"Historically, I have discouraged friends from jumping into hydrogen and solar stocks. Well, once dissed as hippie energy and Obama power, Wall Street has gone green. Some notes:
* Christian Zabbal: solar and wind have become so safe and overcrowded that they're no longer attractive to cutting-edge investors. Black Coral Capital, where he is managing director, is getting out of solar. Apparently, the clean-power revolution is for real.
* Green electricity is no longer avant-garde (hint: this is good")
* earned steady returns
* produced more than half of new U.S. generating capacity this year.
* wind has tripled since 2008
* solar is up by 1200%
* green bonds have exploded from 2 billion in 2012 to 16.7 billion in just the first half of this year.
* Householders are signing 20-year mortgages...for solar PV, just like for homes. As these systems do not need much maintenance, security is now an expectation.
* However, while capital costs are quickly dropping, they're still too high, and federal incentives need to be continued.
So, according to Renewable Energy World, here is the September 2014 update for ten clean energy stocks:
The top three:"
* Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure (HASI")
* PFB Corporation ("TSX: PFB, OTC: PFBOF")
* Capstone Infrasture Corp ("TSX: CSE, OTC: MCQPF")
Oh, you never heard of any of them. I never buy high, so I wouldn't leap into these stocks. But many are doing just so. I purposefully posted this article today so that you'd have a weekend to reconsider any possible rash move.
The Motley Fool says it well:
"SOLAR ENERGY IS ONE OF THE GREATEST INVESTING OPPORTUNITIES OF OUR GENERATION WITH WELL OVER A TRILLION DOLLARS IN ANNUAL MARKET POTENTIAL AROUND THE WORLD. BUT WITH ALL THAT POTENTIAL COMES TREMENDOUS RISK, PARTICULARLY AS NEW TECHNOLOGIES EMERGE."
While the focus in that article is pure solar ("PV and solar thermal") the details are worthy of your perusal if you are contemplating a future investment in this specific technology.
Otherwise, here is a list of the better known renewable energy companies. Warren Buffet has jumped in, purchasing 15 billion of solar stocks, and plans to double his involvement. Yes, solar has become mainstream. But be very careful. Personally, I recently got out of stocks because I have an uncomfortable sense that there will be a major correction sometime this year or next. I should note, however, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average just about reached another all-time high during the past week, and, even though it suffered a recent minor decline, continues to show unusual resistance.
-Practically overnight, seven ocean storms popped up:
In the Atlantic Tropical Storm Edouard, now at 60 MPH, will become a Category 2, but not threaten the USA:
In the East Pacific, Hurricane Odile, now at 90 MPH, will strengthen into a Category 3, weaken, then skirt Baja:
An interesting phenomenon is that Tropical Depression 16E seems headed to cross the track of Odile, and if they meet, interesting things could happen.
In the West Pacific, Typhoon Kalmaegi at 75 MPH will become a Category 2, cross over the northern portion of the Philippines, then head towards China:
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