Brighter Future for Green Stocks?

It has been an undoubtedly tough year for almost all green stocks, but a few recent stories show a more solid foundation for the industry is starting to take root in the U.S.

The broad future of green investing got a bit more secure today after the Environmental Protection Agency solidified its position on the dangers posed by carbon and several other pollutants. It declared greenhouse gasses a threat to public health and welfare. From the NYT:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that for the first time in the United States will regulate the gases blamed for global warming.

The E.P.A. said the science supporting its so-called endangerment finding was “compelling and overwhelming.” The ruling triggers a 60-day comment period before any proposed regulations governing emissions of greenhouse gases are published.

Meanwhile, Slate's Dan Gross points out that subsidies are still driving the solar industry, but that's not news to investors. This is:

Amid this withering contraction, at least one clean-energy company is booming. The 380 employees of SolarCity, based in Foster City, Calif., are working all-out on installing solar panels on homes, mostly in the Golden State. Business has doubled since the spring of 2008. The company, which has placed solar panels on 2,000 homes, is trying to fulfill 3,000 orders and has an eight-month waiting list. Selling a big-ticket item (solar installations can cost $25,000 or more) in the midst of a credit bust, and at a time when the mantra "No projects" echoes in the corporate boardroom and the family room, would seem to be a recipe for disaster. But SolarCity is growing—and not because it has made a breakthrough in the design of solar panels.

SolarCity's partnership with panel maker First Solar (FSLR) was a notable step forward for getting more panels on more roofs (often through lease agreements that dramatically cut the cost to homeowners). In related news, thin film panels like First Solar's seem to be bucking convention when it comes to where they're being used. Greentech Media says First Solar's panels are going on 60-70 percent of SolarCity's residential installations despite conventional wisdom that thin-film is best suited for larger-scale projects.

It still may not be time to jump back into green stocks given the uncertainty of both the sector and wider markets (note that Greentech's story comes out of a chat with execs at its conference called "Surviving The Shakeout"), but long-term investors should take heart that progress is still being made on rooftops and in Washington.

Comments

[titans:]

pure uranium miners will be getting action due to congress action (it's about time).bush didn't care about the climate because his hunting buddy who cant shoot straight and himself were so heavily invested in oil companies & made millions in the stock market; O'Yeah, that Company Haliburton that picked up & relocated to Saudia Arabia so it'll be harding to sue them down the line for thoses "no bid contracts" the company was awarded !!!!!!!! Now we finally have a Pres. who's not a dumb red-neck cracking jokes @ "every" chance during a press confrence !!!!! Not too many pure uranium players, but one had a ribbon cutting ceremony in Africa on Friday to celebrate the opening on another African mine in the last 2 years.These are the only 2 mines to come on line in over a decade.The company is traded on the ASX & TSX and even here is the U.S. under a 5 letter ticker symbol ending in "F" which represents a foreign company !!!!! Once the price of uranium starts to rise again like in 2006 & 2007, these stocks will really take off.........Good-luck !!!!!!!!!!

Apr 19 10:31 AM

[PeteK:]

titans,
why do you have to bring your personal political opinions into your good comments ?
It showed your mind is not clear on directions.
Please STOP that.

Apr 19 12:48 PM

[Wisdom vs. ...:]

Stocks: FSLR will, most likely, go bankrupt as CSi panel ASPs come down. Going long on FSLR is extremely risky.

Redneck environmentalism: When the government subsidizes an industry (eg the energy industry) and prints more dollars to prevent the economy from contracting accordingly, consumption and pollution increase-- forever. Consumption is worse for the evironment than pollution, titan and fellow green reactionaries. Increasing consumption through subsidies is bad for the environment and bad for the economy (not to mention taking away your freedom).

The worst thing anyone has done for the environment in the last 20 years was the Clinton administration's strong dollar policy. When you understand that fact, you should be competent to begin blogging again. Pick up Milton Friedman, he was right about everything except the labor unions. Volker is pretty good too.

Apr 19 05:34 PM

[D. McHattie:]

FSLR is a market leader. But, like wisdom, I'm concerned about that whole crystal silicon v. cadmium telluride.

Alternative energy is a great place to be but for now I'm playing it safe with the etf PBW.

Apr 19 09:48 PM

[frflyer:]

Milton Friedman? The very decades of the 50s and 60s in which he wrote his economic theory proved him wrong.
Great economic growth, rising real wages, growing middle class, improved productivity, increased home ownership, increased savings, decreased elderly poverty rates, and increased freedoms like civil rights, all while government grew in size with New Deal programs, and while taxes as % of GDP grew.
Similar story in Europe. Growing government and taxes as % of GDP while people prospered and enjoyed more and more freedom, all under strong democracies.

And now we have had 28 years of supply side economics which have nearly destroyed the working middle class, increased national debt, falling productivity, lower real wages and a massive shift of wealth to the rich, lower savings, more debt, savings and loan collapse, banking collapse, real estate collapse.

And threats to our freedom and constitution. But we're supposed to be afraid of the tyranny of liberalism, while ignoring state corporatism that has subverted the democtratic process, while oil companies have regained their strangle hold on our government and now are as powerful or more powerful than Standard Oil was in the late 1800s and early 1900s before anti trust laws took the wind out of their sails. But Reagan put the wind back in their sales, weakening anti trust laws, and leading to the mega oil companies and mergers we see today. Corporate welfare at it's extreme, with oil getting more subsidies than ever at $39 billion a year and two wars fought for them in two decades.

Friedman has been proven wrong twice, going both ways.

Fear the extremists making the most noise today.

Apr 20 12:07 PM

[Just Say Whoa!:]

>why do you have to bring your personal political opinions into your good comments ?It showed your mind is not clear on directions. Please STOP that.

Only personal political opinions certified by the G.O.P. and presented via their Faux News Propaganda distribution network will be tolerated!!!

Apr 22 01:42 PM

[Bcolb:]

The world is responding to the energy crisis with their wallets. the question is not if but when. Heres a video on context. www.newsy.com/videos/p.../

Apr 22 05:02 PM

[Speedspirit:]

Why the riddle? What company?


On Apr 19 10:31 AM titans wrote:

> pure uranium miners will be getting action due to congress action
> (it's about time).bush didn't care about the climate because his
> hunting buddy who cant shoot straight and himself were so heavily
> invested in oil companies & made millions in the stock market;
> O'Yeah, that Company Haliburton that picked up & relocated to
> Saudia Arabia so it'll be harding to sue them down the line for thoses
> "no bid contracts" the company was awarded !!!!!!!! Now we finally
> have a Pres. who's not a dumb red-neck cracking jokes @ "every" chance
> during a press confrence !!!!! Not too many pure uranium players,
> but one had a ribbon cutting ceremony in Africa on Friday to celebrate
> the opening on another African mine in the last 2 years.These are
> the only 2 mines to come on line in over a decade.The company is
> traded on the ASX & TSX and even here is the U.S. under a 5 letter
> ticker symbol ending in "F" which represents a foreign company !!!!!
> Once the price of uranium starts to rise again like in 2006 &
> 2007, these stocks will really take off.........Good-luck !!!!!!!!!!

Apr 22 06:10 PM