Green Options

What if you call your HR department or brokerage firm and discover you don’t have SRI options available with your 401(k)?  Does that mean you can’t be a socially responsible investor?  Of course not.  If you own shares in a company, you have partial ownership and certain privileges.  Corporations mail out their annual reports containing proxy statements and voting forms.  With our votes, we have the ability to help shape sustainable business in corporate America.  We can be shareholder advocates.

When you disagree with a company’s sustainable or lack of sustainable business practices, what do you do?  You contact the company.  You sign a petition.  You boycott their products.  You inspired others to “vote with their feet” or “vote with their dollars.”  You pride yourself in the fact that you don’t shop at Walmart or eat at McDonalds.  You are using your “consumer dollars” to send a strong message to corporate America, but what about your “investing dollars”?  When it comes to 401(k)s, mutual funds and the stock market, do you know where your money goes?

It is often said that the so-called ‘low hanging fruit’ in the energy puzzle is not wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, or any of the other renewable resources. The cheapest way to create more available energy is to use our current capacity more efficiently. In other words the ‘low-hanging fruit’ is energy efficiency.

I was reminded of this fact recently when I read an interview with the king of all energy geeks, Amory Lovins, at Mother Jones. Lovins was asked the question, “If you had $1 million to invest in the energy sector, where would you put it?” Lovins responded,

“Efficient use. I want to do the cheapest things first to get the most climate protection and other benefits per dollar. Buying micropower and “negawatts” instead of nuclear gives you about 2 to 11 times more carbon reduction per dollar, and you get it much faster.”

While not as ’sexy’ as solar and wind, energy efficiency might be the smartest investment play if you’ve got some cash burning a hole in your pocket (though that’s not really the current trend). And while we here at CleanTechnica do not really fancy ourselves to be professional analysts of Jim Cramer or Tom Konrad caliber, we do keep our eyes on emerging trends in the industry. For that reason it is hard not to pick some favorites. I’d like to share two of my favorite energy efficiency plays with you: Echelon (ELON) and Beacon Power (BCON) .

Do you know where your pension coming from? For some US teachers, it’s Chinese coal.

The Chinese coal industry is known for its lucrative returns: the China Shenhua Energy Co. gained 65% from July to September, and many investors claim they can’t afford not to be in China. In fact, 20% of Shenhua’s stock is held by U.S. investors — one of whom is the Teachers Retirement System of Texas.

But China’s coal

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In nearly every post I describe the reasons business should go green. I tell you about social responsibility, about the fact that potential employees find sustainability attractive and the assurance that you may save some money in the long run. What if I told you that going green could give you a significant edge over other businesses in the same sector? Well, its true. Recently, the Carbon Beta Equity Performance Study came to the conclusion that there

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Former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative has been all over the news lately, working with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and big business to move the ball forward with clean energy solutions to global warming. Whatever you think of the guy, it’s hard to deny that his partnerships are impressive and the results could be revolutionary.

Besides the agreement by utilities to invest in energy efficiency, and besides Florida Power & Light’s major new commitment

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GO and ENN news articles have reported on Ecuador’s high-minded decision to leave its largest oil reserve untapped. The unexploited oil fields lie in Yasuni National Park, home to at least two indigenous tribes. Drilling them would add a pretty penny to the country’s purse. However, under the YasunÌ-ITT Initiative, President Rafael Correa has vowed to leave the oil in the ground. The initiative also sets the lofty goals of developing greater

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Thanks to Erin over at RE-AMP for the heads-up on this great piece of news: Eight major utilities have agreed to implement energy efficiency measures in order to meet the growing demand for electricity. By emphasizing efficiency over coal, they will cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30 million tons — the equivalent of taking almost 6 million cars off the road — and avoid the need to build 50 500-megawatt peaking power

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Businesses seem to be flocking to appear green, lessen their carbon footprint, and talk about global warming. But scant mention of it was made in most of the reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this year. Should investors be concerned?

A group of state officials, state pension fund managers, investors, and other organizations think so. They are asking the SEC to make all public companies formally address the

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For those of you who do not live in Michigan, or keep up on its politics, it may come as a surprise to find out that our economy is pretty much in the gutter. Our unemployment rate is the highest it has been in nearly six months, and it seems the bad news keeps rolling in. With large cuts in the automotive industry, coupled with the dissapearence of jobs from such powerhouses

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For many, this Sunday will bring the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Dr. Jane Goodall. Participants in the Los Angeles event will join Dr. Goodall and hundreds of others in celebrating peace, while around the world dozens of other groups will host similar events. If you’d like to attend the L.A. event (free admission), visit the event’s website, or simply arrive at the location pinpointed on the maps below.

If you’re not in the Los

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