Hot Tickets From the Alliance Each week Alliance members submit "Hot Tickets" as a way of presenting new observations and ideas on investable opportunities to ChangeWave. Today we're focusing on Apple Macs, Pinnacle West's solar plant and a potential cotton shortage, just to name a few. Read on to find out what you need to know. *Note: These Hot Tickets are for informational purposes only. They do not represent recommendations from ChangeWave. (1) Apple Goes to School TAR03965 writes: "An acquaintance of mine who works in IT at a major university said they are getting ready to switch from PCs to Macs in the IT department. I see this as a significant shift as Apple (AAPL) gains market share in the desktop/laptop market." (2) New Solar Plant DAVID02 writes: "Pinnacle West (PNW) of Phoenix, Ariz., is building one of the largest solar power plants in the United States (280 megawatts) near Gila Bend. It will be called the Solana generating station, and will produce enough energy to serve 70,000 customers. The plant will be built by Abengoa Solar -- a Spanish company -- scheduled to go online in 2011. It will utilize parabolic reflectors that track the sun and will use mirrors to focus the rays on heat transfer fluid -- converting water to steam." (3) Cotton Shortage Coming? LOB07215 writes: "I just came back from the Mississippi Delta, which is the cotton capital of the United States. Everyone I talked to, including big cotton planters, are switching to corn. Does this tell us of a cotton shortage?" (4) Solar Producers Up to the Challenge? KWM01641 writes: "Solar installers in my area on the west coast are using Kyocera Corp. (KYO) or Sharp solar panels because of their long-term durability -- as they're known to be able to withstand 20-25 years of UV rays, rain, snow, etc. It's one thing to turn out a tech product that must last only the two to four years before it is obsolete and replaced, but solar payback requires up to multi-decade durability. Are the current Chinese producers up to this quality challenge?" | 
