the flood of questions from media and investors. Can’t wait. Certainly, the aim here is to raise a whack of capital, perhaps using ZENN’s stock, in reaction to this frenzy, as a proxy for the market value of EEStor.

We shall see. Certainly, if a company like ZENN is to meet its promise of having a highway-speed vehicle based on ZENN’s technology within the next two years, EEStor must be making some progress behind the scenes.

First, my take on why now. Obama has already said he’d be keen to give Gore a senior and strategic role in his administration. This indicates that Obama, on the energy and climate file, is prepared to do something bold. So, it makes sense that Gore would come out and float this ambitious bold proposal of his outside of the political arena and well in advance of the run-up to the November election. It gives both Obama and McCain a chance to react, and it gives the public a chance to absorb what Gore is saying — and having read his speech closely, he has effectively summed up the problem and the solution. If the public generally rejects what Gore is saying, then no damage to Obama and he gets a better sense of what the public is willing to tolerate. If the public is inspired and embraces the challenge, then Obama equally embraces the challenge and, upon being elected, brings Gore on to manage the transition.

Maybe I’m dreaming — but it makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Here, to me, are some of the most important quotes from Gore’s speech:

On economic, environmental and national security concerns

“When we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges… We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change… if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand. The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels.”

“Those those who say the costs (of renewables) are still too high: I ask them to consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down. When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.”

On importance of grid modernization

“To be sure, reaching the goal of 100 percent renewable and truly clean electricity within 10 years will require us to overcome many obstacles. At present, for example, we do not have a unified national grid that is sufficiently advanced to link the areas where the sun shines and the wind blows to the cities in the East and the West that need the electricity. Our national electric grid is critical infrastructure, as vital to the health and security of our economy as our highways and telecommunication networks. Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile, and vulnerable to cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the current grid system cost US businesses more than $120 billion dollars a year. It has to be upgraded anyway.”

On the link between a smart grid and electric cars

“We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid.”

On the need for a price on carbon

“We could and should speed up this transition by insisting that the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental damage it causes. I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make.” (I should point out that in Canada, the opposition Liberals have come up with a “GreenShift” strategy that argues for exactly that)

On how the U.S. political system is f^%$#$ up

“It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now. Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that they’re going to bring gasoline prices down. It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it. If we keep going back to the same policies that have never ever worked in the past and have served only to produce the highest gasoline prices in history alongside the greatest oil company profits in history, nobody should be surprised if we get the same result over and over again.”

On the thirst for change

“I’ve begun to hear different voices in this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special interest politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach.”

Finally, on the virtue of being a leader

“It is a great error to say that the United States must wait for others to join us in this matter. In fact, we must move first, because that is the key to getting others to follow; and because moving first is in our own national interest.”

These are inspirational comments. We’ll have to wait and see how the U.S. public reacts.

UPDATE: I’ve read a lot of blogs, many of them focused on cleantech, that are focusing on the “craziness” of Gore’s 10-year target. Is it realistic? Well, let’s just say in theory it’s not impossible, but in practice it’s not likely to happen. But rather than criticize Gore’s challenge by focusing on the timeline, I think it’s more important to look at why Gore is doing what he’s doing. I mean, I’m no expert, but clearly this isn’t about laying out a detailed plan that he hopes politicians will adopt and implement. What it’s about — and this is what he achieved in An Inconvenient Truth — is massaging the public and its perception of what can and should be done. The public wants leadership, and it wants to feel that a difficult path taken can make a difference. Gore himself explained why the target is 10 and not 40 years. Basically, it’s because politics and public lose interest after 10 years and longer targets can be too easily forgotten or abandoned. As I’ve said in comments on other blogs, is it better to run hard for something you believe in for 10 years and fall short of your target, or walk over 40 years and forget what that target was? As I said above, I think Gore is priming the pump — getting a sense of what people are willing to get behind, and then building on that momentum heading into the November presidential election. So for those focusing on Gore’s seemingly crazy 10-year target, well, I think you’re missing the point of this exercise.