The single IPO expected to debut in the U.S. this week focuses on renewable energy in China, a combination that might have set hearts racing three years ago.

In the market for initial public offerings of stock, however, new Chinese stocks like Nobao Renewable Energy Holdings Ltd. haven't attracted the uniformly strong investor interest that they once commanded, and green-energy deals have generated mixed results. Against the backdrop of a volatile broader stock market, investors are becoming more risk averse, which doesn't bode well for an emerging industry in an uncertain world economy.

'It doesn't exactly have that sizzle sizzle,' said Sal Morreale, who tracks IPOs for Cantor Fitzgerald. 'No one's talking about it at all.'

Nobao Renewable aims to raise as much as $180 million through a listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NRE. Amid a sea of solar-related companies that have hit the U.S. in the past five years, Nobao's niche certainly is new: It builds geothermal-energysystems to heat and cool buildings in China. Geothermal energy relies on the temperature underground, which typically is higher than air temperature in winter and lower than air temperature in the summer. In the winter, warmer heat from underground is transferred into buildings, while in the summer heat from the building is extracted and pumped underground.

In a country where energyconsumption has skyrocketed, Nobao said its systems typically save 50% to 70% of the energy used by conventionalelectricity and fuel-based methods.

The Shanghai company, which began operating in 2007, has contracts covering a gross floor area of nearly 10.8 million square feet, mostly concentrated in its hometown. Customers make the switch to geothermal primarily by contracting with Nobao to be their energymanager, paying the company a monthly fee that has translated into a fast-expanding revenuestream; revenue quadrupled in 2009 and in the first quarter of 2010, compared with the same periods a year earlier.

But that contractual arrangement is a business model that heaps almost all the upfront costs and risks on Nobao. It must finance the equipment, drilling and installation costs of its systems at the outset of each project. The company also is responsible for maintenance costs for each building's system, and shoulders manufacturing costs and other associated expenses. There is a significant delay between when it recognizes revenue and receives cash payments; if a customer defaults, Nobao can't recover its expenses on a project.

In 2009 and the first quarter of this year, the company recorded a net loss compared with gains a year earlier due to escalating net-finance costs. The finance expenses in both periods related to fair-value changes in preferred stock, and in the case of 2009, the fair-value changes of a convertible bond. Post-IPO, the company doesn't expect to incur such fair-value finance costs because the bonds were converted into preferred shares, and the preferred shares will convert into ordinary shares.

LYNN COWAN

• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• combination [,kɔmbi´neiʃən] n.结合；联合；团体 (初中英语单词)
• uncertain [ʌn´sə:tn] a.不定的；不可靠的 (初中英语单词)
• mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
• manager [´mænidʒə] n.经理；管理人；干事 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• arrangement [ə´reindʒmənt] n.整理；排列；筹备 (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns] n.财政；金融 vt.资助 (初中英语单词)
• equipment [i´kwipmənt] n.装备，设备 (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
• responsible [ri´spɔnsəbəl] a.尽责的；责任重大的 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• customer [´kʌstəmə] n.顾客，买主，主顾 (初中英语单词)
• convert [kən´və:t, ´kɔnvə:t] v.转变 n.改变信仰者 (初中英语单词)
• initial [i´niʃəl] a.最初的 n.首字母 (高中英语单词)
• symbol [´simbəl] n.符号；象征 (高中英语单词)
• underground [,ʌndə´graund] ad.&a.地下(的) (高中英语单词)
• consumption [kən´sʌmpʃən] n.消耗；结核病 (高中英语单词)
• electricity [i,lek´trisiti] n.电；电学；电流 (高中英语单词)
• switch [switʃ] n.开关 v.转换 (高中英语单词)
• monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中英语单词)
• revenue [´revinju:] n.税收；收入 (高中英语单词)
• maintenance [´meintinəns] n.保持；主张；保养 (高中英语单词)
• significant [sig´nifikənt] a.重要的；意义重大的 (高中英语单词)
• related [ri´leitid] a.叙述的；有联系的 (高中英语单词)
• conventional [kən´venʃənəl] a.常规的；协定的 (英语四级单词)
• primarily [´praimərəli, prai´merəli] ad.首先；主要地 (英语四级单词)
• uniformly [´ju:nifɔ:mli] ad.一致地，齐心地 (英语六级单词)
• investor [in´vestə] n.投资者 (英语六级单词)
• averse [ə´və:s] a.反对的，不乐意的 (英语六级单词)
• installation [,instə´leiʃən] n.就职；安装；装置 (英语六级单词)