Finding the Green in Green Investments

Over the course of the last couple of decades, those minds among us who routinely follow the stock market have seen the emergence of investors interested in more than just the fuzzy good feeling you get when a soaring stock splits. Whether for religion, politics or ecology, socially conscious investors are increasingly trying to make money, and make the world a better place all at the same time, but in the world of environmentally friendly corporations, is an investment in being green a good way of making green?

Well yes and no according to a recent New York Times article. Over the course of the last year, the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy fund (which invests in a huge array of smallish alternative energy companies) has seen its value soar 80 percent before losing 20 percent in the last two months. This kind of volatility is common in the energy market, and especially so in companies whose focus is wind, solar, hydrogen and other technologies off the beaten path of fossil fuels.

The good news, according to the Times, is that increasingly, major energy companies like Cheveron, BP and DuPont are investing huge amounts in these formerly fringe technologies, bringing green main-stream and adding stability to this kind of investment. With the price of oil not getting any cheaper, forward thinking investors should be able to make some serious green on the future of US energy and maybe even feel good about how they did it.