We are no longer as reliant on traditional, finite energy sources as we once were. Instead, the world is shifting towards alternative and renewable sources of electricity. Many governments are investing in ‘green’ energy, as they try to curtail the effects of climate change. The member countries of the European... Show More
The Clean Energy Council recently reported that renewable power output in Australia has doubled over the past 12 months . Despite this remarkable surge, we have a long way to go yet. We sat down with John Martin from New Energy Solar recently to get his views on what it... Show More
Solar is now viable at $50 a megawatt hour, half the wholesale price. Many investors don’t realise just how cheap solar has become, because the fall in price has been so dramatic. John Martin, CEO at New Energy Solar talks about this here, and what it means for utilities in... Show More
The price of solar was already falling steadily but then plummeted over the last decade to make it far cheaper than conventional power. John Martin, CEO at New Energy Solar talks here about this powerful trend in energy, which he describes as ‘the inevitable future’. Show More
Climate change is occurring earlier and more rapidly than anticipated, calling for urgent changes over the next decade to combat the impacts of extreme heat, drought and floods that could result from rising temperatures.(1) But while the world is heating up, so too is investment in the renewable energy sector,... Show More
Electric vehicles displacing the requirement for oil is a popular market narrative, but Simon Mawhinney, Chief Investment Officer at Allan Gray, says this misses half the picture. While demand growth is expected to be lower as EV penetration increases, supply is also under pressure following years of underinvestment. Show More
One of the key issues facing solar and wind power is how to effectively utilise them when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. The answer is in batteries, and in the case of domestic applications we have the recently released Tesla Powerwall amongst others. However for larger... Show More
Utilities are striking back at rooftop solar by changing their billing structure. Changed industry conditions call for innovation, not impediments. We previously have written how it is a mistake to think utilities will disappear with the growth of distributed generation. Utility companies could be expected to respond to the challenges... Show More
Money magazine came by and asked for our thoughts on why investors need to look at renewable energy. Australian Ethical invests in renewable energy across its funds, but you will find the highest concentration of renewable investments in its award-winning International Shares Fund, which has a ‘smart energy’ thematic. For... Show More
The UN Climate Conference in December is important but will not be the final word on how we are dealing with climate change. We tie the recent announcement by the G7, who have agreed to the “decarbonisation of the global economy over the course of this century” to expectations for... Show More
With renewable energy now reaching households in the form of rooftop solar and battery storage (like Tesla’s new Powerwall), the chorus calling for the demise of the traditional utility has become deafening. Show More
The race for renewable energy has passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there's no going back. The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared... Show More
Victor Bivell at Eco Investor asked for our perspective on cleantech investing and how one should be positioned going forward. Over the past five years, the total return for your typical cleantech investor was 9.9% due to the poor performance of solar and wind. However, since bottoming in 2012, solar... Show More