David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square’s worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean. From TED.com

The celebrities who espouse a green lifestyle often find themselves in trouble when they indulge in some of the privileges of the wealthy. Al Gore has taken the heat for his energy consumption and now Sting is in the spotlight for a private jet splurge. Sting took a solo flight to Germany recently on a Falcon 2000 to meet the rest of the band, The Police for a concert in Leipzig.

A spokesperson for the airport confirmed that he was the solo passenger on the plane which can carry 14 passengers. He flew back to England less than 24 hours later via private jet but it’s not known if he was alone.

According to the Daily Mail, the Police was named ‘dirtiest band’ in January for the scale of their carbon footprint. It’s been a tough year for Sting and his eco-actions. He started off the year by renting a private yacht in Australia and as I mentioned back in May, his Rainforest Foundation has come under fire for its record of giving. Sting also starred in an ad-campaign for the notso eco Jaguar cars.

By Deidre Woolard, for Luxist.com

Manager: Paul Mesburis, Mavrix Fund Management
Style: Growth and value
Fund: Mavrix Sierra Equity
Strategy: All capitalization, bottom up focus. Integrating environmental, social and governance factors with fundamental investment analysis.

“Equity markets in Canada and the U.S. in 2008 have significantly underperformed as the worries over the U.S. economy have had global repercussions. We believe that the U.S. subprime mortgage issue is largely behind us and now that the Fed has  started to aggressively cut interest rates, we believe that equity markets are well positioned for the remainder of the year.”

“Sierra Wireless’ stock price has been unduly punished from $24 to as low as $12 over the past three months primarily on competitive threat concerns. The stock is extremely cheap, trading at a P/E of less than 10x (excluding cash of about 25% of the share price). SW in 2006 and 2007 reported revenue growth of 107% and 94%, respectively, while operating margins scaled from being negative to 10%. In 2008, the growth is expected to continue with revenues up over 20%. When Trading Desk spoke to Mr. Mesburis last week, he predicted both strong fourth quarter results and share price performance from Sierra before it reported earnings on Friday. He was right and the stock rose 8.5% on Friday.

Canadian biotech company ProMetic Life Sciences is developing a drug (PBI-1402) for the treatment of anemia. “The company recently presented positive Phase 2 results at a conference by the American Society of Hematology and is in partnership  discussions with pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies face an empty drug pipeline at a time when their financial position has never been so strong to shop for new drugs. Big pharma generated $50-billion of free cash flows last year and with patent expirations coming closer, more drug acquisitions should be expected and further support the case for biotech  investing in 2008. The market for all anemia treatment drugs is valued at US$8-billion and is forecast to increase to $15-billion by  2015.”

“Timminco is a low-cost producer of solar grade silicon and is benefiting by the strong global demand for solar energy. It commissioned its first furnace at the end of December 2007 and has signed contracts that will allow it to triple its production over the next 3 years. By early April, we expect the company to announce its capex plans that will allow it to ramp up production to meet its contractual requirements. The stock’s valuation is very cheap trading at a 2009 estimated P/E of less than 10x.”

“Skye Resources has a significant financing commitment for construction to start  n its nickel project in Guatamela. Given the current difficult credit and equity market conditions, the company may not be able to raise the necessary financing and may have to consider other alternatives. As well, if it is not able to raise funds by the spring, the project schedule may have to be revised and orders for critical long lead capital items may have to  be renegotiated.”

Originally published on FP-Trading desk

QV Investors Inc. was established in 1996 and manages $1.8 billion. Their investment processes emphasize continuous measurement and management of risks (Quality and Value) in equity and balanced portfolios. QV’s clients include mutual fund sponsors, insurance companies, pension funds, charitable foundations, and private investors.

Team

QV Investors’ research analysts and managers meet daily to review security selections, corporate and market developments, and portfolio qualities. A Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst concentrate on the management of the Ethical portfolios, supported and critiqued by other members of the Investment Committee, and enhanced by The Ethical Fund Company’s Sustainability Group.

The Sustainability team of The Ethical Funds Company guides the QV Team in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis of selections. This nine person, in-house research team has over 40 years of collective experience in the field of socially responsible investing.

Investment philosophy

For Ethical Funds, QV Investors builds portfolios with consistent growth and below average risk. QV buys a portfolio of businesses run by capable, committed, and candid people. QV selects equities on the basis of good value. QV Investors holds good corporate positions over an indefinite period of time.

Security selection

QV’s company selection is a continuous cycle of idea generation, company analysis, committee assessment, risk measurement, and performance analysis. They select companies on tests of management, financial record, business franchise, balance sheet strength, valuation, and dividend record.

QV’s portfolio management continuously quantifies and manages the value, growth, income, credit, liquidity, capitalization, and diversification risks in the Ethical Funds portfolios. They create portfolios of better value, higher growth in equity and dividends, and better credit than the market—in a word—reliability.

QV’s superior results are the result of a continuous effort to improve quality and to reduce risk, which is the essence of sustainable investing.

Source:Ethicalfunds.com

*QV also manages for CI Investments and Industrielle-Alliance

We constantly hear the stress on corporations going green, while we develop alternative sources of energy – not only for conserving energy, but also for fighting global warming. Galloping world prices for crude oil have also been responsible for increasing attention on finding renewable sources of energy.

As petrol prices and oil company profits have risen remarkably with expectations of further growth, non-economical renewable resources are expected to become economical. Until this point, many of them could not be developed because of prohibitive costs. However, with a greater emphasis on development, especially with Google’s RE < C effort, cost-effective renewable times may be just around the corner.

Solar energy is one of the most prominent alternative sources of energy. Many countries have been toying with the idea of its development. Unfortunately, its share in the overall energy sector is a measly 0.1 percent. According to statistics, solar power has recorded a growth of 22% during the last 10 years, with 35% having been recorded during the last 5 years alone. Although the growth rates are strong, keep in mind that the real numbers are still quite small.

Prominent Solar Energy Stocks

With the spectacular growth of solar energy demand, there have been rising expectations, reflecting extremely high valuations of solar energy stocks. First Solar (FSLR) has experienced a valuation of more than 182. Some of the most prominent solar energy companies in terms of market popularity are:

• First Solar (FSLR)
• SunPower Corporation (STP)
• Suntech Power Holding Ltd. (LTP)
• JA Solar (JASO)
• Solar Enertech Corp (SOEN)
• Nano Solar
• Miasole
• China Sunergy (CSUN)
• LDK Solar (LDK)
• Solarfun (SOLF)

In addition to these popular companies, there are a large number of smaller players which are still under the development stage. Most of these are young companies. However, keep in mind that even First Solar was founded only in November of 2006.

On The Thresholds of High Tech Bubble

To many critics, investing in solar stocks is just like investing in high tech stocks – right before the bust. For some investors, there is too much hype associated with these stocks, meaning that the speculation has already been discounted into the pricing. Indeed, many investors remain critical regarding the industry’s ability to produce cost-effective and viable solar energy. Costs associated with these are extremely high and therefore, it is very difficult to be profitable.

These concerns are also confirmed with the behavior of equity prices. Many solar stocks like Solarfun and First Solar rose exponentially during 2007 alone. After all time highs, most of these stocks have fallen by as much as 50% recently. These stocks are extremely volatile and may not be suitable for the majority of investors. In addition, many of these companies are based in China, making it difficult to evaluate the financial transparency of their performance.

The Bright Side

However, not all elements are gloomy with solar stocks. Solar companies do indeed have bright guidance. They are backed by their national governments, and in some countries, there is plenty of sunshine available – ready for exploitation. Indeed, with the continuously rising oil prices, coupled with the inherent limit of these natural resources, we will need to eventually switch over to renewable energy – meaning solar companies are poised for the opportunity.

Solar Energy Investment Options

Investment in solar companies can be risky, though lucrative, classifying them with very high risk-to-reward ratios. Investors considering solar energy stocks should pay close attention to their PEG ratios.

Another lucrative option can be solar ETFs, such as the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (PBW). Without having to conduct extensive research, you can enjoy the benefits of full diversification, especially with low weights for each company.

Moreover, some major large cap companies like GE are spending heavily in solar power, even though it is still a fraction of their total investments. If you are risk-adverse, you may want to consider investing in a large cap company exploring renewable energy.

*Written By Grace Chen for Investors trip

Philippe de Weck, senior investment manager. Pictet assets management.

Criterion Clean energy fund