Member Info for observer842

The way I see it @BrownAdder is that if we (ultimately John Gunn) are determined to make a go of the Inspirit Charger and the speculation is true that it failed accreditation around 2 years or so ago, amid all the hype of trials and media publicity, then there really would be no other way than back to the drawing board to address all concerns that were raised. This back to the drawing board narrative is consistent with the announcements that we are now able to use cheaper materials whilst maintaining the new improved electrical performance (3.2kW!). However, this unfortunately, but rather inevitably would have meant that many hours (read months/years) of internal trials have likely been required before we attempt accreditation once more, in order to convince ourselves we are suitable ready - if we did indeed fail accreditation last time it's likely because we weren't rigorous enough in our testing. Additionally if you remember it appears that we failed to achieve external funding around this time last year and into the Autumn (we were lining up a �2m asset backed bond which was forced to be announced to the market because it got wind of it), which likely means we have had to go down another route. Whether or not this means organic funding to production (Inspirit Energy Consulting) or funding from a source a little closer to home is anybody's guess. As I keep saying, the dots are there... In terms of share buyers at this price - I'm one of them, just slowly slowly: no way I'm piling in until I see some hard believable evidence, and by then it'll probably be too late, unless of course I happen to spot it before the rest of the market does. ;-) In summary - these things take time: you really don't want a boiler blowing up in your face... Ob.

Did you listen to the webinar @London74... In a previous webinar (last summer?) @Kiran said he had recently taken a 38-40% pay cut, and in the most recent webinar last week he said all directors had taken a 30% pay cut. I wouldn't call his resultant ~�65k a fat cat salary! Of course my interpretation of this could be wrong and in fact it might just be a 30% cut from �150k to �105k. I find it quite annoying when @Kiran tries to clarify a situation but doesn't quite succeed, some would say he's vague on purpose... I miss @torchy ;-) So we'll get to find out their 2017 salaries next month in the annual reports, but that just then begs the question what are they all on now, for the remainder of 2018? Surely there is a better way... Ob.

Thanks for the compliment @BrownAdder. If I had conviction myself I would be piling in here and telling everyone I know to consider doing the same at these prices. But I don't have the required conviction. And why don't I? Because the BoD don't want my conviction. And why don't they? Anybody's guess! The two ends of the spectrum for me are: the company is going bust, and they know it: the second is funding is imminent, and they know it. The former seems unlikely at this time - why set up a new subsidiary and bring on-board a new director? Doesn't stack up, unless it's a diversion... sigh. As for funding? Well if it happens to come with a proposed equity element, then the lower the share price is the lower the offer can be without upsetting shareholders. With JG being a large shareholder he is only going to accept this offer if he stands to gain either directly (perhaps because he has a vested interest with those providing the funding), or indirectly in a you scratch my back, I'll scratch your's scenario, or perhaps he will be willing to let say half the company go for say 1 million (equity part of the fund-raise), with say a 2 million low interest loan associated 1:2 equity to debt ratio. If that is sufficient to get us to production the market cap will likely be worth double digit millions and it will be deemed worth the sacrifice, even if just above par (0.1p) dilution as we could be talking a share price over 1p in time even with considerable dilution. A sort of middle ground scenario crossed my mind over the weekend. I had assumed the Inspirit Energy Consultancy subsidiary had been set up to help keep the lights on and perhaps help fund us organically to production, but it's possible that the purpose of this new subsidiary is because we (Inspirit Energy Holdings - this is what we hold shares in) are about to sell the Inspirit Energy Limited company exiting the microCHP aspect of the company. The consultancy gang could continue on (assuming they have built up relationships with each other they want to progress and are able to make good returns), and the shareholders of INSP could be dished out a healthy dividend (in my dreams!), assuming we are talking a decent sale (again, in my dreams!). Perhaps the sale would be part cash, part shares in whoever might be buying the rights to the charger? I don't think a (part) sale is likely without JG keeping control or at least a significant interest in the Inspirit Charger, unless of course we are talking a big bucks buyout! ;-) So in summary the BoD don't want us to buy shares at this time, at this price, and I don't know why. If you feel the glow from the screen, it's my embarrassment in typing that sentence: it's wrong on so many levels! ;-) Ob

He firmed up his predictions with the publication of the rethinkx report around this time last year: "Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030" (May 2017) https://www.rethinkx.com/s/RethinkX-Report_051517.pdf === As fewer cars travel more miles, the number of passenger vehicles on American roads will drop from 247 million to 44 million, opening up vast tracts of land for other, more productive uses. Nearly 100 million existing vehicles will be abandoned as they become economically unviable. ... TaaS vehicles are almost 60% of those on roads in 2030. The 95% mileage figure equates to 60% of vehicles in the U.S. vehicle stock being A-EVs; the remaining 40% will be largely comprised of legacy individually owned ICEs. Our model sees 26 million TaaS vehicles and 18 million IO vehicles in 2030 === His forecasts are certainly disruptive to car ownership! ;-) Ob.

What!? "Lithium Miners News For The Month Of April 2018" (Apr. 27, 2018) https://seekingalpha.com/article/4166868-lithium-miners-news-month-april-2018 === Competition in China's EV battery domain intensifies - with a year-on-year rise of 182.67 percent. === Now that is certainly greater than 42% YoY eh @tomcat!? Fasten your seatbelts! ;-) Ob.

It's funny you should ask that @Si90 - I was thinking the same thing whilst reading the article. The answer is that TaaS is about miles driven. 40% of vehicles will still be owned, but these will only do 5% of the total passenger miles per year whereas the other 60% of TaaS fleet vehicles will do the 95% of the miles. All according to the predictions of Tony and for the US.

Two interesting links. A new Tony video at: "Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation - CWA - Boulder, April 9, 2018" (25 Apr 2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duWFnukFJhQ === 'Rethinking the Future - Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation' is Tony Seba's opening keynote at the 70th annual Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, Colorado, April 9th, 2018. The Clean Disruption will be the fastest, deepest, most consequential disruption of energy and transportation in history. Based on Seba's #1 Amazon bestselling book "Clean Disruption" and Rethinking Transportation 2020-2030, this presentation lays out what the key technologies and business model innovations are (batteries, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, ride-hailing and solar PV), how this technology disruption will unfold over the next decade as well as key implications for society, finance, industry, cities, geopolitics, and infrastructure. The 2020s will be the most technologically disruptive decade in history. By analyzing and anticipating these disruptions we can learn that the benefits to humanity will be immense but to seize the upside we will need to mitigate the negative consequences. As the opening keynote speaker at the prestigious Conference on World Affairs, Seba follows on the footsteps of luminaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Buckminster Fuller. === It amused me how he casually mentioned there is already a $5,000 EV in China ;-) "Cleantech Is Exciting!" (April 29th, 2018) https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/29/cleantech-is-exciting/ === To all fans of @tonyseba: do you seriously believe 200-mile EVs will sell for ~$5000 in 2030. He has battery costs declining 16% yearly (irrespective of volume), but remaining at 1/3 of car cost! So the cost of the rest of the car drops 16% yearly too. Really? Really? === Ob.

Thanks @Bannor! They are clearly focusing on their areas, which in some respects is good as presumably we are no-longer free carried. However, my take is that any mention of Yangibana West can be read to also mean Yangibana North - I just can't see Yangibana North not being mined if Yangibana West is, and from memory current grades suggest it's more economical to mine Yangibana North first, but of course grades aren't everything. I wonder if we'll end up swapping for shares to greatly simplify matters? Ob

Worth a read: "The Future of Gas" (March 2018) http://futureofgas.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Future-of-Gas_Conclusion_web_2.pdf Short version: "The Future of Gas: How gas can support a low carbon future" (March 2018) http://futureofgas.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/NG_FoGas-summary_2018_web.pdf @jimb2 - don't shake your head too much at their shortsightedness of suggesting that decarbonisation of transport will be achieved by moving to gas (hydrogen) over a period of decades. As we know, it's almost certainly going to happen by a widespread adoption of EV's on timescales of a single decade give or take a few years, and that includes heavy vehicles. You just need to look to China electric bus adoption the past few years and the upcoming Tesla semi, combined with the forecasts of Tony Seba to see the writing is very much on the wall ;-) As for their take on CHP: === There are many opportunities for CHP but, for energy intensive businesses, the high upfront capital costs and long term contracts currently create barriers to development. The Government should consider what can be done in this area. === I wonder just how much we've managed to reduce our projected costs by? ;-) Ob,

Regarding Boiler Plus regulation, I thought that was domestic only. I could be wrong though. Regardless, I *think* our total efficiency is around the 92% mark which is the minimum requirement for Boiler Plus.

Your input could be quite valuable here @Si90 for the regular PI reading these boards trying to make sense of what is going on. Unfortunately from a corporate perspective the company hasn't done themselves any favours the past 2 years by pretty much going media silent - but if the speculation is true that we failed accreditation back in 2016, then what more could we do other than address the problems which were (presumably) identified? As it happens we increased efficiencies and brought down manufacturing costs in the process. And beside, a low share price might suit our BoD very well at this time... (always the cynic!) You'll see in the past few months we've created a new (unannounced to the market!) subsidiary called Inspirit Holdings Consulting, which I presume has been, and is continuing to help keep us on the path towards commercialisation without having to go to the market for any further keep the light on placings. But I suspect we might have shorter funding route in mind ;-) If you've got the stamina I've posted a fair bit on here since the beginning of last year which might be up your street. First post on 8 Jan '17. Page 57 of 50 posts per page view back... ;-) http://www.lse.co.uk/member-info.asp?page=57&nick=observer842 The Flow comparisons were late April 17. Enjoy! Or not... Ob.

Let me rephrase that! "I can probably answer most other questions if you are interested." to "I can have a go at answering any other questions you might have";-)

Cheers for the reply and comments @Si90. The Inspirit Charger is indeed a Stirling engine. 20kW in for 15kWt and 3.2kWe (recently improved from 3kWe). I agree, and so does our BoD, that the target really has to be initially commercial properties until the upfront cost is reduced significantly to be a viable proposition for lighter usage - i.e. residential, by scaling production, and or using cheaper materials as was reported recently - we no-longer intend to use proprietary inconel materials in the regenerator. As far as I know we are not working on a flue gas heat recovery unit, either as an auxiliary piece of kit, or built in, it would be a bit of a game changer if our unit had one built in upping the stated efficiency from ~92% towards 100%. ;-) Do you know if any condensing boilers of a similar form and size have them built in? And if so, what are their stated total efficiencies? Assuming we aren't working on our own, I wonder which third party units might be compatible with the Inspirit Charger? re the flow mCHP product - IMHO the business proposition it was quite poor in comparison to the Inspirit Charger, mainly due to their's being suitable for residential only, but ours for commercial too as a lead boiler in a chain therefore potentially running near 24/7. I compared the two a while back on here after making sure I had got my facts straight from the flow board - I can probably find the comparison if you are interested. I can probably answer most other questions if you are interested. There is a lot going for this company, just that the market currently doesn't believe John Gunn can deliver. We'll see! ;-) Ob.

Here's an interesting relevant article which turned up in the April edition of the CIBSE journal on page 55. https://www.cibsejournal.com/archive/PDFs/CIBSE-Journal-2018-04.pdf and also made it's way into a standalone module: "Module 124: Meeting variable, uncertain DHW demands with natural gas- and electrically powered DHW generation" (March 2018) https://www.cibsejournal.com/cpd/modules/2018-04-dhw/ === Moving energy Natural gas pipework is able to distribute large amounts of energy using a relatively small space. For example, a 25m length of 2in nominal diameter (60mm outside diameter) steel gas pipe � weighing 5.5kg per metre � could supply approximately 310kW. To meet the same load, single-phase electricity would theoretically need two conductors, each in 120mm diameter cables (and each weighing about 20kg per metre), plus earthing. ===

Be as negative as you like - I like to hear both sides of the argument, so long as they are constructive and well balanced ;-)

@Si90 - what's your take on the near to medium term future of mCHP in countries with an existing gas supply network (long term everything is fully electric IMHO)? It seems to me that there is a killing to be made if you can get the upfront costs low enough (including low installation and maintenance costs) combined with a favourable electricity to thermal energy generation ratio, whilst being overall as efficient as traditional condensing boilers (>~90%) - and when combined with battery storage... ;-) Might be worth discussing the answer on the LSE message board of the other company I have declared an interest which has a product in the pipeline targeted initially at commercial properties due to shorter payback times than residential properties. (Yes I know the development pipeline of this particular mCHP is seemingly never ending - however the end may just be in sight, if you squint hard enough! </end plug>) ;-)

~7.3Mt LCE. Page 22 of their March corporate presentation: http://lithiumamericas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LAC-Investor-Presentation-March-2018.pdf

I think when you get to know him and his perspective he's an OK dude @Barksy, I can't argue against creepiness though as that's a subjective assessment! In the early days he didn't appreciate just how much lithium demand was going to grow and therefore often failed to accept that new, unproven, and potentially more expensive processing methods would be required to help meet that demand. In recent years he appears to have softened on this stance. But let's see what he has to say about lithium from clay in the next episode! I could be eating my words if he *still* thinks Sonora won't make it to production ;-)

Great podcast guest staring David Deak. "Episode 7: Deak Dynasty" (APRIL 26, 2018) http://lithiumpodcast.com/podcast/episode-7-deak-dynasty/ David has a lot of interesting points to make. It's an hour long and a bit technical in places, but it sure does cover a lot of relevant material and well worth the listen. Most interesting of the 7 by far. They are supposed to be talking about clay with David in the next episode. ;-)

I see the market (that's us!) is still refusing to believe we might not need another keep the lights on placing if this new consultancy venture is able to sustain itself and help progress the boiler to production. I'll admit I remain just that bit weary as John Gunn is certainly keeping his cards close to his chest on what he's planning! I can see the dots. But how to connect them? And what next? Oh, I know: what we need do is bring on board someone with years of corporate finance experience. Wait a minute! ;-) Ob.