Renewable Energy: "Feel-Good" or Hard Profit?
Posted By Rob Millard - 3 Comments -
The blog Energy & Capital has a post by Sam Hopkins today titled: Where Half of the World's Wealthy Invest. He makes an interesting point. Energy, he says, isn't a chart ... it's a culture. Hopkins illustrates by pointing out that Amsterdam's roads (previously clogged with motor cars) are now full of bicycles, while Beijing's roads, previously full of bicycles, are now clogged with cars.
The point of his post, though, is to discuss Merrill Lynch and Capgemini's World Wealth Report 2007, released in June, which shows amongst other things where the world's high net worth individuals (those with value > $1 million excluding their homes) invested last year. Clean and renewable energy investments feature high on the list.
Not so much in the USA, though. Only 5% of high net worth individuals in the U.S. said they invest in green initiatives of any kind. This is a meager 10% of the worldwide average. Most of those that are investing said furthermore that their concern wasn't primarily profit, but social concerns. This is of course a perfectly good reason to invest if one chooses to, but it does show a disconnect between US investors and those in the rest of the world, in this area. According to the report, Hopkins says, high net worth individuals from elsewhere in the world:
"didn't cite the melting of the icecaps or food price concerns as their reasons for betting on sectors from tidal energy to biodegradable plastics... They want the filthy lucre. Euros, pounds, dollars..."
By now, every US commercial law firm worth its salt has at least some sort of capability to serve environmental / green energy / renewable resource client needs. Many have fully fledged practice groups in these areas. If your firm's services are premised mostly from a moral / corporate social responsibility / social concern perspective, though, then you may be missing the boat. Stock markets can only deliver "feel-good" premiums once profitability is at acceptable levels. If Hopkins is right about energy being a culture, not a chart, then the culture of many "green" practice groups may need to evolve from primarily "feel-good" social concerns .... to including a hefty dose of good old fashioned capitalism and hard core profitability.
Click here to download the entire World Wealth Report 2007 (3.9 MB.)
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Thanks! Really amazing. I wish i could spend my time on writing articles...just have no time for it.
Oh, Thanks! Really amazing. Big ups!
Only source of energy that is less expensive and non polluting compared to other ones.Most importantly renewable source of energy that now many nations are experimenting on it.Especially Developing and under developed nations must go for it.Statistics are also suggesting that and more on........
james blake
California DUI
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