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 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.
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