The Green Energy Revolutions biggest Month - December 2009 - Profiting from Clean Energy in 2010

Image by pshab via Flickr

President Obama is going to Copenhagen and the COP15 summit with a solid promise of Carbon reduction.

No it's not drastic, but it is far and away more than any previous administration in the United States have ever committed to. A 17% reduction in CO2 levels by 2020, below the 2005 level. It's not Kyoto, but it is a solid commitment, and when the USA leads, everyone else is bound to follow. Even China, who has taken over the title as worlds biggest polluter this year (from the USA) is catching the drift with some promises of Carbon reducing policies of it's own.

Canada's Prime Minister as well as many other world leaders will also be in attendance at Copenhagen. Now you must ask yourself, what affect will this have on my Retirefund?

In a nutshell, it is a complete game changer and will have a huge affect on investments all over the world. If these leaders come to an agreement, no matter how small, on reducing their carbon footprint on this planet, it is the beginning of the end for some companies and industries and it is the beginning of great wealth and prosperity for other companies who embrace the Green Energy revolution that is just beginning. The COP15 summit is the catalyst which puts this revolution into overdrive. That's how much of a game changer it is.

At this writing, California is legislating that fully 20% of all energy produced in the State beginning in 2010, must come from renewable resources. Federally in the U.S., there is a strong movement to legislate a similar law for the entire Country of 15% of total energy being produced by renewable resources beyond 2010. Billions of dollars are in play. Wind and Solar companies are springing up like the oil derricks of the 1890's. The "hydrogen highway" is being built in California. Hydrogen fuel cells burning, at first, natural gas and eventually pure hydrogen, will eventually play the major part in the greening of our planet. This is no time to be a wallflower. If you are not invested in the green revolution, you will merely be a spectator in the game, which will be the greatest wealth building era since the industrial revolution.

Make no mistake (as President Obama likes to say) This is a game changer. If you are invested in coal energy, you should probably get out now! If you are invested in pure oil plays you still have some time. If you are piling your money into Wind and Solar companies, you should maybe take a double check on that. They will eventually only be bit players in this great game but they will gain significantly in the short to medium term. Hydrogen is the future of energy, no matter how you look at it, and Natural gas is a great store of hydrogen for fuel cells, which have the greatest potential to produce the most wealth. PEM fuel cells can be stacked and therefore, can produce energy at the back up generator level, and at the giant energy plant level. They have the capacity to actually replace large oil fired, coal fired, and even nuclear power plants.

There will be flashes in the pan, so to speak, of ideas that, at first seem like solutions, but that will peter out like a late night camp fire. Clean coal (an oxymoron - as there is no such thing as clean coal) is the obvious one. Corn ethanol is another. It produces at least the same or even more carbon in it's production, than it saves by it's use as a gasoline additive.

"Could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century."
- Venture Capital Firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers

Do your homework and do it well before you invest, but don't sit on the sidelines of this great race. As Wayne Gretzky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"!

Our top pick:
Ballard Power Systems
BLD-T
BLDP-NASDAQ

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Dilly Dollar Daze in the USA - What's next?

Image via Wikipedia

The American dollar has taken a hit against every major currency this year, and there may be more pain (or gain depending on your view) to come. From the Euro to the Yen, the greenback has taken a beating. Even the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar have gained 25% or more on the greenback this year. $500 bucks ain't what it used to be.

Back in January, $500 usd would buy approx $625 Canadian or $375 Euros. Today that same $500 buys only $535 Canadian or $333 Euro. As Americans continue to travel abroad, they are painfully reminded of their reduced (and still reducing) purchasing power. As 2010 progresses, I believe that the non traveling U.S. public will become very aware of their reducing wealth as denominated in the greenback. Smart Americans are in this stock rally or invested in gold and other commodities, or both. Better stores of value are sought in the market every day and this trend will continue, albeit with some hiccups, as 2010 becomes even more of a watershed year for the giant U.S. economy.

The Elephant in the room is the giant and growing U.S. Debt which now exceeds $12 Trillion dollars and is growing daily, with no end in sight. It is why the dollar is still declining and will through much of 2010. 30,000 more troops for war in Afghanistan, $1 Trillion over the next 10 years for medicare, bailouts and bombshells and the list goes on, with nothing to stop the bleeding at this point. Here is the daily update on the U.S. deficit clock.

India is buying up Gold for it's foreign reserves. China is following suit. Russia is adding Canadian dollars to it's foreign reserves. Individual investors and investor groups from Beijing to Brazil are stocking up on gold and especially gold stocks. This does not bode well for the greenback, or for the standard of living in the good ole U.S. of A. At over $12 Trillion in debt (and counting) and with two unfunded wars being prosecuted on three fronts, not to mention the health care debacle, both spending cuts and new taxes are the medicine needed to stabilize this sick fiscal patient, before he goes into a coma for the next ten years.

Doctor Obama, it's time for your Uncle Sam to take his medicine and there is no sugar to sweeten the taste. Let's get on with it, before it gets any worse (unless of course, the medicine is hyper inflation over the next three years or so). If that is the diagnosis, then gold will double in the next 12 months.

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India and China are buying up Gold at a record rate. This will no doubt affect your retirefund.

Image via Wikipedia

This week, India purchased 200 metric tons of gold from the IMF (International Monetary Fund). It amounted to half of all the gold the IMF placed for sale. India bought it to bolster it's foreign reserves account. China is strongly expected to buy up the other half. What does that tell us about gold prices and the decreasing value of the U.S. Dollar. Well, it tells us a lot, and many Americans are not going to like the answer.

The United States dollar has been the worlds reserve currency for the past 50 years, even before the gold standard was dropped. That gold standard, or some form of it, is creeping back into the international psyche as governments and individual investors buy up gold and gold miners in record numbers. There is a very basic, common sense reason for this. The United States dollar is headed lower, maybe a lot lower. It has to. Here's why.

At the start of the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. economy was in the black. Bush was handed a "surplus", the first one in 30 years. During the next 8 years of his administration, the U.S. went into debt to the tune of $10 Trillion by the time Obama took office. In the midst of two wars being fought on two different fronts, W. did what no other U.S. president had ever done at such times of crisis. He cut taxes. Not only that, he did it twice. The result is the debt and deficits the United States have to this day and unless there is a sea change in spending and the tax regime, it will get a lot worse.

This year alone, the U.S. will add $2 Trillion more to their debt. If there are no changes, economists predict that by 2015, the United States will be $23 Trillion in debt. Even the powerful American economy can't take a hit like that. A devaluation in the dollar is probably one of the few ways the U.S. can pull itself out of this mess. In the mean time, other countries, and the citizens of other countries, looking for a better store of value, are turning to the one currency that has been in place for over 6,000 years. No fiat currency has ever replaced gold, although the USD tried very hard, becoming the reserve currency for the world and replacing the gold standard. That gold standard is creeping back, in some form, at this writing.

China has doubled it's gold reserves over the past few years. India just did the same and they both will no doubt continue to buy as their foreign exchange reserves shrink with the U.S. dollar. They want to hold value, not lose value! The Hong Kong government recently moved it's entire gold reserve to a domestic location from London where it was held. China is not only investing in gold, but it is telling it's citizens to do the same. India's citizens have long done this and are the biggest buyers of gold jewelry in the world.

As the U.S. dollar dives, it's stock market is gaining daily. After a recent pullback last week, the U.S. market is again going gang busters. It has to. As the dollar drops, people are investing in good companies as stores of value and their stocks are going up correspondingly, with the dollars demise.

Publicly traded Gold miners have a unique position in all of this. They are stocks and they produce pure gold, thereby gaining from both sides of this gold buying bull market.

Over 95 % of the worlds entire gold supply is now above ground. No wonder, after 6,000 years of mining. Canada, however, is one of the few countries with a number of producing gold mines.

Here are our top picks of these gold miners in order.

1. Apollo Gold Corp - U.S. company mining in Canada (APG-TSX or AGT-Amex)
2. Barrick Gold (ABX - TSX or NYSE)
3. Kinross Gold (KGC-NYSE)


If you don't already have gold in your portfolio, then I suggest you do so soon.

Previous articles:

1. An American Fox in Canada's gold hen house.
2. The argument for gold.

Other sources: Could Gold go to $5,000 per ounce?

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