Investing in Green Energy Stocks

Almost every single blog entry on Green Piece Blog talks about how you can save money while working to reduce your impact on the environment. Now that its clear our energy future will be clean, renewable energy sources, you might be able to MAKE money saving the environment too.

In 2004, investments in renewable energy development reached $30 billion according to the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century. That investment went to the creation of 4% of the world's energy, all from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. The world's fastest growing source of energy is grid-connected solar photovoltaic which grew by 60% between 2000 and 2004. Wind energy is the second fastest growing source of the world's energy, growing by 40% in 2004.

With all of this expansion of renewable energy, how do you get a piece of the action? Use Jackson Robinson as your investment model. In 1983, Robinson created an investment company that offered its clients a portfolio of environmentally friendly investments. Over the past 3 years, his fund has earned a 9.91% annualized return, beating its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Growth Index, by over 4%.

In a March 3rd interview with Forbes, Robinson said that his first step was to strip away stocks that were detrimental to people's lives like weapons and tobacco. He divided everything else into dirty, clean and green companies. Clean companies weren't having a positive or negative impact on the environment and green companies were specifically focused on enhancing the planet's health. The clean and green companies were the ones he invested in.

At a time when the market seems to be swinging back and forth on a daily basis, Robinson says that green investments make sense. The market in general is currently stagnant. There is continued growth, however, in the areas of solar & wind energy as well as in organic & healthy food.

One of the renewable energy companies that Robinson specifically mentions in the Forbes interview is First Solar, which earned a 686.3% increase in earnings and almost a quadrupling of sales in the fourth quarter of last year. He says that First Solar is unique among its solar power peers in that it doesn't rely on silicon to produce the panels and silicon is an expensive, dwindling resource.

If you would like to read more of the interview you can go HERE

If you would like to see 10 green stocks go HERE

And for more information on investing in green energy from the Motley Fool go HERE