By Walter Borden Solar power stocks have shone over the past year. After four years of decline the industry experienced vigorous growth in 2013. The first growth spurt in the early 2010’s was propelled in large part by European incentives which induced component and material shortage in 2007-2008. This pushed solar …
Note: This is the final excerpt from our 2013 Review/2014 Outlook Section V: LED Market Overview The LED lighting market is hot and very competitive. From relative newcomers like Cree, Acuity Brands, and OSRAM, to well-known brands Koninklijke Philips and GE Lighting, the fight for market share is intense. Growth potential is …
Note: This is an excerpt from the Fund Balance 2013 Review 2014 Outlook. Section VI: Protecting Our Vital Resource — Water Resource Management: Fund Balance Coverage In 2014 The water understands Civilization well; It wets my foot, but prettily, It chills my life, but wittily, It is not disconcerted, It …
Note: This is an Excerpt from the Fund Balance 2013 Review/2014 Outlook — Section III: Solar Stocks 2014. By Walter Borden Fund Balance Here Comes The Sun ETF Performance for 2013: One of the most widely held ETFs, the Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN in the chart above), returned 131.3% YTD and …
Section II: 2013 Asset Market Overview — US Markets Finish Strong, Asian and EU Weaknesses Persisted In 2014, higher economic growth rates with inequality effects via persistent constrained spending power of the US consumer will exact a noticeable fiscal drag in the US, while positive developments from 2013 in US …
Sustainable Economics and Ecologics At The Outset of 2014 Section I: Impact Investing 2013 Overview/2014 Outlook THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in September 2013 that it is “extremely likely” that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming or about 95 percent certain — typically the standard of …
Sustainable Economics and Ecologics At The Outset of 2014 Section I: Impact Investing 2013 Overview/2014 Outlook The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported in September 2013 that it is “extremely likely” that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming or about 95 percent certain — typically the standard of …
By Walter Borden “Everything… is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult… things do not turn out as we expect. Nearby they do not appear as they did from a distance” — Karl von Clausewitz ONE hears little talk of a potential carbon bubble in financial media and the …
October 21 2013 FUND BALANCE Quarterly Report Overview: AT the close of 2012, some analysts saw the mix of retrenchment of regulatory programs in the EU and lack of a co-ordinated clean energy strategy in the US combined with China’s burgeoning carbon footprint as a gun to the head of …
By Walter Borden ON the way to closing out 2013, renewable energy sectors quietly outperform the broader market. Notably, solar power and LED systems have entered prime-time in a big way. Wal Mart has deployed, and is profiting on, the largest portfolio of solar panels of any retailer in the …
By Walter Borden Building an equitable work environment in our nation is not about ensuring equal outcomes for all, as often claimed. Its purpose is to create equal opportunities for all citizens. The financial press makes frequent note of the slow, steady increase in employment in the US as ex …
By Walter Borden MANY US cities like Detroit face pension and general service funding shortfalls. Yet for over 5 years the corporate sector has recorded historic profits as a share of GDP. In none of these years however, did they choose to undertake the simple, incremental steps that would have …
By Walter Borden Does it make sense to tell someone that doesn’t have health insurance to go to the doctor? Does it make sense to expect jobless and underemployed citizens to save more? Many of the most profitable corporations across the US perennially underfund their pensions while simultaneously funding campaigns for …
By Walter Borden Have low interest rates formed an economic bubble? They are significantly lower than their 10 year average measured against similar conditions. Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group thinks so. He and others predict the next great fortunes will arise from precise timing of its bursting. Yet, fortunes …
By Walter Borden To address the long term unemployment crisis in 2013, the U.S. must increase investment in its clean economy and infrastructure. U.S. citizens own the world’s most robust non-profit, namely the United States Government. The U.S. can act now for a reason that trumps profit: the General Welfare. …
The partners at Fund Balance are delighted to recommend to our friends and subscribers the Social Change Film Festival (SCFF). SCFF is led-up by economist Cynthia Phillips and her Global Change Media initiative. The event features Robert Redford’s new movie Watershed, the new movie about climate change called Chasing Ice, the new fracking film, …
By Walter Borden Both the second and third US Presidential debates featured a question on many folks minds this season. What can the U.S. Presidency do about gas prices? Setting aside the twin question of should an administration do anything, neither candidate’s answer was very compelling. Recently, Exxon Mobil CEO …
The partners at Fund Balance make frequent use of THE GREEN TRANSITION SCOREBOARD® (GTS) from Ethical Markets Media in our work. The GTS provides guidance to our thoughtlines leading up to the Rio +20 UN Earth Summit as well. The GTS provides fresh, incisive, and thorough analysis of the intersecting and …
WILL money saved from using clean technology simply be spent on using more energy? Jevons paradox (or the Jevons effect) is named for economist William Stanley Jevons. In the 1860’s, he observed that technologically driven increases in the efficiency of coal-use increased coal consumption in a wide range of …
By Walter Borden Green Bonds, Carbon Taxes, and Market Failures THE gathering dangers of global warming for life necessitate that humanity collapse its dependency on fossil fuel energy (FFE). Ecological fiduciary responsibility requires shifting balance from political restraint to action. The challenges of managing a drawdown of FFE’s in …