NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 20, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Fairchild International Corp. (OTCBB:FCHL): According the U.S. Department of Energy, 17 days after Hurricane Katrina, some 390,000 people in the most advanced nation on earth still lacked power.
The hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast by rendering it virtually without power had residents throughout the southern states concerned as pipelines carrying natural gas were damaged. Natural gas is used by most of the United States to create electricity.
"Katrina brought home just how reliant this country is on oil for our energy supply," stated Robert Wilder, manager of the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, as reported in The Chicago Tribune. "The market for these (alternative energy) technologies is enormous."
Shares in onsite power generators like Capstone Turbine Corp. are up over 50 percent since Katrina; due in part to their ability to produce power where it is needed without the necessary long distance transmission lines.
The need for distributed power, those that don't rely on long distance transmission through electrical lines, was highlighted when Katrina knocked out power lines to larger centers as well as rural areas.
Other alternative energy companies are working in tandem to provide the natural gas that onsite power generators need in order to produce electricity. Fairchild International Corp. (OTCBB:FCHL), up 20 percent since Katrina, has technology that produces a synthetic gas that would enable the distributed power generators to produce electricity. And what powers Fairchild's technology? Any carbonaceous material. Like fallen trees and wooden debris for example, or coal.
"Our goal is to produce energy from feedstocks considered by-products or waste by other industries. The number of felled trees and wood debris in the Gulf region today could well be used to produce synthetic gas and electricity," commented Wilf Ouellette, Fairchild's chief technologist. "We have shown the technology is commercially viable, and we have begun commercialization. Natural gas itself is already the fastest-growing energy market in the world. Nine out of 10 new electrical power plants burn natural gas. And consumption worldwide will double by 2025."
Against this background, shares of alternative energy companies surged. The sector is popular with speculative investors, who are betting the technology being developed today will have more widespread commercial acceptance in the future. For now, however, most of the companies are loss-making.
Other gainers included hydrogen storage systems company Millennium Cell (MCEL), FuelCell Energy, Plug Power (PLUG), Mechanical Technology (MKTY), and Ballard Power Systems (BLDP).
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements. Such statements are indicated by words or phrases such as "believe," "will," "breakthrough," "significant," "indicated," "feel," "foresee," "revolutionary," "should," "ideal," "extremely," and "excited." These statements are made under "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties. See Fairchild's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, Fairchild's recent Form 10-KSB and Form 10-QSB, which identify specific factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.