Despite the fact that the sun only shines sometimes, solar energy has proven to be a viable alternative to beautiful, beautiful coal and other fossil fuels. Total solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) capacity in the United States reached 64.2 gigawatts in 2018, enough to power 12.3 million American homes (or most of Southeast Asia). Part of the […]
We recently touched on the topic of climate change in an article about how a startup called Climeworks is developing a technology to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide. The effort is noble, if not entirely lucrative at present. And, let’s face it, the only way to clean up the planet at scale is to make it […]
Electric vehicles have been in the news quite a bit lately – and we’re not just talking about a certain CEO who may soon be a fugitive from justice, tweeting out manifestos from an undisclosed location, about driving cherry red roadsters on Mars. You may have noticed that Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer NIO (NIO) finally […]
In past articles, we’ve highlighted the dangers of over-the-counter (OTC) stocks, especially those that seem to attach themselves to up and coming disruptive technologies. Such companies need to be subjected to detailed scrutiny as the majority of OTC companies will lose investors’ money over time. Whether through intent or not, company management always seems to […]
When evaluating investment opportunities in disruptive technologies, it is equally as important to identify what one should not invest in as it is to identify what one should invest in. In a past article, we discussed the potential dangers of investing in over-the-counter (OTC) stocks and throughout the past year have pointed out many examples of […]
Solar ETFs have been on a tear since the beginning of 2013 with the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) having returned over +120% to date. However, investors who would have bought and held this same ETF when it debuted in April of 2008 to the present day would have paper losses of -84%, even with the benefits […]
In a past article, we highlighted Ascent Solar, a publicly traded, flexible photovoltaics company with a market cap of around $46 million. While Ascent is targeting very niche markets with innovative solar charging products, their financial situation does not look so good. Ascent has about $1.6 million cash on hand and incurred a loss of […]
Solar stocks showed some serious returns for investors in 2013 with the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) and the Market Vectors Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:KWT) returning +122% and +98% respectively over the year. While both these solar ETFs have retracted in 2014, they are still up over +10% year-to-date and solar as a theme continues to show strong momentum going forward. One […]
In an article we published last year on solar cells, we highlighted the fact that the current average solar cell efficiency sits at around 15% which is sufficient enough to power a typical house. Natcore Technology is a company that claims to have a solution that could “double the efficiency of cells, while halving the cost”. […]
Solar energy has been a roller coaster ride for investors over the past 5 years. Investors who wanted to purchase a diversified solar ETF five years ago may have invested in the Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN) when it debuted in April of 2008. Those same investors would have suffered a 94% loss by January 2013. However, […]