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Latest
July 2nd, 2008
Nine Green Technology Stocks for Investors Who Hate Al Gore
Green technology is advancing rapidly. Green technology investments can be hugely profitable. Yet some investors are put off by what they see as a high degree of sanctimony surrounding the sector.
This website has already presented lists of stocks that could benefit from the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency. Here then, in the interest of balance, are nine green technology stocks for investors who hate Al Gore.
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June 30th, 2008
The Best Green Fund?
The Winslow Green Growth Fund, launched in 1994, is regularly proclaimed to be one of the best green funds around.
In late-2007 Kiplinger.com frankly described the Winslow Green Growth Fund and its sister Winslow Green Solutions as "the two best green funds". A year earlier the fund had been named the Best Socially Screened Fund for 2006 by Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine.
In 2007 the fund's manager, Jack Robinson, was named the #2 fund manager in the aggressive growth category in the Barron's/Value Line annual mutual fund survey, and #10 equity mutual fund manager overall.
In the same year it was ranked by Lipper as the top small-cap growth fund over a three-year period, as well as #4 over five years and #39 over one year.
What else makes it so special?
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June 26th, 2008
An Index for Green Mutual Funds
Green technology investors have a fast-growing array of indices against which they can measure the performance of their portfolios.
Socially responsible mutual funds are a fast-growing sector of the investment business. Most funds need a recognized index against which they can measure their progress. The result is an increasing number of indices - most introduced in just the past couple of years - that are designed to provide guidance to investors in green and socially responsible investment products.
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June 20th, 2008
Green Funds in Europe
A report shows that green investment in Europe is booming.
Europe is already at the forefront of the renewable energy business - although the US and China are coming on fast - and investment in the sector is expanding rapidly.
A report from Frost & Sullivan, "European Green Investment Market - Investment Analysis", finds that compounded annual average growth of around 18 per cent is expected between 2007 and 2014. This will boost the green investment market from 180.4 billion euros to 572.9 billion euros.
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June 20th, 2008
Green Mutual Funds - Choosing Sectors
The world of clean tech is vast, with numerous sub-sectors. How do green mutual funds choose which areas to invest in?
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June 20th, 2008
Green Mutual Funds - The Attractions
A prominent clean tech fund manager explains.
Why invest in
green mutual funds?
Surely it is because you believe they will do well and deliver you a good return. Who would invest in a fund - no matter how worthy - they believed would lose them money?
Certainly many investors choose a green or a socially responsible fund ahead of others because they believe that they are thereby doing some good in the world. But I am sure that most - virtually all - of them would not invest in a fund they were sure was doomed to lose money.
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June 18th, 2008
President Barack Obama
Well, I don't believe that climate change is just an issue that's convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it's one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation.
- Barack Obama (2007)
If elected, Barack Obama will be the greenest president ever in the White House. His policies include:
1. Invest $150 billion over 10 years in clean energy.
2. Reduce carbon emissions 80 per cent by 2050.
3. Double energy research and development funding.
4. Create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund, funded at $10 billion per year for five years.
5. Require that 25 per cent of electricity be from renewable sources by 2025.
Here, over four parts, is a brief guide to possible investment implications for the cleantech sector.
* Wind Power
* Solar Energy
* Fuel Cells
* Biofuels
May 29th, 2008
General Electric - A Wind Energy World Leader
General Electric is America's largest supplier of wind energy turbines, and one of the biggest in the world. It is a business that is growing rapidly.
Wind energy remains a relatively small part of General Electric's business, but it is a rapidly growing segment, with 2007 revenues of more than $4 billion, an eight-fold increase since 2002. The company is a world leader in this business, and it is the dominant supplier in the US, which has become the world's fastest-growing market.
In 2007 it installed 2,342 MW of new capacity in the US - double the amount of the previous year - which was 45 per cent of the US total for that year. In the January-March 2008 quarter it supplied 442.5 MW of the total 1,400 MW of new capacity that was installed in America.
In its announcement of disappointing January-March results, GE specifically cited wind energy. It said orders for this business were up 40 per cent from the 2007 fourth quarter, with earnings up 22 per cent from the 2007 first quarter.
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May 28th, 2008
Wind Energy in Canada - More Developments
Canada has a fast-growing wind energy industry. The latest news is that Keewatin Windpower is proceeding with the acquisition of Sky Harvest Windpower.
The announcement by Canadian company Keewatin Windpower, listed on the OTC, that it is to proceed with the acquisition of sister company Sky Harvest Windpower is another step towards realizing the goal of a big wind energy project in south-west Saskatchewan.
Sky Harvest holds land rights to develop the project on 8,500 acres of land and proposes a 150 MW facility.
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May 27th, 2008
Wind Energy - A Looming Boom
Wind energy projects accounted for more than a third of all new power generating capacity in the US in 2007. It is shaping up as a boom.
The new report from US Department of Energy, "20% Wind Energy by 2030", simply emphasizes that the United States is the big new wind power market - and the big new wind power investment opportunity.
The report presents a scenario whereby wind energy could provide 20 per cent of US electricity by 2030. Such a scenario "while ambitious could be feasible if the significant challenges identified in this report are overcome."
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May 10th, 2008
A Green Construction Alternative
Alternative Construction Technologies is a fast-growing manufacturer of environmentally-friendly construction materials.
News this week that Alternative
Construction Technologies of Florida has been selected as a main supplier to Modular Space Systems - a builder of modular buildings for a variety of governmental applications - is further evidence of the company's success in promoting its patented structural insulated panels [SIP].
A press release says that Modular Space Systems is to use the panels "as its only product of choice wherever structural insulated panel products are used," which effectively means around 80 per cent of business for Modular Space Systems.
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May 6th, 2008
Green Invest - An Australian Emissions Trader
Cleantech investors should examine a newly listed Australian company, Green Invest, which is involved in carbon trading through its Nextgen (Next Generation Energy Solutions) business.
Established in 2000, Nextgen is an Australian leader in the brokering of energy derivatives and environmental commodities. It is also a significant data provider, and it plans to launch an asset management division.
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April 25th, 2008
Wave Power - Coming Soon to an Ocean Near You?
Wave power has great potential. Are investors missing an emerging opportunity?
Ocean Power Technologies, the world leader in wave power technology, believes that in 2010 it will complete development of its 500 KW power-generating PowerBuoy system. Then, if it can reach production levels of 500 units per year, it believes that it can achieve the economies of scale necessary to "compete on a non-subsidized basis with the price of wholesale electricity in key markets."
Wave power is barely on the radar of many investors in renewable energy, overshadowed by all the impressive developments in solar energy, wind power and fuel cells. But if Ocean Power is successful, it will almost certainly bring in a flood of investment.
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April 22nd, 2008
Energy Developments - Australia's Clean Power Producer
Energy Developments is a world leader in landfill gas and coal mine methane power generation projects. It also makes good profits.
The launch this year of a new LNG power project in the Kimberley, way up in the north-east corner of Western Australia, marks another step in the growth of Energy Developments, a leading global clean power producer. It raises the company's total generating capacity from 487 MW to 547 MW.
The company is a world leader in landfill gas, with 56 projects around the world representing about half its total generating capacity.
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April 21st, 2008
Six Energy Efficiency Stocks That Make a Profit
Technology that will save energy is in big demand. But a surprisingly small number of companies are actually making money out of it. Here are six of them.
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April 20th, 2008
GRD - Australia's Other Dynamic Recycler
GRD's Global Renewables operation - which sorts, processes and recycles municipal waste - is attracting international attention.
I wrote about Sims Group, describing it as Australia's dynamic recycler, thanks to its Sims Recycling Solutions division, which has become the world's biggest electronics recycling operator.
Another Australian company, GRD Limited, is also prominent in international recycling, thanks to its Global Renewables business, and this is attracting considerable investor attention.
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April 19th, 2008
Sims Group - Australia's Dynamic Recycler
Sims is attracting global investor attention for its big (and highly profitable) moves into electronics recycling.
Sims Group has grown dramatically since its foundation in 1917. It is a major recycler of scrap metals, is now the world's largest producer of ferrous scrap metal for the steel industry and is also the world's biggest electronics recycling company.
It is that last business, called Sims Recycling Solutions, that is sparking great investor attention for its enormous growth prospects.
Already the company is handling more than 25 million computers, monitors, televisions, refrigerators, toner cartridges and other appliances each year.
Not only individual investors and funds (including many ethical funds) are interested; even a giant global corporation like Japan's Mitsui can see the huge potential in this business, and it has taken a (friendly) 20 per cent equity stake in Sims.
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April 15th, 2008
Electric Car - Getting Closer?
The unlisted company Phoenix Motorcars plans to begin limited sales late in 2008 of its zero-emission electric vehicles. The first will be a small electric pick-up truck. A nationwide launch is scheduled for 2009. If the new vehicles work as planned the key stock market beneficiary will be Altair Nanotechnologies, suppliers of the batteries.
Altair has developed a rechargeable lithium ion battery, which it describes as the Nano Lithium Titanate battery. It entered into an agreement with Phoenix to supply between $16 and $42 million worth of the batteries during 2007.
However, far fewer batteries than planned were actually supplied, due mainly to funding problems with Phoenix.
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April 8th, 2008
LED Lighting - Six Stocks to Watch
The big global lighting companies see a bright future in LED lighting. But many smaller companies are also active. Here are six that are publicly listed.
The trend is certainly for energy-efficient LED lighting. Already some countries have announced the eventual abolition of power-hungry incandescent lightbulbs. The research firm Strategies Unlimited believes the LED market will rise from $4.2 billion in 2006 to $9 billion in 2011, although many experts believe the growth will be far greater. Top lighting manufacturers like General Electric, Philips and Siemens are moving strongly into LED.
Many smaller companies are also involved. For example, it is estimated that a multitude of Chinese companies now account for more than two-thirds of global LED production. Here are six LED stocks from around the world.
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April 1st, 2008
Fuel Cells - Power for the Military
The military needs lighter portable power generation equipment. Fuel cells should be the answer.
I have already written about how cogeneration systems could provide a big impetus for fuel cell development. Another stimulus should come from the military. Already extensive research efforts are under way.
A key attraction is portability. At present, soldiers on maneuver often have to bring heavy and bulky power generation systems with them, sometimes in trailers or special vehicles. New fuel cells under development could make it possible for individual soldiers to carry their own fuel supply systems. It may become possible for a single fuel cell to provide power to both vehicles and equipment.
In addition to portability, other attractions of fuel cells include silent operation and zero emissions.
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