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Posts Tagged ‘alternative energy sources’

To determine if you have investments that are considered green funds, you must first know what a green fund is. This is not a recommendation to invest in any particular funds or products and we do not give investment advice. This article is to promote awareness of green funds. Are your investments in companies or business that are socially conscience in their business dealings or directly promote environmental responsibility? Are your mutual funds comprised of socially conscious companies? This will be hard to determine but here are some helpful hints.

If the company promotes, invests in or is a company that is involved in alternative energy sources, eco-friendly forms of transportation, water or eco-friendly waste management, the odds are investment in their company would be considered green. More investigation by the individual investor would be needed but this is a good start.

Industries to avoid would be those producing, promoting or the manufacturing of alcohol, gambling, exploitation of human labor and pornography or connected to animal testing for products intended for human use.

Alcohol has the possibility of being green if it is to be used as a bio-fuels. Like all of your investments, do your research. Get multiple sources and investigate the companies and their corporate officers. Know who the board members are and what industry they came from.

A good example of green funds is the Winslow Green Mutual Fund. The managing company of this fund has been making green investments since 1983. This fund has a 10-year performance of 6.75. But like almost all funds, this last year has been bad with a loss of 61.01. Be careful and wise with your investment dollars. Green funds are out there, just do your research and stay Green.

If you aren’t up to date on alternative energy sources, then we here at way to go green dot org have the solution.  Below you’ll find a brief description of some alternative energy sources that you may or may not be aware of.

The sun is an excellent source of energy when it’s shining.  Although some of the energy gets absorbed into the atmosphere and some gets reflected back into space, there is plenty left over for us to utilize.  Usually the suns energy is collected on big solar panels made of silicon and glass.  The energy collected can be used to generate electricity and hot water.

Wind is a powerful force, so why not use it to generate energy?  Usually collected using windmills, wind energy can be turned into mechanical energy for performing work such as pumping water and milling lumber.  The only downfall is that the wind doesn’t blow all the time.

Geothermal energy comes from the heat that is naturally produced by the earth’s core.  Geothermal energy tends to show itself in the form of volcanoes, geysers, and hot springs.  To use this energy, we’ve usually built generators over the top of hot springs.  The water can reach temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit.  Geothermal energy can be used for hot water and the heat can be converted into electricity.

Biomass:
Finally, the last type of alternative energy sources is biomass energy.  Items like wood, garbage, crops, and manure are forms of biomass energy.  They energy from biomass is used to help heat businesses and homes and can also be converted into electricity.