Category Archives: Sustainable Investing

Energy Portfolios – Investing for the Future

As of the close of trading Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, the trend, clearly evident by February 9, 2012 continues.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 14.66% from 12/21/12.
The S&P 500 is up 16.36%.
The Fossil Fuel Portfolio, significantly underperforming the reference indices, is up 5.95%.
The Popular Logistics Sustainable Energy portfolio is up 110.10%.

The important question is: Is this a trend or a bubble?

I think it’s a trend. While I want to think it’s a trend, utility scale solar is at or below $4.00 per watt and getting cheaper. Solar also scales from the 10 watts on a backpack to 10,000 watts or 10 KW on a rooftop to 500 million watts, 500 MW utilities are building. Wind is less expensive. Wind and solar are predictable. Continue reading →

Popular Logistics Energy Portfolios – an Exercise in Climate Capitalism

In December, 2012 I created two portfolios, a “Sustainable Energy” portfolio comprised of Cree, First Solar, GT Advanced Technology, Lighting Sciences, Next Era Energy, Sunpower Solar, Solazyme and Vestas, 8 stocks in the solar, LED lighting, wind and biofuel sectors, and a “Fossil Fuel” portfolio, comprised of BP, Chevron Texaco, Conoco Philips, Exxon Mobil, RD Shell, Haliburton, Transocean, and Peabody Coal, 8 stocks in the coal, oil, and fracking sectors. The results, after eight months, as illustrated above:

The Sustainable Energy portfolio, is now up 96.55%
The Reference Fossil Fuel portfolio is up 3.78%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 14.66%
The S&P 500 is up 16.36%.

In a trend clearly evident in February, the Sustainable Energy portfolio has significantly outperformed the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500, and the Fossil Fuel portfolio, which has significantly underperformed the indices.

These data are summarized in table 1 and below.

Summary Data
Portfolio	12/21/12	08/21/13	Delta	%
Sustainable Energy	$8,000,000	$15,724,266	$7,724,266	96.55%
Fossil Fuel	$8,000,000	$8,302,069	$302,069	3.78%
DJI	13,091	15,010	1,919	14.66%
S&P 500	1,430	1,664	234	16.36%
Table 1

The details are below the fold.

Continue reading →

Popular Logistics Energy Portfolios. Sustainable Energy Doubles. Fossil Fuels increase by 5.4%

In December, 2012 I created two portfolios, a “Sustainable Energy” portfolio comprised of 8 stocks in the solar, LED lighting, wind and biofuel sectors, and a “Fossil Fuel” portfolio, comprised of 8 stocks in the coal, oil, and fracking sectors. The results, after seven months, as illustrated above:

The Sustainable Energy portfolio more than doubled: it is up 101.77%
The Reference Fossil Fuel portfolio is up 5.4%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 18.75%
The S&P 500 is up 18.6%.

The Sustainable Energy portfolio has significantly outperformed the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 and the Fossil Fuel portfolio.

These data are summarized in table 1 and below. Continue reading →

Popular Logistics Energy Portfolios: The Trend Continues.

The trend is clear – if 4 1/2 months is enough to establish a trend – the Sustainable Energy portfolio is up 58.78% from 12/21/12 while the Fossil Fuel portfolio is only up 6.71%. The Dow is up 15.49% and the S&P 500 is up 14.24% in that same period.

Is it because Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide has reached 400 PPM? (NPR / NY Times) Is Wall Street reacting because Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and other investment banks and hedge funds are hiring analysts from Greenpeace or people like me with MBAs in Sustainability from Marlboro, the Presidio, and the Bainbridge Institute? Continue reading →

Energy Portfolios At 3 Months: Sustainable Energy: Up 22%. Fossil Fuels: Up 3%

As of the close of trading on March 22, 2013, excluding the effects of dividends, the Sustainable Energy reference portfolio I created on 12/21/12 is up 21.67%, from $8.0 Million to $9.73 Million. Excluding the effects of dividends, the Fossil Fuel Reference Virtual Portfolio is up 2.7%, from $8.0 Million to $8.221 Million in the same time frame. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 10.85% and the S&P 500 is up 8.88%. Note that this is a simulation. Note also that this doesn’t take into account the effects of dividends.

Continue reading →

Sustainable Energy Portfolio UP 16% & Fossil Fuel Portfolio Up 1.7% – Dec.21, 2012 to March 1, 2013

As of the close of trading on March 1, 2013, the virtual portfolio I created in Sustainable Energy stocks on 12/21/12 is up $1.3 Million, 16.31%, from $8.0 Million to $9.3 Million. The Fossil Fuel Reference Virtual Portfolio is up 1.71%, from $8.0 Million to $8.137 Million in the same time frame. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 7.63% and the S&P 500 is up 6.15%.

Continue reading →

Gold Bricks and Sink-Holes – The Risk & Reward of Fossil Fuel, Solar & Wind

On Dec. 21, 2012, with virtual portfolios of 7 sustainable energy and 7 fossil fuel companies, I launched the Popular Logistics Sustainable Energy simulation, here.

On Feb. 8, 2013, after 6 weeks, after exercising virtual options to invest in 2 additional companies at 12/21/12 prices, I reported the results, here.

The Sustainable Energy portfolio is up 12.6%
The Fossil Fuel portfolio is up 5.09%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 6.52%
The S&P 500 is up 5.52%.
The Sustainable Energy Portfolio is up significantly more than the Fossil Fuel Portfolio, and the major indices.
The Fossil Fuel Portfolio is up, but lags the major indices.

These results are not that surprising. Continue reading →

Nega-Watts, Nega-Fuel-Watts, Mega-Bucks

On Dec. 21, 2012, I launched the Popular Logistics Sustainable Energy Portfolio Simulation. After 6 weeks, as of the close of business 2/7/13, the results are:

The Sustainable Energy Portfolio is UP 12.6%
The Fossil Fuel Reference Portfolio is UP 5.09%

In comparison,

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is UP 6.52%
The S&P 500 is UP 5.52%

While six weeks is a very short time frame, except for fruit flies and Day Traders, the Popular Logistics Sustainable Energy Portfolio outperformed the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Fossil Fuel Reference Portfolio by a wide margin. In the same time frame the Fossil Fuel Reference Portfolio also underperformed these indices.

Details are below

Continue reading →

Popular Logistics Sustainable Energy Portfolio

This portfolio is composed of companies in the solar, biofuel and LED lighting industries.

I think these are disruptive technologies, like personal computers and workstations and client server software architecture in the 1980s and aircraft in the mid-20th and automobiles in the early 20th Century. We may be approaching, or may have recently crossed a “tipping point” in the Wind, Solar, LED lighting and Bio Fuel industries.

As points of reference, this “Sustainable Energy Portfolio” will be compared to an “UnSustainable Energy Portfolio,” composed of oil industry stocks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.

Continue reading →

Solar Power & Electric Utilities: Is The Paradigm Shifting?

The 16-module solar array pictured above was built in 2005. It probably has 2.5 Kilowatt (KW) to 2.8 KW of nameplate capacity. In New Jersey, residential solar systems range from 3 KW to 30 KW. Most are between 4 and 10 KW. Commercial systems range from 8KW to 200 KW. Utility scale systems are in the 10 Mega Watt (MW) to 550 MW range. In 2005, the costs for small scale residential systems were around $8.50 / watt, exclusive of any incentives. Today it is probably around half that, and cheaper for the larger utility scale systems. 1.0 MW system would require 4,000 modules of 250 watts each. The system pictured above requires about 50 square feet of land.As illustrated by the photo of the Topaz array, below, a 550 MW system, like Topaz, would require 2.2 million modules, and would cover a lot of ground.

First Solar, FSLR, a $2.8 Billion company, and Sunpower, SPWR, an $840 Million company, two of the pillars of what is left of the American solar energy industry, made some interesting statements in their 2011 annual reports: Continue reading →

Sustainable Investing, Value Investing & Speculation

Investing for Sustainable Value – changing the paradigm – is critical – because we only have one earth.

This post suggests that investing in Cree, the Ford Motor Company, GT Advanced Technologies, Lighting Sciences, and Solazyme, are investments in companies that are shifting the paradigm toward sustainability. Investments in Cree, Lighting Sciences and Solazyme appear speculative at this time. Investments in Ford and GT Advanced Technologies appear to be “value” investments with significant margins of safety.

“Sustainable development is that which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the abilities of future generations to meet their needs.” This canonical definition was offered in “Our Common Future,” a report to the United Nations by the Brundland Commission in 1987. Report here, see also wikipedia. “Sustainable Investing,” according to Krosinsky and Robins, is “an approach to investing driven by the long-term economic, environmental and social risks and opportunities facing the global economy.” Continue reading →

Is Ford Motor Co Sustainable? And is Ford a Value Investment?

Ford Fusion, available as a hybrid

Back in October, 2007, I wrote about the Toyota Prius and the GM Hummer in Prius v Hummer, the Battle for the Streets and the Prius v Hummer, the Battle for the Brains. (Spoiler alert – the Prius won). Now I’m thinking about Ford Motor Company. A few years back their tag line was “Ford Has A Better Idea.” That may not be the current tag line, but I think it is the case. I will go further and say that Ford is on the road to being Sustainable car company, and is a Value Investment.

While Toyota deserves credit for developing the hybrid- the Prius was introduced in 2000 – Ford has an extensive lineup of hybrids and is putting the EcoDrive – which boosts mileage by 20% – on vehicles, from small cars to the F150 truck. And 40% of the F150′s sold today are sold with the EcoDrive engine. Continue reading →