If you are going to have fish in your garden pond then it is necessary to ensure that they are kept safe, and do not get eaten. Many animals like foxes are scavangers, so an open pond would be like an all you can eat buffet. This is why it is neccesarry to cover your pond, or keep it enclosed whilst you are not in the garden.

Keeping pond netting over your garden pond is a simple and effective way to make sure that your plant and animal life in the pond is going to stay very safe. Pond netting is incredibly inexpensive, meaning you can buy a lot of it in case it gets damaged or just becomes weather worn; having extra means that if it does break for any reason, you can replace it immediately and not have to worry.

Having a tall feeder is a good thing for those who have cats or rambunctious dogs, as they may be tempted to pounce the birds.Choosing to protect the wildlife and bird life in your local area is a simple action to take that can change a lot of large things and have a very positive effect on the surrounding area.

Gardening is a simple hobby that anyone can undertake, as it is all about learning as you go and learning from your mistakes. Because so many people take it up as a hobby it is also incredibly easy to get advice, tips, and other things from others you may know.

Oak Dining Tables

Ameresco,
Inc. (NYSE: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/ameresco/">AMRC)
reported first quarter (Q1) earnings this morning, missing
analysts’ earnings expectations by two-thirds.  While Q1
earnings were only 3 cents compared to the 10 cents expected by
analysts, the company slightly beat revenue expectations by
$600,000 for overall Q1 revenues of $146.6 million.

While the headline was disappointing, President and CEO George
Sakellaris confidently reaffirmed revenue guidence for the rest of
the year, saying that he expected 2012 revenues to be heavily back
loaded.  Sakellaris predicts the second half to account for
60-62% of 2012 revenues, compared to 38%- 40% for the first half
of the 2012.

Longer term, he expects Ameresco to continue its strong growth,
with operating margin strengthening towards 20% over the longer
term.

Strong revenue growth is coming from contract with the federal
government.  While Ameresco received only $2 million worth of
awards in the whole of 2011, they have already been awarded $20
worth of contracts in 2012.   Sakellaris commented that
Ameresco has found it hard keeping up with federal demand so far
this year.

These new contracts (up 50% over Q1 2011) helped grow Ameresco’s
backlog by 10% compared to last year.   While such new
contracts will not begin producing revenue until 2013 at the
earliest, they should give investors confidence that Ameresco’s
long term growth potential is still in place.  Ameresco’s
revenues should continue to grow 20% year over year, despite the
poor earnings  performance this quarter.

Conclusion

This mornings’ earnings miss may cause a sell-off over the next
day or two.  Investors should take
the opportunity to add to their positions in this
sustainable company which has low exposure to expiring renewable
energy subsidies.

Note: This article was href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/08/ameresco-misses-by-7-cents-look-to-buy-on-any-sell-off/">first
published on the author’s Forbes.com blog on May 8th, when
Ameresco was trading at $11.70.  Click href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/ameresco/">here
for an up-to-date quote.

Disclosure: Long AMRC.

href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/08/ameresco-misses-by-7-cents-look-to-buy-on-any-sell-off/">This

article first appeared on
the author’s Forbes.com href="http://blogs.forbes.com/tomkonrad/">Green Stocks style="font-style: italic;"> blog.

DISCLAIMER: Past performance is
not a guarantee or a reliable indicator of future results. 
This article contains the current opinions of the author and
such opinions are subject to change without notice.  This
article has been distributed for informational purposes only.
Forecasts, estimates, and certain information contained herein
should not be considered as investment advice or a
recommendation of any particular security, strategy or
investment product.  Information contained herein has been
obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not
guaranteed.

May 14: New Flyer (TSX:NFI, OTC: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/new-flyer-industries/">NFYEF)
Sees Bus Market Revival

North America’s largest supplier of heavy-duty transit buses sees
overall demand at an “all-time high.” href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/14/new-flyer-sees-bus-market-revival/">More

here.

May 15: Electric Car Battery Company Struggles

JS:

A123 Systems (NASDAQ: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/a123/">AONE)
has announced Q1, 2012 results. . .

Revenue fell 40% from $18.1 million in Q1, 2011 to $10.9 million.
Net loss came in at $90.8 million, compared to a net loss of $53.6
million last year, and as of March 31, the company has $113.1
million in cash and cash equivalents.

I don’t know a single person who was expecting to see anything
positive coming from Q1. This stock, despite a lot of early
optimism, has been getting crushed since early 2010. Sure, traders
have been having a field day with this one. But those who
initially thought AONE was a good long-term play left the building
last year.

To be honest, it’s unfortunate AONE has had such a rough go at it.
Certainly I applaud any group of individuals with the stones to
launch an energy storage company on US soil.

Besides intense competition from already established companies
working in this sector, like Johnson Controls (NYSE: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/enersys/">JCI)
and EnerSys (NYSE: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/enersys/">ENS),

developing disruptive technology in this space is a costly, and
extremely risky proposition. And of course, any young company
looking to help develop next-generation electric vehicles is just
asking for an avalanche of criticism from naysayers, partisan
slaves and crotchety old bastards who still haven’t figured out
that supporting electric car development is actually a patriotic
endeavor. I definitely expect those dolts to pump out a few op-ed
pieces this week highlighting the $249 million grant AONE got from
the government.

Regardless, when it comes to making wise investment decisions,
none of this matters. You know the deal – never get emotional. And
while I would love nothing more than to see AONE succeed, in this
market environment, I have to continue watching this one from the
sidelines.  Although it will be interesting to see how it
does throughout the day.  The stock headed north at the open,
climbing around 6 percent in the first 10 minutes of trading.

JS:

May 16: Investors Overreact to Explosion at LSB Industries ( href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/lsb/">LXU)
chemical plant

TK: Early Tuesday morning, an explosion at href="http://www.forbes.com/companies/lsb-industries/">LSB
Industries‘ (NYSE: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/lsb/">LXU)
El Dorado, Arkansas chemical facility damaged the facility.

The explosion was in the DSN concentrated title="Nitric acid"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_acid" rel="wikipedia">nitric

acid plant, and damaged both the plant and surrounding
equipment.  No employees or anyone in the community was
injured, and management believes that there was
no environmental release.  The entire El Dorado
facility was shut down pending an assessment and repair
of the damage, but management was not able to provide any
timeline.

The stock  sold off on the news, at one point down over $6,
and closing down $2.36 at 30.01.  The stock is back up to
$31.10in after hours trading, after a management conference call
to discuss the incident.  Management tried to put the damage
in perspective during the call.

Key points were:

• The facility was insured for both damages (with a $1 million
  deductible) and business interruption after a 30 day waiting
  period.
• The El Dorado facility accounted for 29% of operating profits
  from LSB’s chemical division in Q1, although this was expected
  to be lower in Q2 as the company’s Pryor plant was offline for
  much of Q1.  The chemical division accounts for about 2/3
  of the company’s sales.
• The El Dorado facility has lower margins that the company’s
  other facilities, which are currently benefiting from low
  natural gas feedstock prices (El Dorado uses  class="zem_slink" title="Ammonia"
  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia" rel="wikipedia">anhydrous ammonia
  as a feedstock.)

Putting this all together, I estimate the uninsured potential
cost to LSB from the accident  to be:

• $1 million in property damage
  deductible.
• 30 days of lost operating profits from El Dorado, or about
  $1.8 million.

With 22.34 million shares outstanding, this amounts to an
uninsured potential loss of 12.5 cents a share.  It could, of
course, be much lower.  The fact that no one was hurt and
there were no environmental releases seem to indicate
that the explosion was relatively contained.

The uncertainty around the nature of the explosion seems to have
investors selling first and asking questions later.  Should
the stock really sell off even $1 on a potential one-time loss of
$0.125?

Before other investors gather their wits, this seems a great
chance to get into a stock with a  title="P/E" href="http://www.wikinvest.com/metric/P/E"
rel="wikinvest">trailing P/E of about 9, no net debt,
and significant growth expected this year.  For more details
on LSB, see my href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/10/lsb-trounces-earnings-estimates-introduces-breakthrough-geothermal-heat-pump/">coverage

of their first quarter earnings call last week.

May 16: Western Wind ( href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/western-wind-energy/">WNDEF.PK)
to Acquire Big Project Pipeline.

Western Wind Energy href="http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.9848">announced
a deal to acquire a 4 GW wind development pipeline for 8
million common shares, worth $12.8 million at $1.60/share.  A
company spokesman told me that 40% (1600 MW) of the pipeline would
be viable without the PTC.  It helps that most of the
projects are in Renewable Portfolio Standard state, like CA and
HI.

May 17: Electric Car Sales Soar in Hawaii

JS:

Electric car supporters often talk about the perfect storm. . .

A timely mix of high gas prices, sufficient electric vehicle
infrastructure, strong policy support and enough inventory to meet
demand.

While I continue to believe the US will reach this perfect storm
in another 10 to 15 years, it’s already begun in Hawaii.

According to the latest numbers, it looks like 1.2% of all
vehicles sold in Hawaii last year were electric. This, compared to
0.1% on a national level.

Of course, this isn’t particularly surprising. After all,
residents of Hawaii are now shelling out about $4.50 a gallon for
87 octane. And for those looking to go electric, there’s now one
charging station for every 5,500 residents. This is actually a
pretty big deal considering just how young the EV market is right
now.

Hawaii has also been a leader in policy support. With a $4,500
tax credit, HOV access, and free parking at meters and parking
garages, lawmakers in Hawaii have been quite aggressive in their
efforts to get more EVs on the road. The Aloha State was even the
first state to disallow condominium associations from blocking the
installation of home charging stations.

As an added bonus, Hawaiian Electric Co. is now running a program
that offers discounts on electricity rates when consumers charge
their EVs at night. And most of that power comes from wind.

By necessity, Hawaii is quickly taking the lead in the US when it
comes to transitioning to the new energy economy. And it is also
by necessity that the rest of the nation will eventually do the
same.

Hawaii currently has a 40% by 2030 renewable portfolio standard
in place, and hopes to have 40,000 EVs on the road by 2020.

May 18: New Solar Tariff Puts American Jobs at Risk

JS: Well, it happened. . .

Chinese solar modules are now
expected to be hit with huge tariffs.

Here’s what the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (pretty much
the most vocal and rational voice on this issue) had to say. . .

Leaders and member companies of
the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) today responded
to the preliminary Anti-Dumping ruling by the U.S. Department of
Commerce (DOC) with the following statements:
 
Jigar Shah, the President of CASE, stated, “Today SolarWorld
received one of its biggest subsidies yet – an average 31% tax
on its competitors. What’s worse, it will ultimately come right
out of the paychecks of American solar workers. Fortunately,
these duties are much lower than the 250% tax that SolarWorld
originally requested. This decision will increase solar
electricity prices in the U.S. precisely at the moment solar
power is becoming competitive with fossil fuel generated
electricity.”

Read more.

TK: Stagecoach Group (LSE: href="http://www.altenergystocks.com/comm/content/stagecoach/">SGC)
expands in CA and TX with purchase of part of Coach America’s
businesses.  href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/18/stagecoach-green-peak-oil-stock-expanding-in-north-america/">Read
more.

style="font-style: italic;">Disclosure: style="font-style: italic;"> TK: Long LXU, NFYEF

    JS: No
positions.

Jeff Siegel is Editor of style="font-style: italic;"
href="http://www.energyandcapital.com/">Energy and Capital style="font-style: italic;">, where his notes were first
published.
Tom Konrad Ph.D. CFA is
Editor of AltEnergyStocks.com,
and a blogger on Forbes.com,
where his notes were first published.