Green Mutual Fund Investing Info

Why "Peak Nature" requires a collective consciousness bump

2012-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Capitalism has no soul, by Timothy Morton, Adbusters.org

Nature is the featureless remainder at either end of the process of production. Either it’s exploitable stuff, or value-added stuff. Whatever: it’s basically featureless, abstract, gray. It has nothing to do with nematode worms and orangutans, organic chemicals in comets and rock strata. You can scour the Earth from mountaintop to Marianas Trench. You will never find Nature. That’s why I put it in capitals. I want the reader to see that it’s an empty category looking for something to fill it. Gray goo.

Capitalism did away with feudal and pre-feudal myths such as the divine hierarchy between classes of people. In so doing, however, it substituted one heck of a giant myth of its own: Nature. Nature is precisely the lump that preexists the capitalist labor process. Martin Heidegger has the best term for it: standing reserve, Bestand.

Bestand means “stuff,” as in the old ad from the 1990s, “Drink Pepsi: Get Stuff.” There is an ontology implicit in capitalist production, then, that is strictly materialism as defined by Aristotle. Funnily enough, however, this materialism is not fascinated with material objects in all their manifold specificity. It’s just stuff. This viewpoint is the basis of Aristotle’s problem with materialism. Have you ever seen or handled matter? Have you ever held a piece of “stuff”? Sure, I’ve seen lots of objects: Santa Claus in a department store, snowflakes and photographs of atoms. But have I ever seen matter or stuff as such? Aristotle says it’s a bit like searching through a zoo to find the “animal” rather than the various species such as monkeys and mynah birds. Marx says exactly the same thing regarding capital. “The ‘expanded’ form [of the commodity] passes into the ‘general’ form when some commodity is excluded, exempted from the collection of commodities, and thus appears as the general equivalent of all commodities, as the immediate embodiment of Commodity as such, as if, by the side of all real animals, there existed the Animal, the individual incarnation of the entire animal kingdom – or as if, to use an example from commercial capitalism, by the side of all real spices, there existed the Spice.” As Nature goes, so goes matter. The two most progressive physical theories of our age, ecology and quantum theory, need have nothing to do with it.

What is bestand? Bestand is stockpiling. Gallon after gallon of oil waiting to be tapped. Row upon row of big box houses waiting to be inhabited. Terabyte after terabyte of memory waiting to be filled. Stockpiling is the art of the zeugma – the yoking of things you hear in phrases such as “wave upon wave” or “bumper to bumper.” Stockpiling is the dominant mode of social existence. Giant parking lots empty of cars, huge tables in restaurants across which you can’t hold hands, vast empty lawns. Nature is stockpiling. Range upon range of mountains, receding into the distance. The Rocky Flats nuclear bomb trigger factory was sited precisely to evoke this kind of mountainous stockpile. The eerie strangeness of this fact confronts us with the ways in which we still believe that Nature is “over there” – that it exists apart from technology, apart from history. Far from it. Nature is the stockpile of stockpiles.

So again, I ask, what exactly are we sustaining when we talk about sustainability? An intrinsically out of control system that sucks in gray goo at one end and pushes out gray value at the other. It’s Natural goo, Natural value. Result? Mountain ranges of inertia, piling higher every year, while humans boil away in the agony of uncertainty. Just take a look at Manufactured Landscapes: the ocean of telephone dials, dials as far as the eye can see, somewhere in China. A real ocean – it lies there at this very moment.

Societies embody philosophies. Actually, what we have in modernity is much, much worse than just instrumentality. Here we must depart from Heidegger. What’s worse is the location of essence in some beyond, away from any specific existence. To this extent, capitalism is itself Heideggerian! Whether we call it scientism, deconstruction, relationism or just good old-fashioned Platonic forms, there is no essence in what exists. Either the beyond is itself nonexistent (deconstruction, nihilism), or it’s some kind of real away from “here.” The problem, then, is not essentialism but this very notion of a beyond. Think of what Tony Hayward said. He said that the Gulf of Mexico was a huge ocean, and that the spill was tiny by comparison. Nature would absorb the industrial accident. I don’t want to quibble about the relative size of ocean and spill, as if an even larger spill would somehow have gotten it into Hayward’s thick head that it was bad news. I simply want to point out the metaphysics involved in Hayward’s assertion, which we could call capitalist essentialism. The essence of reality is capital and Nature. Both exist in an ethereal beyond. Over here, where we live, is an oil spill. But don’t worry. The beyond will take care of it.

Meanwhile, despite Nature, despite gray goo, real things writhe and smack into one another. Some leap out because industry malfunctions, or functions only too well. Oil bursts out of its ancient sinkhole and floods the Gulf of Mexico. Gamma rays shoot out of plutonium for 24,000 years. Hurricanes congeal out of massive storm systems, fed by the heat from the burning of fossil fuels. The ocean of telephone dials grows ever larger. Paradoxically, capitalism has unleashed myriad objects upon us, in their manifold horror and sparkling splendor. Two hundred years of idealism, two hundred years of seeing humans at the center of existence, and now the objects take revenge, terrifyingly huge, ancient, long-lived, threateningly minute, invading every cell in our body.

Modern life presents us with a choice:

1) The essence of things is elsewhere (in the deep structure of capital, the unconscious, Being).

2) There is no essence. (At present I believe that the restriction of rightness and coolness to this choice is one reason why planet Earth is in big trouble right now. And I believe that the choice resembles a choice between grayish brown and brownish gray). That’s why I believe in a third choice:

3) There is an essence, and it’s right here, in the object resplendent with its sensual qualities yet withdrawn.

And that’s why I believe we are entering a new era of academic work, where the point will not be to one-up each other by appealing to the trace of the givenness of the openness of the clearing of the lighting of the being of the pencil. Thinking past “meta mode” will at least bring us up to speed with the weirdness of things, a weirdness that evolution, ecology, relativity and quantum theory all speak about. This weirdness resides on the side of objects themselves, not our interpretation of them.

When we flush the toilet, we imagine that the U-bend takes the waste away into some ontologically alien realm. Ecology is now beginning to tell us of something very different: a flattened world without ontological U-bends. A world in which there is no “away.” Marx was partly wrong, then, when in The Communist Manifesto he claimed that in capitalism all that is solid melts into air. He didn’t see how a kind of hypersolidity oozes back into the emptied out space of capitalism, a hypersolidity I call here hyperobjects. This oozing real comes back and can no longer be ignored, so that even when the spill is supposedly “gone and forgotten,” there, look! There it is, mile upon mile of strands of oil just below the surface, square mile upon square mile of ooze floating at the bottom of the ocean. The cosmic U-bend is no more. It can’t be gone and forgotten – even ABC News knows that now.

When I hear the word “sustainability” I reach for my sunscreen.

The End of the World
When Neo touches a mirror in The Matrix it adheres to his hand, instantly changing from reflective surface to viscous substance. The very thing that we use to reflect becomes an object in its own right, liquid and dark like oil in the dim light of the room in which Neo has taken the red pill. The usual reading of this scene is that Neo’s reality is dissolving. If we stay on the level of the sticky, oily mirror, however, we obtain an equally powerful reading. It’s not reality that dissolves, but the subject, the very capacity to “mirror” things, to be separate from the world like someone looking at a reflection in a mirror – removed from it by an ontological sheet of reflective glass. The sticky mirror demonstrates the truth of what phenomenology calls ingenuousness or sincerity (I’m thinking here of the work of Ortega y Gasset, Levinas and Graham Harman). Objects are what they are, in the sense that no matter what we are aware of, or how, there it is, impossible to shake off. In the midst of irony, there you are, being ironic. Even mirrors are what they are, no matter what they reflect. In its ingenuous sincerity, reality envelops us like a film of oil. The mirror becomes a substance, an object. Hyperobjects push the reset button on sincerity, just as Neo discovers that the mirror no longer distances his image from him in a nice, aesthetically manageable way, but sticks to him.

The beautiful reversibility of the oily, melting mirror speaks to something that is happening in a global warming age, precisely because of hyperobjects: the simultaneous dissolution of reality and the overwhelming presence of hyperobjects, which stick to us, which are us. The Greeks called it miasma, the way blood-guilt sticks to you.

Ecological thoughts for deep thinkers

Germany building Electro-Hydrogen economy of the future

2011-10-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

The distributed Internet communication revolution is converging with distributed renewable energies, giving birth to a powerful Third Industrial Revolution that is going to fundamentally change German society.

Beyond the Financial Crisis: Germany's Plan to Regrow the Global Economy

by Jeremy Rifkin, HuffingtonPost.com

At the moment, Germany is embroiled in a fierce debate over how to save the Eurozone and, with it, the future of the European Union. Although stringent austerity programs will have to be enacted in the member countries to reduce government debt, and new regulatory mechanisms put in place to oversee European financial institutions and markets, there is a dawning realization that these measures alone will be insufficient to assure the future of Europe and its member states. What's required, above all else, is a new sustainable economic growth plan that can take Europe into the future. That's beginning to happen.

While the rest of the world is in a near panic over the prospect of a second collapse of the global economy, a fresh new economic wind is blowing across Germany. In discussions with German business leaders over the past several months, and in recent conversations with Chancellor Angela Merkel and key political leaders in Berlin, it has become clear that Germany is embarking on a journey into a new economic era. The German plan is based on the historical understanding that the great economic paradigm shifts in history occur when new communications revolutions converge and merge with new energy regimes. New energy revolutions make possible more expansive and integrated trade. Accompanying communication revolutions manage the speed and complexity of commercial activity made possible by the new flow of energy. Today, the distributed Internet communication revolution is converging with distributed renewable energies, giving birth to a powerful Third Industrial Revolution that is going to fundamentally change German society.

The Merkel administration has launched an ambitious effort to transition the West's leading exporting power into a Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). The federal government has teamed up with six regions across Germany to test the introduction of an "energy Internet" that will allow tens of thousands of German businesses and millions of home owners to collect renewable energies onsite, store them in the form of hydrogen, and share green electricity across Germany in a smart utility network, just like we now share information online. Entire communities are in the process of transforming their commercial and residential buildings into green micro-power plants, and companies like Siemens and Bosch are creating sophisticated new IT software, hardware, and appliances that will merge distributed Internet communications with distributed energy to create the smart buildings, infrastructure, and cities of the future.

Third Industrial Revolution gaining momentum

The transition into the new Industrial Revolution is quickly picking up momentum. In May, the government announced that the country's 17 nuclear power plants would be shut down by 2022. Then, in late summer, the German Association of Energy and Water Companies reported for the first time that renewable energy sources now account for nearly 20% of the country's electricity, putting Germany ahead of schedule in its goal of producing 35% of its electricity from green energy by 2022. On September 12th, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, the Chairman of Daimler, unveiled the company's hydrogen fuel-cell car at the opening of the Frankfurt International Auto Show. The company that launched the Second Industrial Revolution 125 years ago with the invention of the gasoline-powered automobile has joined with seven industrial partners -- EnBW, Linde, OMV, Shell, Total, Vattenfall, and the National Organization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology -- in a partnership to establish hydrogen fueling stations across Germany in preparation for the mass production of zero-emission fuel cell vehicles in 2015, signaling the beginning of the post-carbon auto era and a Third Industrial Revolution.

The creation of a renewable energy regime, loaded by buildings, partially stored in the form of hydrogen, distributed via an energy internet, and connected to plug-in zero-emission transport, establishes the essential 5-Pillars of a Third Industrial Revolution. The forty year build out will create thousands of businesses and millions of sustainable jobs and position Germany as the leader in the next industrial revolution.

Germany's ability to export the new model throughout the European Union and in its partnership regions in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and beyond, will set the framework for the next great stage of European integration, and ultimately determine whether the European political experiment and the European Dream succeeds or fails.

The opportunity is clear. The European Union has 500 million consumers and an additional 500 million potential consumers in its partnership regions, giving it the prospect of becoming the largest and wealthiest internal commercial market in the world. The key is creating a seamless green energy infrastructure, electricity grid, and communication and transport network that will allow one billion people to engage in "sustainable" commerce and trade across the European continent and its periphery. This represents the next stage of European integration as a political union.

In May 2007, the European Parliament issued a formal written declaration endorsing the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR) vision as the long-term economic road map for the European Union. The Third Industrial Revolution is currently being implemented by the various agencies within the European Commission as well as in the member states.

Can Germany be a sustainable lighthouse for the world?

Now, Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, has set out on a course to quickly transform its economy into the new economic paradigm and serve as a lighthouse for moving the Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure across the European space. To the extent that Germany can effectively create a sustainable and prosperous post-carbon Europe and transform the continent into the largest integrated market space in the world, Germany will prosper, and the European Union will come of age. Other continental markets and continental unions in Asia, Africa, and the Americas will likely follow suit.

The world community will be watching the German experiment closely to see whether this new economic model can serve as a template for ushering in a new economic era. Germany's future, as well as Europe's and the world, depends on its success.

Jeremy Rifkin is the author of The Third Industrial Revolution: How lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and World.

Green activists may lead Wall Street protesters

2011-10-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

350.org US Campaign Director Phil Aroneanu believes ecologists and environmentalists have a big role to play in the Occupy Wall Street protest, which will be joined tomorrow by support from thousands of NYC union members.

Here's a piece Phil published today on HuffingtonPost.com:

Why Environmental Activists Should Occupy Wall Street

by Phil Aroneanu

"Go Paul!"

That's what a top State Department official wrote in an email to the top lobbyist for TransCanada, a top tar sands oil producer, upon hearing that he had garnered support for the Keystone KL pipeline from a US Senator. That shouldn't be too surprising, since the lobbyist was one of Hilary Clinton's campaign aides during her presidential run. The cozy relationship between corporate lobbyists and decisionmakers isn't anything new, but it's just as despicable as ever. And with the Keystone XL pipeline issue, corporate America's fingerprints are turning up all over the place.

That's why over 1200 ordinary people from around the country took the extraordinarily courageous step of sitting-in and getting arrested at the White House in late August -- to show President Obama and leaders on Capitol Hill that real people can be just as powerful as corporate interests. Will President Obama, who campaigned saying "I don't take a dime of their [lobbyist] money, and when I am president, they won't find a job in my White House," be willing to push back against TransCanada, its Wall St. financiers, and the stranglehold these corporations have on our government, or will he be complicit in destroying our democracy, our land and our atmosphere?

Later on this year, when President Obama makes a decision whether to go forward with the tar sands pipeline, we'll know where he stands. But the Occupy Wall Street protesters aren't going to wait that long. The amount of energy that the Occupy Wall Street movement has generated so far is incredible. Over the course of two weeks, their numbers have ballooned from a few hundred to thousands, and Occupy movements have started up in dozens of other cities around the country and the world. Why? Because Americans are sick and tired of top officials cozying up to lobbyists, of political cronyism and petty corruption at the highest levels of government.

While from an outside perspective the Occupy Wall Street protests might seem disorganized, their message is clear: If Wall Street is occupying the State Department and the halls of Congress, its time for the people to occupy Wall Street. In the case of the Keystone pipeline, the paper trail shows that Big Oil and Wall Wt. certainly walk the halls of the State Department with impunity. Now, it's time for climate activists to join hands with the Wall Street protestors, and occupy together.

Here's a quick video of some Occupy Wall Street folks talking about the connection between climate change and the occupation:

Morose in markets, lack of news means buy time?

2011-09-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Green funds are likely to gap up in late Q4 and early Q1

Historically the 3rd year in a US Presidency is the worst for North American capital markets, particularly equities, and as Q4 approaches we have to examine whether this year offers the usual cyclical investment opportunity. The cycle makes sense because the honeymoon for the US President is long over, and the 3rd year is a bit early to pump the economy for the election. 2012 will be a different story, inflation will be the fear, and equities will be back in vogue.

While searching for news on "green mutual fund" it seems there isn't too much going on right now.

175 results but that's just Google trying hard... when I take the quotes off there are 2 results. I'd say that right there is an indication that things are a bit too quiet, and green funds are likely to gap up in late Q4 and early Q1.

Joe Trainor, CIM
September 13, 2011

Investing in Green Mutual Funds and ETFs

2011-08-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

Buying cleantech investment funds safer than individual stocks

by Gavin Adamson, TheGlobeandMail.com

As with hybrid autos and organic food, consumer demand is driving the growth of green investment choices, and new options come available every week.

“People are asking about green and socially responsible investments, and certainly more institutions and pension funds are paying more attention to the area,” says Adrian Mastracci, president of KCM Wealth Management in Vancouver. But for many investors, putting money into specific stocks of fledgling green companies can feel too risky, says Mr. Mastracci. To diversify, investors can turn to a handful of mutual funds and exchange trade funds (ETFs) that provide broad environmental criteria among their investment screens, along with “pure-play” green portfolios that hone in on specific industries in solar, wind and other alternative energy industries.

Passively invested ETFs automatically put money into a basket of funds defined by an index. The companies that market these ETFs charge management fees at a fraction of the cost of the mutual funds, whose stocks are selected by professional money managers. The management expenses are subtracted from the return of the investment.

“ETFs are just cheaper,” says Larry Berman, chief investment officer at ETF Capital Management, who owns a couple of green-focused ETFs in his portfolio. “They give you the index and you don’t have to worry about volatility in individual stocks.”

The tradeoff is that an actively managed mutual fund may outperform the markets or reduce volatility in a portfolio in the long run, whereas an ETF will track only an index. And Mr. Berman notes that green ETFs tend to be a little more expensive than those that mimic broader indexes because they are more expensive to run.

Generally, more focused investments should make up a smaller part of your portfolio, says Dan Hallett, president of his Windsor-based research firm, Dan Hallett & Associates, Inc. “The more narrowly you zoom in on the market, the more volatility you are likely to experience,” he notes, but if you’re prepared for long-term investing, volatility isn’t inherently bad.

SOLAR ENERGY

ETFs focusing on solar power are especially hot. In April, New York-based asset manager VanEck Global Investors, which sells several green ETFs, launched the Market Vectors Ardour-Solar Energy ETF, with a management expense ratio (MER) capped at 1.09 per cent. It follows the Ardour Solar Energy Index, tracking companies that earn at least two thirds of their revenue from solar technology products. The companies must also have a market capitalization of at least $100-million, a limit that will include many small cap names.

The index favours bigger companies. Its largest constituent is Renewable Energy Corp. AS, a Norwegian company involved in the production of the wafers used in photovoltaic technology, most commonly in solar panels. First Solar Inc., a small-cap U.S. company that builds solar energy products, is weighted at more than 10 per cent in the ETF as well. The ETF holds a total of 34 names it trades on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) with the memorable ticket, KWT.

VanEck’s ETF competes with the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy ETF, which tracks 25 international companies. Its mandate allows for companies that are less focused on the solar industry, however, but the top two holdings are the same. It’s MER is 0.65 per cent.

WIND POWER

Similarly, an ETF with the ticker FAN trades on the New York Stock Exchange. The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy ETF invests purely in international wind-energy related technology companies. Vestas Wind Systems AS, a large-cap Danish wind turbine company takes a top spot in the portfolio of 52 publicly traded businesses with market capitalization of at least $100 million. Larger companies take a greater position in the portfolio.

CLEAN TECH AND ENERGY

In the United States, iShares offers the S&P Global Clean Energy Index ETF, based on a basket of international clean-energy related businesses tracked by Standard & Poors. The index of 30 stocks favours those with greater exposure to clean energy, which can include solar, wind, thermal and others. Again, Vestas Wind Systems is among the top holdings, along with First Solar, noted above. The ETF trades on the AMEX, and operates with an MER of less than 0.5 per cent.

The PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio, trading on the AMEX, casts a wider net. It invests in an index of 75 companies with market capitalization of between US$200 million and $1 billion. The businesses must report at least 50 per cent of revenues in clean energy technology. Siemens AG., the German industrial company that includes electrical energy generation as a business line, is the top holding. The fund reports an MER of 1.32 per cent.

Trading on the Nasdaq exchange is the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series Index ETF, with an MER capped at 0.6 per cent. It tracks the same industries, but narrows its investments to the United States.

Mr. Berman says he’s bullish on all these sectors, but they do have their risks. He says the investment theme isn’t new, and some of the stocks are already trading at relatively higher price to earnings multiples compared to the rest of the market.

GREEN MUTUAL FUNDS

Last month the HSBC Global Climate Change Fund entered a small field of mutual funds in the Canadian market that mix some of the riskier technology companies described above with well-known large-cap companies. The fund’s top 10 holdings include E.ON AG, the gas and electrical utility, and among the largest German companies.

Acuity Clean Environment Fund is similarly diversified, investing in the Canadian microcap solar-power tech company, 5N Plus Inc., along with a large-cap oil and gas miner and distributor SunCor Energy Inc.

Toronto-based investment company Criterion Investments sells two global mutual funds, the Criterion Global Clean Energy Fund and the Criterion Water Infrastructure Fund, which invests in a broader theme of water infrastructure, filtration and distribution. For example, the French consumer products company, Nestle SA is a major holding in the water portfolio owing to its bottled water sales. Each is managed by Swiss-based Pictet Asset Management.

“These large funds can go out and buy these multinational companies, most of which are relatively clean tech,” says Duncan Stewart, a portfolio manager who runs Duncan Stewart Asset Management Inc. in Toronto.

The funds are available for a minimum investment of $500, with MERs that range from 2.0 per cent and upwards if you buy them from advisers, who may charge one-time sales commissions as well.

Germany's Bioenergy Villages point way to distributed energy

2011-06-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

When Thomas Edison invented electricity, he envisioned a system whereby electricity would be generated wherever it was to be consumed. In the USA, State-wide energy monopolies ended all that, as businessman accepted price controls (eg guaranteed profits) in exchange for becoming a monopoly power provider.

Germany is spinning the wheel and pointing to a decentralized, distributed energy future. this Wall Street Journal article has lessons for many small towns and villages across North America and the main one is: Work Together!

In Germany's Biofuel Villages, Power to the People rules

By MARY M. LANE, WSJ

OBERROSPHE, Germany—On Friday nights, villagers here pile into the town's only bar to play "Nail and Wood," a beer-fueled quest to pound a nail into an upright log with the most speed and accuracy. Later, they return home to warm cottages, fully heated by a wood-chip plant they built in 2008.

"We don't need fancy bar games, we've got wood," says 51-year-old Hans-Jochen Henkel, a spokesman for the 850-person town in western Germany and a member of the committee that helped raise funding for the plant. "And we don't need energy from large corporations. We've also got wood for that."

Long before the German government announced plans to phase out atomic power in the wake of the recent nuclear meltdown in Japan, dozens of villages across Germany, distrustful of mainstream energy sources, began generating their own heat and electricity from biofuels. Their goal was to free themselves from potential nuclear disaster and dependence on foreign oil, while uniting their communities through a greater sense of purpose.

"We don't want to be getting 3,050 liters of oil off some ship from Saudi Arabia," says Hans Bertram, a 72-year-old retiree living in Oberrosphe. This way, "the money stays here in the community."

Indeed, a desire to stimulate local economies, coupled with the security that comes from steady energy prices, are the main economic factors behind the movement, says Uwe Fritsche, a researcher at the Öko Institut, an ecology research center in Darmstadt.

The first of Germany's so-called bioenergy villages, the 750-person town of Jühnde in the central part of the country began as a large-scale experiment by scientists from the nearby University of Göttingen. The village started producing heat and electricity from liquid manure and locally grown energy crops in 2005.

Since then, about 70 other towns in Germany have become full-fledged "biovillages," meaning they use fuel derived from substances such as wood chips, crops and manure to heat their homes and generate electricity that they then sell to the local power grid. Some 14 other towns and villages are in the process of converting to other renewable-energy sources, such as wind and solar power, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Although these communities account for a small fraction of Germany's overall energy demand, and larger cities remain hesitant to convert fully to biofuels, the green villages "remain inspirational forerunners," says Mr. Fritsche.

Shaped like a thin rectangle with timber-framed houses built along a lush, sloping valley, Oberrosphe had to install more than 7,000 meters, or about 4½ miles, of heating pipes in order to convert to biofuel heat. The village voted that residents would pay a flat rate of €6,000, or about $8,650, to link to the new heating grid, regardless of their proximity to the wood-chip plant.

"We didn't want one family bearing a higher cost burden just because of where in the village they lived," says local resident Otto Krebs.

Oberrosphe built a wood-chip burner to produce heat for the 55% of households that initially joined the network and installed solar panels on top of the plant to generate power to sell to the local electric utility. The village plans to install a biogas plant in November to ensure it can meet the energy needs of all of its households. Many families hesitant about joining the co-op three years ago are in the process of joining now, despite having to pay €2,000 in back fees, says Mr. Henkel, the spokesman.

While the German government provides some funding for these projects—Oberrosphe received €1 million in government subsidies toward the €4.2 million in total capital it needed—the bulk of the financing falls to the local communities themselves.

Many residents say the investment has been well worth it.

Villagers in Oberrosphe estimate they save around €400-€500 annually on heating costs and even more when savings in maintenance costs to oil heaters are factored in. Jühnde residents, meanwhile, save as much as €900 per year in heating and maintenance costs, and the town makes about €1.1 million annually from selling electricity into the local power grid, says Eckhard Fangmeier, a town spokesman.

By contrast, German heating prices have gone up an average of 19% for gas and 94% for oil nationwide since January 2005, according to March statistics from Verivox.

Mr. Fritsche, the researcher, sees a revival of Germany's rural spirit in the proliferation of renewable-energy villages. "One of the drivers has been and continues to be involvement of the local people. It gives them a new identity and a new social interaction," he says.

Dollar-cost averaging can protect against inflation

2011-06-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Young couples in the USA should look at buying a first home, or moving up if the pricing in your area allows greater quality and size. In Canada most areas have more fully-valued real estate, however stock markets on both sides of the border tend to experience weakness during the 3rd year of a US Presidency, and 2011 is proving the rule. It is usually too early to pump the economy for the new election, and too late for the honeymoon effect to linger, so the third year is traditionally soft.

Staring a dollar-cost averaging program to accumulate green equity and other socially responsible investment funds is a prudent strategy. Even if you can only invest 50 dollars per month, or 100 or 200 dollars, over time this will become substantial through compound growth. And, if inflation returns in future years, you'll have bought a lot of shares at today's deflated, depressed prices.

Turtles can not only beat the hare in certain races, they can also outlive them ten or even a hundred times.

BUY USA residential real estate NOW!!!

2011-05-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

Naples FL and Las Vegas NV both positioned for strong price growth

Young people and investors wondering when would be a good time to get back into the USA residential real estate market may want to ponder this one word for a few seconds: NOW!!! Canadian snowbirds looking for that ideal retirement shack need to take a peek at Naples in Florida and Las Vegas in Nevada, for these hotspots currently provide tremendous value for the longterm real estate investor.

Las Vegas homes are now selling for median price of $118,000, down from $314,000 just four years ago. It may be awhile before the 2007/2008 prices are eclipsed, yet if homes make it halfway back to previous highs, today's buyers will experience a 100% jump in value and even bigger rise in equity (assuming a mortgage covers part of the purchase).

When reviewing residential real estate price trends in Naples, Florida, a similar pattern emerges. The median house in Naples now sells for $141,000, yet this same property sold for $391,000 just over four years ago. Naples has a lot of mansion-like homes on or close to waterways, so the 140k actually buys you a lot of house. The other factor is relative strength, as historically Naples real estate sold for more than the Florida and national averages, and that hasn't been the case the past couple of years. Look for Naples to become a semi-Canadian city as thousands of Ontario buyers snap up these great deals!

3 main reasons to BUY USA real estate NOW:

One, bottoming prices!

Two, attractive interest rates!

Three; inflation will return, driving up home prices yet again.

Yes Virginia, it is time to believe in the USA, take the plunge and buy a home for the longterm.

Is electric vehicle infrastructure provider Ecotality a takeover candidate?

2011-05-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Will ECTY be taken out by an oil company?

In light of Total Pete's $1.4 billion investment in SunPower (SPWRA), companies that provide infrastructure for the electric car market may find themselves sought after by oil companies.

Think about it, for even though you may be able to charge your car at home and at work, there are many stretches of highway that will require fast-charging stations, and ECTY makes these and related electric vehicle support products.

After peaking around $4 per share in early May, ECTY has traded down to the $3.65 level the past 2 days. Support seems to be around the $2.80 to $3 level, so now would be a good time to research this baby and see if she has the potential to grow into a significant and profitable company.

PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio ETF (NYSE: PZD) #1 in 2010

2011-04-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

PZD beats 35 other green energy and clean technology funds

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance research, PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio ETF (NYSE: PZD) finished first of 36 public equity funds focused on clean energy and/or clean technology.

Of the 36 mutual and exchange traded funds worldwide that Bloomberg NEF tracked, the average fund fell 6.6% in 2010. In contrast, PZD, which tracks The Cleantech Index TM (AMEX: CTIUS) rose 7.5% in 2010 and rose 11.6% in Q1 2011.

Rafael Coven, Cleantech Indices' Managing Director and Index Advisor noted that the poor performance of most renewable energy stocks in 2011 was a major reason why Cleantech Index-based funds significantly outperformed their peers. "Since the Cleantech Index is diversified across many industries, it had less exposure to the volatile renewable energy sector. In addition, the Index includes only the best companies in each sector which tend to fare better than their sectors as a whole. I expect this strategy will result in continued long-term outperformance of peer funds and indices, but I certainly don't expect that CTIUS-linked funds will finish first in a given year. That's short-term stuff. We track a long-term trend.”

Added Cleantech Group's Managing Director for Europe & Asia, Richard Youngman, "The Index doesn't track an industry or a region, but rather a global megatrend that cuts across a wide range of industries and geographies. Narrow industry sectors will rise and fall dramatically, but we believe the growth in demand for clean technology will continue to accelerate across many industries for decades. The Index's four-year performance relative to the S&P underlines that.”

Other funds tracking the Cleantech Index had similar performance: they include the recently listed PowerShares Cleantech ETF in Mexico (ticker: PZD.MX) and the KSM Cleantech Index ETF (Bloomberg ticker: KSMCLNT) in Israel.

As part of its quarterly rebalancing, the Cleantech Index has added Switzerland's SGS S.A. (SGSN.VX) and Mistras Group (MG: NYSE) effective March 31, 2011.

Full online article on Investor Ideas about PowerShares CleanTech Portfolio

PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio, official website

Online Guide to Sustainable Green Mutual Funds

2011-03-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

I came across this excellent profile of ethical and sustainable green investment funds on the website The-Eco-Market.com and would love to share it with my readers:

Guide to Green Mutual Funds, Sustainable Investment Funds

There are a large number of green mutual funds in the marketplace which are a convenient way for the average investor to invest in the green sector. Green mutual funds could have investments in a number of green industries or it could be focused exclusively on one industry sector such as renewable energy or water. A true green mutual fund should employ socially responsible investment principles.

The purpose of this section is to provide readers with a cursory overview of eco friendly mutual funds and to provide the resources to allow the reader to conduct their own due diligence. The information provided here should not be considered professional investment advice. Always consult with a professional advisor before making any investment decisions.

Below is a summary overview of some of the largest green mutual funds available in the marketplace. Please note the “as of date” with the summary of each fund as the specific holdings and values in the fund will fluctuate over time.

Green Mutual Fund Directory:

Fund Name: Appleseed Fund
www.appleseedfund.com
Symbol: APPLX
Investment Objective: “look to invest in sustainable companies that balance the generation of profits with an awareness of their impact on the environment and society. We seek out responsible managers who operate their businesses with the goal of creating long-term, enduring value.”
Top Holdings: (as of 9/30/2010)

Pfizer 10.9%
SPDR Gold Shares 6.3%
John B. Sanflippo & Son 6.0%
Novartis 5.1%
Johnson & Johnson 5.0%
Value of Fund: $126 million (as of 09/30/2010)

Fund Name: Integrity Growth and Income Fund
www.integrityvikingfunds.com
Symbol: IGIAX
Investment Objective: “Competitive Total Returns; Disciplined Risk Management; Ethical Investment Standards ”
Top Holdings: (as of 9/30/2010)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. 4.81%
NewMarket Corporation 4.33%
Emerson Electric Co. 4.01%
Snap-on Inc. 3.55%
Genuine Parts 3.40%
Value of Fund: $28.6 million (as of 01/31/2010)

Fund Name: Wells Fargo Advantage Social Sustainability Fund
www.wellsfargoadvantagefunds.com
Symbol: WSSAX; WSRCX
Investment Objective: "The Fund avoids investing in companies that we determine are significantly involved in:

manufacturing tobacco products;
manufacturing alcoholic beverages;
gambling operations; or
manufacturing weapons

The Fund will also avoid companies we determine to have weak corporate social responsibility and/or sustainability records. In assessing a company's corporate social responsibility and/or sustainability record, we consider the full integration of environmental, social and governance related factors into our analysis. The Fund seeks to invest in companies that we determine meet some of the following environmental, social and governance criteria:

Have sound corporate governance and business ethics policies and practices, including independent and diverse boards, independent auditors, respect for shareholder rights, and solid legal and regulatory compliance records;

Have good environmental compliance and performance records, develop and market innovative products and services, and embrace and advance sustainable development;

Provide safe and healthy work environments; negotiate fairly with their workers;
treat their employees with dignity and respect; and provide opportunities for women, minorities, and other categories of individuals who have been discriminated against or denied equal opportunities;

Contribute to the quality of life in the communities where they operate, such as through corporate philanthropy and employee volunteerism”

Top Holdings: (as of 9/30/2010)
Google Incorporated- Cl A 3.60%
Emerson Electric Co. 3.50%
Johnson & Johnson 3.27%
General Mills Incorporated 3.10%
Microsoft Corporation 3.04%
Value of Fund: $6.2 million (as of 11/30/2010)

Fund Name: Dreyfus Global Sustainability Fund
www.dreyfus.com
Symbol: DGYAX; DGYCX; DGYIX
Investment Objective: “To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests primarily in the stocks of companies that have sustainable operating practices and/or produce sustainable products or services and that meet certain fundamental investment criteria as described below. Companies that maintain sustainable operating practices are those, for example, that use best industry practices in their operations, provide leadership in an industry, offer the highest levels of transparency of operations and/or demand accountability of vendors, suppliers and customers. Companies that produce sustainable products or services are those, for example, that provide services to improve energy efficiency, produce products to meet the highest levels of efficiency and/or provide technologies to improve environmental performance.”
Top Holdings: (as of 10/31/2010)

International Business Machines 3.71%
Johnson & Johnson 3.45%
Rio Tinto (Britian) 2.81%
Intel 2.78%
Roche Holding AG- Genuss 2.63%
Value of Fund: $8.14 million (as of 12/23/2010)

Fund Name: Pax World Global Fund
Pax Global Green Fund
Symbol: PGRNX
Investment Objective: “The Global Green Fund’s investment objective is to seek long term growth of capital by investing in companies whose businesses and technologies focus on mitigating the environmental impacts of commerce.

The Global Green Fund seeks to invest in forward-thinking companies with sustainable business models that meet positive environmental, social and governance standards, with a particular emphasis on environmental markets. The Global Green Fund avoids investing in companies that its investment adviser determines are significantly involved in the manufacture of weapons or weapons related products, manufacture tobacco products or engage in unethical business practices.

The Global Green Fund seeks to invest in companies with positive overall environmental performance and whose products or services help other companies and societies improve their environmental performance. In this regard, the Fund invests in companies whose businesses and technologies focus on goods and services that mitigate the environmental impacts of commerce, including such areas as alternative energy and energy efficiency; water treatment and pollution control; and waste technology and resource management. The Fund avoids investing in companies with significant environmental problems or worsening environmental profiles, and applies avoidance criteria on environmental issues identical to those of the other Pax World Funds.”

Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

GEA Group AG 3.3%
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. 3.3%
Pall Corp(Britian) 3.2%
California Water Service Group 3.2%
ENN Energy Holdings Ltd. 3.1%
Value of Fund: $27.8 million (as of 11/30/2010)

Fund Name: Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund
Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund
Symbol: ALTEX
Investment Objective: “The Fund invests in alternative energy and energy technology companies, both U.S. and international. Alternative energy includes solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, biofuel, and biomass. Because there are no market capitalization restrictions on the Fund's investments, the Fund may purchase stocks of any capitalization.”
Top Holdings: (as of 9/30/2010)

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd --
GT Solar International Inc. --
Meyer Burger Technology AG --
Trina Solar Limited- Spon ADR --
Yingli Green Energy Holding Company- ADR --
Value of Fund: $6.3 million (as of 9/30/2010)

Fund Name:Investors Summa SRI Fund
Investors Summa SRI Fund
Symbol: IGI288
Investment Objective: “Will invest primarily in Canadian companies that have adopted progressive standards and practices toward the environment, human rights, and other social issues

Will not invest in companies whose revenues are primarily derived from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography or critical weapon systems.”
Top Holdings: (as of 8/31/2010)

Consolidate Thompson Iron Mines --
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan --
Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. --
Pacific Rubiales Energy --
Power Financial Corp. --
Value of Fund: $1.121 billion (as of 9/30/2010)

Fund Name: Investors Summa Global SRI Fund
Investors Summa Global SRI Fund
Symbol: IGI589
Investment Objective: "Will invest primarily in companies from around the world that have adopted progressive standards and practices toward the environment, human rights, and other social issues.
Will not invest in companies whose revenues are primarily derived from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, pornography, or critical weapon systems."

Top Holdings: (as of 8/31/2010)

Rio Tinto --
BHP Billiton Limited --
Man Group PLC --
Noble Group Ltd. --
LG Electronics Inc. --
Value of Fund: $6.4 million (as of 1/14/2011)

Fund Name: Investors Summa Global Environmental Fund
Investors Summa Global Environmental Fund
Symbol: IGI593
Investment Objective: "Will invest primarily in companies from around the world that are creating innovative or emerging solutions to environmental issues, and/or have environmental practices that set a standard within environmentally sensitive industries."
Top Holdings: (as of 8/31/2010)

United Natural Foods --
Pure Technologies Ltd --
SMA Solar Technology AG --
Pennon Group --
IBM --
Value of Fund: $9.9 million (as of 1/14/2011)

Fund Name: RBC Jantzi Balanced Fund
RBC Jantzi Balanced Fund
Symbol: RBF303
Investment Objective: "To provide long-term capital growth, with a secondary focus on modest income by investing primarily in Canadian, U.S. and international equities and fixedincome securities. The fund follows a socially responsible approach to investing."
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

US Treasury Note 3.125% 15-05-2019 1.5%
Ontario Prov Cda 3.25% 08-09-2014 1.5%
Barrick Gold Corporation 1.4%
Deutsche Bundesrepublik 4.0% 04-01-2018 1.4%
Royal Bank of Canada 1.3%
Value of Fund: $32.1 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: RBC Jantzi Canadian Equity Fund
RBC Jantzi Canadian Equity Fund
Symbol: RBF302
Investment Objective: "To provide long-term capital growth by investing primarily in equity securities of Canadian companies. The fund follows a socially responsible approach to investing."
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

Royal Bank of Canada 5.1%
Barrick Gold Corporation 4.8%
Toronto-Dominion Bank 4.4%
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc. 3.8%
Bank of Nova Scotia 3.5%
Value of Fund: $31.0 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: RBC Jantzi Global Equity Fund
RBC Jantzi Global Equity Fund
Symbol: RBF304
Investment Objective: "To provide long-term capital growth. The fund invests primarily in equity securities of companies throughout the world and follows a socially responsible approach to investing."
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

Consolidated Edison Inc 1.7%
Apple, Inc. 1.5%
Schindler Holding AG 1.3%
Compass Group PLC 1.2%
BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Ltd. 1.2%
Value of Fund: $9.8 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: PH&N (Philips, Hager & North) Community Values Bond Fund
PH&N Community Values Bond Fund
Symbol: PHN610
Investment Objective: "To provide relatively high yields and stability of capital by investing primarily in a well-diversified portfolio of fixed income securities issued by Canadian governments and corporations that conduct themselves in a socially responsible manner. "
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

Ontario (Prov Of) 7.6% 02-06-2027 12.8%
Ontario Prov Cda 4.4% 02-06-2019 7.4%
Canada Hsg Tr No 1 4.1% 15-12-2018 4.1%
Toronto Dominion Bank Cds FRN 01-11-2017 3.2%
Bank Of MontrealFRN 21-06-2017 2.9%
Value of Fund: $129.5 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: PH&N (Philips, Hager & North) Community Values Balanced Fund
PH&N Community Values Balanced Fund
Symbol: PHN640
Investment Objective: "To provide long-term capital growth and income primarily through exposure to a well diversified, balanced portfolio of common stocks, bonds and money market securities of companies that conduct themselves in a socially responsible manner. To achieve these objectives, the fund will invest in securities of other Phillips, Hager & North investment funds. "
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

PH & N Community Values Canadian Eq Sr O 36.1%
PH & N Community Values Bond Series O 34.8%
PH&N Community Values Global Eq B 26.9%
Value of Fund: $15.4 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: PH&N (Philips, Hager & North) Community Values Canadian Equity Fund
PH&N Community Values Canadian Equity Fund
Symbol: PHN620
Investment Objective: "To provide significant long-term capital growth by investing primarily in a well-diversified portfolio of Canadian common stocks of companies that conduct themselves in a socially responsible manner. "
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

Royal Bank of Canada 7.8%
Toronto-Dominion Bank 7.2%
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 6.1%
Suncor Energy, Inc. 4.9%
Canadian National Railway Company 3.7%
Value of Fund: $60.4 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name PH&N (Philips, Hager & North) Community Values Gobal Equity Fund
PH&N Community Values Gobal Equity Fund
Symbol: PHN630
Investment Objective: "To achieve long-term capital growth by investing primarily in a well-diversified portfolio of common stocks in companies in the world's largest industrialized countries outside Canada, including the United States, and countries in Europe and the Far East, including Japan and Australia, that conduct themselves in a socially responsible manner. "
Top Holdings: (as of 11/30/2010)

Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC 3.7%
Royal Dutch Shell PLC ADR A 2.7%
Sysco Corporation 2.7%
Progressive Corporation 2.4%
Illinois Tool Works, Inc. 2.1%
Value of Fund: $58.9 million (as of 12/14/2010)

Fund Name: TD Global Sustainability
TD Global Sustainability
Symbol: TDB483
Investment Objective: "The fundamental investment objective is to seek to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies around the globe, that are viewed as contributing to the world’s future sustainability."
Top Holdings: (as of 12/31/2010)

Rio Tinto PLC- Common 3.0%
NIKE Inc- Common 3.0%
BHP Billiton Ltd- ADR 2.6%
BG Group PLC- ADR 2.4%
Praxair Inc- Common 2.4%
Value of Fund: $11.09 million (as of 12/31/2010)

Should longterm investors begin accumulating green mutual funds?

2011-03-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

While it is true that anytime is fine for starting a dollar-cost-averaging (DCA) mutual funds investment program, it is also a fact that there are specific times that provide more profitable entry points, and these are obviously the months after extreme declines. Also, the maxim "never try to catch a falling knife" does not apply to DCA, as that is precisely what would provide the biggest gains. Imagine going fully invested after a 15% drop and then seeing the market fall a further 28%; that's obviously a big negative. Now imagine instituting a $100 (or $500 etc) per month automatic investment plan after that first drop; your 2nd, 3rd and 4th purchases are likely to be at tremendous prices, positioning you for solid longer term growth.

Let's address the question in the title of this post: Should longterm investors begin accumulating green mutual funds?

My advice would be yes, especially if you do not have positions currently. The 3rd year in the USA presidential election cycle is usually a down year, as the honeymoon is long over and it's too soon to really pump and prime the economy for an election. This means that between now and early December the overall direction could be down, meaning more and more shares will be accumulated at lower and lower average prices. Based on historical charts, there would then be profitable selling opportunities three to seven years later, meaning that investors with time horizons of ten to fifteen years can safely start building equity via DCA programs.

The greed and corruption of the Bush years created a decade of stagnation in USA stock market values, whereas the visionary leadership of Barack Obama is likely to kick off a lucrative bull market in the twenty-teenies.

Green Mutual Funds for 2011/2012 and Longterm

2011-03-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Tom Konrad is a widely read green energy stocks sleuth, and this week he turned his attention once again to selecting the good Clean Energy Mutual Funds and ETFs. During the past few months, Tom has written an extended series of articles looking at clean energy mutual funds and clean energy exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Mutual funds and ETFs he considers invest in environmental services/waste management, recycling, water, and natural gas utilities. Waste management, recycling, and water each fit rather well into the clean energy context: Municipal solid waste is an excellent source of renewable biomass, recycling saves energy and so can be seen as an energy conservation measure, and water is inextricably linked to energy in many ways.

Some topics Tom Konrad has recently written on:

Costs of Clean Energy Mutual Funds
Sector Breakdown of Clean Energy Mutual Funds
Past Performance of Clean Energy Mutual Funds
Stock Picks from Clean Energy Mutual Funds
The Effectiveness of Active Management in Clean Energy
Interview with the Manager of the Top Performing Clean Energy Mutual Fund
Clean Energy ETFs in Depth
Clean Energy Mutual Fund and ETF Tax Efficiency

Read Tom Kontrad's Online Guide to Choosing Green Mutual Funds and ETFs

2011 Money: Ten Green Funds for conscious investors

2011-03-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

Green Mutual Funds for Ethical, Sustainable Investing

Ten New Green Funds, by Ted Ketcham, editor of the GreenMoney Journal

1) Appleseed Fund

Although GreenMoney does not rank its ten new funds here, The Appleseed Fund deserves first position, given that both Lipper and Morningstar ranked it as 2008's top performing midcap value fund and SRI fund, respectively.

Investment Objective: The Fund, launched in Dec. 2006, is managed by value investors who seek to generate long-term market-beating returns by investing in quality, undervalued companies screened for social and environmental responsibility.

Investment Strategies: The Fund invests in quality companies that are undervalued by the market. Typically they seek out companies with strong competitive positions, solid financials, and capable, shareholder-friendly management teams. Profits are balanced with social and environmental impacts.

Top Ten Holdings: John B. Sanfilippo & Son (15.3%), Pfizer (8.3%), Chimera Investment Mgmt (6.4%), Schering-Plough (5.3%), Nokia (4.8%), SPDR Gold Shares (4.8%), Avon Products (4.5%), ICT Group (4.3%), Invacare (3.6%), Teradata (3.5%)

For more information go to Appleseed Fund

2) Integrity Growth & Income Fund

Although Integrity Growth & Income Fund has as its inception date January 3, 1995, in February of 2008 Fund Manager Robert Loest published an important White Paper, entitled "Ethical Investing (EI): Invest With The Values You Use In Raising Your Children," which placed the Fund and its new direction more squarely on our radar for important SRI mutual fund options. Also it's rating was recently upgraded to 4 Hearts by Natural Investments (see chart on page 11).

Investment Objective: The Fund seeks to take advantage of fossil fuel scarcity and its solutions, and the development of the middle class in emerging economies, while remaining loyal to human progress issues, social justice, environmental responsibilities, and animal rights.

Investment Strategies: Integrity's three-step methodology, outlined in the White Paper, has been an important tool in meeting the needs of ethical investors to realize positive returns consistent with ESG criteria: 1) Integrity screens for companies with high levels of cash flow and high returns on investment capital. 2) Integrity investigates relevant ethical factors. 3) Upon acceptance, Integrity conducts a full analysis of ESG, Animal Rights, and financial factors.

Top Ten Holdings: H.J. Heinz (5.0%), Agnico-Eagle Mines (4.6%), Ormat Technologies (4.3%), 3M Co. (4.1%), Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (4.1%), Beckman Coulter (3.9%), Linear Technology (3.5%), Vestas Wind Systems A/S ADR (3.5%), Genuine Parts Co. (3.4%), ABB, Ltd. ADR (3.4%)

For more information go to Integrity Mutual Funds website

3) Wells Fargo Advantage Social Sustainability Fund

Launched in October 2008, the Wells Fargo Advantage Social Sustainability Fund seeks companies with positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) characteristics, while employing some SRI screens.

Investment Objective: The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in securities that meet the Fund's investment and social sustainability criteria.

Investment Strategies: The Fund will employ a two-pronged approach to its investment strategy: The Fund's managers will use an inclusive screening process to invest in companies that have positive traits related to ESG factors, in addition to avoiding stocks-such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or weapons manufacturing companies-based on traditional SRI screens.

Top Ten Holdings: BP PLC (4.9%), Procter & Gamble (4.6%), Novartis AG ADR (4.2%), Emerson Electric (3.5%), Johnson & Johnson (3.5%), PepsiCo (3.3%), Nike - Class B (2.9%), Microsoft (2.8%), U.S. Bancorp (2.7%), 3M Co. (2.7%)

For more information go to Wells Fargo Advantage Funds

4) Dreyfus Global Sustainability Fund

Launched in December 2008, the Dreyfus Global Sustainability Fund is managed by John O'Toole, and is among the newest of Dreyfus mutual fund products.

Investment Objective: The Fund, designed for long-term investors, seeks capital growth primarily by investing in the stocks of companies that have sustainable operating practices and/or produce sustainable products or services and that meet certain fundamental investment criteria.

Investment Strategies: The Fund's investments are focused among the major developed markets, such as the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and Western Europe. The Fund, however, may invest up to 20 percent of its assets in emerging markets, but will not invest more than 10 percent of its assets in any one emerging market country.

Top Ten Country Allocations: US (22.4%), UK (21.5%), Germany (10.9%), Switzerland (6.2%), Japan (6.2%), Spain (6.0%), France (5.2%), Australia (5.1%), Netherlands (4.9%), Canada (4.3%)

Top Ten Holdings: General Electric (3.3%), Glaxosmithkline (3.2%), IBM (2.5%), Royal Dutch Shell (2.4%), Unitedhealth Group (2.1%), Kraft Foods (2.0%), Muenchener Rueckver Ag (1.9%), Axa (1.8%), Hewlett-Packard (1.7%), McDonald's (1.7%)

For more information go to Dreyfus Mutual Funds Group

CALVERT FUNDS

5) Calvert Large Cap Value Fund

With Calvert's new SAGE (Sustainability Achieved through Greater Engagement) approach, Calvert announces "enhanced engagement" with a select group of companies whose investment performance Calvert believes can benefit from a sharper focus on ESG-related risk or opportunity. The Calvert Large Cap Value Fund is the first fund within the SAGE Strategies.

Investment Objective: The Fund, re-launched last December with the SAGE Strategies, was formerly known as Summit Everest Fund, seeks long-term growth of capital by investing in large cap companies.

Investment Strategies: The Fund offers opportunities for long-term growth of capital through large-cap company equity securities that the portfolio manager believes are undervalued. Under normal circumstances, the Fund seeks to have a weighted average market capitalization of at least $10 billion.

Top Ten Holdings: BP PLC (3.1%), AT+T (2.8%), Pfizer (2.8%), Wellpoint (2.7%), Anadarko Pete (2.7%), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (2.7%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%), Marathon Oil (2.5%), Cisco Systems (2.4%), Unilever NV (2.4%)

6) Calvert Global Water Fund

Last September, Calvert launched its latest SRI mutual fund, part of a series of investment portfolios known as Calvert Solution Strategies. Their Global Water Fund, which is driven by declining world supplies and increasing demands for fresh water, seeks to invest in fresh water solutions that include conservation, recovery, and advancing technology.

Investment Objective: The Fund seeks growth of capital through investment in companies active in the water-related resource sector, using the Fund's corporate responsibility standards and strategies.

Investment Strategies: The Fund seeks to invest at least 80 percent of its net assets in equity securities of U.S. and non-U.S. companies whose main business is in the water sector or are significantly involved in water related services or technology.

Top Ten Country Allocations: US (27.9%), Spain (16.4%), UK (10.0%), Germany (7.1%), Portugal (6.9%) Denmark (4.8%), Japan (3.9%), Norway (3.8%), France (3.4%), Belgium (3.2%)

Top Ten Holdings: Veolia Environnement (5.3%), Suez Environnement (5.2%), Roper Inds (4.1%), Pentair (3.6%), Agilent Technologies (3.3%), Severn Trent (3.1%), Layne Christensen (2.8%), Geberit (2.7%), United Utilities G (2.6%), Mueller WTR Products (2.4%)

For more info go to Calvert Mutual Funds Group website

PAX WORLD FUNDS

7) Pax World Global Green Fund

Environmental challenges of the 21st century can mean both threat and opportunity. The Pax World Global Green Fund responds to the widespread environmental degradation on our planet.

Investment Objective: The Fund, launched in March 2008, is seeking long-term growth of capital by investing in companies whose businesses and technologies focus on mitigating the environmental impact of commerce.

Investment Strategies: The Fund will invest primarily in equity securities of companies located around the world, including at least 40 percent of its net assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers. The Fund seeks environmental markets - companies whose businesses and technologies include alternative energy and energy efficiency; pollution prevention and control; and waste technology and resource management.

Top Ten Country Allocations: US (34.7%), Japan (12.1%), UK (7.4%), Spain (6.0%), France (5.6%), Denmark (4.1%), Italy (2.4%), Canada (2.2%), Finland (2.4%), Hong Kong (2.0%)

Top Ten Holdings: Thermo Fisher Scientific (2.5%), Praxair (2.5%), Pentair (2.4%), Novozymes A/S (2.4%), Veolia Environnement (2.4%), Hera SpA (2.3%), Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica (2.3%), EDP Renovaveis SA (2.2%), Pennon Group PLC (2.2%), California Water Service Group (2.1%)

8) Pax World International Fund

For investors seeking to diversify by investing in foreign equities, Pax World launched their International Fund in March 2008.

Investment Objective: This International Fund's investment objective is to seek long-term growth of capital.

Investment Strategies: The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of non-U.S. issuers, and is not limited to any investment style or capitalization range. The Fund may invest in both growth and value stocks. Additionally, investments may be diversified across multiple sectors and industries, or may be focused on a limited number of sectors and industries and also may be diversified across multiple countries or geographic regions, or may be focused on a select geographic region.

Top Ten Country Allocations: Japan (21.2%), UK (11.0%), France (8.0%), Germany (6.8%), Norway (5.7%), Switzerland (5.7%), Netherlands (3.6%), Australia (3.1%), Turkey (2.5%), Greece (2.7%)

Top Ten Holdings: Currency Shares Japanese Yen Trust (4.8%), StatoilHydro ASA ADR (4.0%), Kao Corp. (2.9%), Roche Holding AG (2.6%), Eisai Co., Ltd. (2.4%), Vodafone Group PLC ADR (2.2%), HSBC Holdings PLC ADR (2.2%), Nippon Building Fund REIT (2.1%), Central Japan Railway Co. (2.1%), Veolia Environnement ADR (2.0%)

9) Pax World Small Cap Fund

Pax World also launched the Small Cap Fund in March 2008, which invests in innovative and motivated small but growing companies.

Investment Objective: The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital and invests in smaller companies that offer products, services or business strategies with clear opportunities for sustainable growth and have strong management.

Investment Strategies: The Fund invests at least 80 percent of its net assets in companies with capitalizations within the range of the Russell 2000 Index as measured by market capitalization. The Small Cap Fund may invest up to 45% of its assets in securities of non-U.S. issuers, including ADRs.

Top Ten Holdings: Pharmaceutical Product Development (3.1%), American Physicians Capital (3.0%), Burger King (2.9%), VCA Antech (2.8%), Syniverse (2.8%), Continental Airlines-Class B (2.7%), Hologic (2.5%), Capital Southwest (2.4%), optionsXpress (2.3%), Pool Corp (2.3%)

For more info go to Pax World Mutual funds official website

10) Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund

Launched in October 2007, the Alternative Energy Fund is the most recent edition to Firsthand Funds, which was started in 1994.

Investment Objective: The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in alternative energy companies that are expected to benefit from a transition from traditional hydrocarbon-based energy systems to renewable generation and energy efficiency technologies.

Investment Strategies: The Fund invests in alternative energy and energy technology companies, both U.S. and international. Alternative energy includes solar, hydrogen, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, biofuel, and biomass. The Fund may purchase stocks of any capitalization.

Top Ten Holdings: 1) Silicon Genesis Corp., 2) SunPower Corp. - Class B, 3) Honeywell International, 4) Echelon Corp., 5) Suntech Power Holdings - ADR, 6) 3M Company, 7) Energy Recovery, 8) Aixtron AG - ADR, 9) Orion Energy Systems, 10) Power Integrations.

The Top 10 holdings represent 37.5% of net assets.

For more info, please visit First Hand Funds mutual funds website

More Ethical Green Investing links:

PV Intell solar energy investing website

Wind Energy Stocks to Watch penny stocks blog

Online Guide to Green Mutual Funds

Sad but true investing axiom: "Invest when there's blood in the streets"

2011-02-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

In a previous incarnation I gave investment advice to some of Canada's wealthiest families, and I learned much from working with the top minds at Altamira in the early to mid-1990s. A solid strategy for investing in emerging markets revolved around the philosophy of investing when there is "blood in the streets."

This doesn't mean that investors hoped for chaos, it is merely another variation on the Buy Low, Sell High axiom. In other words, when a country has been through a painful transition and its stock market has been hammered because of the violence in the streets, you have to figure that a lot of the bad news is priced in and there could be better years ahead. When a country is doing really well and always in the news with positive stories, that would be a sell signal under this approach.

Keeping all this in mind, it may be a good time to begin looking at Egypt, so does anybody know of any Middle East and North Africa investment funds? ETFs? Mutual funds?

Please post suggestions in the Comments area below, and I'll post an update after gathering more info.

Are Green Energy Mutual Funds a BUY for 2011?

2011-02-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

As most solar energy and windpower stocks declined in 2010, many small investors are wondering whether now may be a good time to add a clean energy fund to a diversified portfolio of cash, bonds, stocks and mutuals funds.

Here are some recent news articles and blog posts concerning performance and opportunity with green mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs):

IFSL Carbon Footprint UK Equity Index Tracker fund invests in carbon-cutting companies

Rising oil price a hopeful sign for green energy funds

Causes of underperformance in green power funds and ETFs

Related green energy investing links:

Wind Energy Stocks to Watch

Biofuels are a huge opportunity for Canada

Best Green Stocks ethical investing blog

Geothermal Power Stocks company website links

WaterIntell Tidal Power, Wave Energy blog

Ethical Investing News and Views Feb 2011

2011-02-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent news stories, web articles and blog posts about ethical investing strategies, green mutual funds news and socially responsible investments.

Green Sustainable Investments News

Solar Funds and ETFs rise on Goldman Sachs "Buy" rating for FSLR

Stage set for revival of green energy stocks and mutual funds

The challenge presented by the Emerging Green Bubble

Huffington Post green investing guide

Socially responsible investment strategies

Socially responsible, sustainable investing news

2011-01-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

January 2011 News on Green Sustainable Mutual Funds:

SmartMoney.com socially responsible Funds Guide

Ethical investing in emerging markets

How green are Canada's Ethical Investment funds

Progressive social innovation through impact investments

Search Engine for Green Mutual Funds / ETFs, Clean Technology Stocks

2011-01-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

Find green power stocks, ethical investment funds:

Custom Green Energy Investments Search

Use this search engine to find ethical investments, clean technology companies, green mutual funds and alternative energy stocks. Many Happy Returns!!!

Green Mutual funds for 2011; Sustainable, ethical investing

2011-01-07T08:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of most of the top green mutual funds and ETFs available to North American investors. To get more info on any specific fund, just copy and paste the name of the fund into Google or Bing and hit Enter.

Sustainable Green Investment funds / ETFs

Acuity Clean Environment Equity
(MUTF:CEM137)

Appleseed Fund (APPLX)

Calvert Global Alternative Energy (CGAEX)

Claymore/MAC Global Solar Index (ETF:TAN)

Claymore S&P Global Water Index (ETF:CGW)

ESG Managers Aggressive Growth Portfolio (PAGAX)

First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge US (ETF: QCLN)

First Trust ISE Water Index Fund (ETF: FIW)

Gabelli SRI Green mutual fund (SRIAX)

Guinness Atkinson Alternative Energy (GAAEX)

Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT)

New Alternatives Fund (NALFX)

PFW Water ETF (PFWAX)

Pax World Global Green Fund (PGRNX)

Pax World Womens Equity Fund (PXWEX)

PowerShares Cleantech Portfolio (ETF:PZD)

PowerShares Global Water Portfolio (ETF: PIO)

PowerShares Water Resources ETF (PHO)

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy(ETF: PBW)

PowerShares WilderHill Progressive Energy (ETF; PUW)

Spectra Green Fund (SPEGX)

Van Eck Environmental Services ETF (EVX)

Van Eck Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF(NYSE:GEX)

WELLS FARGO ADVANTAGE SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY FUND ( WSSAX)

Winslow Green Growth (WGGFX)

Winslow Green Solutions (WGSLX)

Complete list of ethical green mutual funds with links to websites

7 of 8 Biggest US Green Funds outperforming non-responsible funds

2010-12-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

I noticed this item in the news, and it's good to see that investing with your consicous mind can sometimes, if not always, improve your investment returns, and more specifically related to this story, your risk-adjusted return.

Equity mutual funds that incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis are outperforming their more traditional peers, according to analysis by Trucost and RLP Capital.

Seven out of eight responsibly-managed mutual funds have “significantly higher alpha” over three years, according to the analysis, meaning risk-adjusted performance is better than the traditionally managed funds.

London-based environmental research firm Trucost and independent wealth management firm RLP compared the eight largest US traditional mutual funds, by asset size, with the eight largest US responsible funds.

“This study demonstrates that ESG analysis can provide investors with better risk-adjusted performance. The alpha performance rank data for the responsible funds in this study are hard to ignore,” said Bud Sturmack, managing director of independent wealth management firm RLP.

The report does not put a dollar value on the outperformance between the two groups, instead breaking this down by the asset class in which the funds invest.

Comparing the four traditional and four responsible funds that invest in a blend of large capitalisation companies, the responsible group were down on average 6.88% over three years, compared to a 9.66% drop in the traditional group. Over a five-year period, total returns were up 1.24%, while the traditional funds were up 0.10%.

Full online article comparing returns of green mutual funds to regular mutual funds

Green Energy Investing Links:

Best Wind Energy stocks to WATCH

Top,Green Mutual Funds Ethical Investments website Blog

WindIntell.com Publicly-traded Wind Power Companies

SolarIntell.com Solar Energy Stocks, Green Power Investing

Geothermal Power Stocks Investments Companies list

Water Intell: Wavepower Tidal Energy Water Purification website

Green Energy Companies Websites Links

PVintell.com Solar Photovoltaic Power Stocks links

Buying Opportunity emerging in Green Energy Mutual Funds

2010-07-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Many alternative energy and renewable power stocks have retreated with broader markets in recent weeks, despite the almost guaranteed accelerated push for clean technology and a sustainable economic base resulting from the Gulf of Mexico calamity. You can't even begin to estimate the LOSS OF HEALTH that will result from seafood disappearing from the diets of millions of Americans...

Please have a look at some of the green mutual funds and ethical ETFs profiled on this blog, and consider starting a dollar-cost-averaging program with some of them. It's a slow and steady way to build wealth, and you can rest assured that you are indeed putting your money where your mouth and mind are!

Peace 2 All,

Joe

Green Funds and Clean Technology News

2009-10-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent news items and blog posts of interest to green energy and clean technology investors:

Top 10 Clean Technology Countries CleanTech.com

Mexico proposal green fund to help poor nations

Tips on Securing Funding for an Emerging Green Business

Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund NY Times Green Inc. article

7 Green Energy Stocks for Twenty-teenies Post-Bush Rally

NYC Rental Apartments Going Green

Complete List of Green Mutual Funds and ETFs

2009-10-11T06:51:00.001-07:00

Green power mutual funds, clean energy ETFs, socially responsible mutual funds, renewable power ETFs, womens equity mutual funds and more!

Please find below a complete list of all the alternative energy mutual funds and green power ETFs, plus some choice environmentally responsible mutual funds, water technology and water services investment funds and clean technology exchange traded funds: