It Takes Energy to Make Energy!

Revisiting why we're interested in these ETFs, we looked at Energy as the worst performing sector within SPY.  From a long-term perspective, we believe that alternative energy has a great deal of upward potential and so could be a sound buy-and-hold investment.  We're interested in sustainability at a personal level, so why not spend a little time investing in something you believe in.

To narrow down our 3 potential picks for "alternative energy" ETFs, we put together this table below.

ETF Name	Expense ratio	Top Sector	International Holdings	Yield	Sustainability	Notes
TAN	0.7	Technology (72%) Utilities (24%) Real Estate (3%)	61%	1.82	Low	Middle of the road for Growth vs Value. Massive bid/ask spread (42%).
PBW	0.7	Technology (51%) Industrials (20%) Utilities (13%)	19%	1.33	Low	Mostly domestic.
ICLN	0.48	Utilities (52%) Technology (26%) Industrials (21%)	73%	2.48	Medium	Lowest expense ratio. Highest yield. Highest sustainability. Most diverse sectors.

This approach makes the choice surprisingly easy.  While we believe that the low sustainability scores for TAN and PBW come from the manufacture of solar panels, and the terrible things that go into that process, the long term for solar energy production is a sustainable path.  ICLN's utilities mean that it is investing in companies that use the solar panels and wind turbines and do not necessarily manage the production of this hardware.

The other factors listed in the notes really make ICLN stand out when it comes to our style of investing.  We'll spend a little more time next week making sure that this is the direction that we actually want to go and maybe get around to actually making a buy.

Profit!