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Paul B. Farrell Archives | Email alerts
May 1, 2012, 12:01 a.m. EDT
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By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (MarketWatch) "” Earlier this year we began searching for investments that make money while also serving the public interest. Our goal: Save the World by tapping into the new collective conscience that puts "People, Prosperity and Planet" in the investor's equation alongside "Profits."
We're practical optimists but with a lot of company, investors with the same vision, searching, inspired by a new generation to build a viable global economy and a sustainable planet for 10 billion people.
Here are some investing ideas from Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Matt Damon and 10 successful African millionaires. What about them got us excited?
A couple years ago Bill Gates spoke at a TED (Technology/Education/Design) conference. Gates said if he had "one wish to improve humanity's lot over the next 50 years," wrote CNN editor Fareed Zakaria, he would wish for a "new technology that produced energy at half the price of coal with no carbon dioxide emissions."
Moreover, "he'd rather have this wish than a new vaccine or medicine or even choose the next several American presidents." Well, the miracle may be happening anyway, without Bill, who is spending billions on vaccines combatting disease in emerging nations.
Here's how the Wall Street Journal headlined Gates mini-miracle: "Gas Glut Transforms Industry." Back in 2008 natural-gas futures spiked near $14 per million BTUs. Today it's down around $2 per million, lowest in a decade.
Boston utility NSTAR is cutting electricity costs to customers 34%. Georgia's Southern Co. is making "the transition," along with their expansion with nuclear power. Oklahoma's OGE Energy Corp's unit's shift means lower rates, as "more efficient plants are pushing coal out of the way."
And get this: "Plummeting natural-gas prices" are "beginning to dislodge cheap Western coal from its once untouchable perch as the nation's favorite fuel for power production." That's making Main Street electricity customers happy as well as "dirty coal" opponents.
But unless you're a pro, shorting a coal company like Peabody Energy /quotes/zigman/282895/quotes/nls/btu BTU +1.64% is risky and volatile. Yes, their stock lost over half the past year, but better avoid playing this market.
For more research on the latest in energy exploration, Fortune is a must-read. Begin with the cover story on the "United States of Natural Gas" that spotlights our "new 100-year supply of shale gas" that is "reviving the American economy."
Yes, gas is reviving our economy. The Quest's Daniel Yergin adds that "coal plant construction is grinding to a halt: first because of environmental reasons and second, because the economics of natural gas are so compelling" Yergin even claims that shale gas is being "championed by many environmentalists as a good substitute for coal because it is cleaner and emits about 50% less carbon dioxide."
Over at the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig hints that the supply glut in natural gas, while depressing prices, won't last forever, a hint the sector's a long-term buy.
Well, either Uncle Warren's got the new eco-religion, or he's got a red-hot PR campaign going: "Companies won't last if they fail to consider the impact of their businesses on the environment," Buffett recently told Bloomberg News.
Either way, he's definitely scoring points with us: Two short years ago Rolling Stone magazine targeted Uncle Warren as their first of "17 polluters and deniers who are derailing efforts to curb global warming." He's changing.
Today, Buffett deserves praise for recent remarks on Johns Manville's website, Berkshire's /quotes/zigman/219651/quotes/nls/brk.a BRK.A +1.12% /quotes/zigman/583979/quotes/nls/brk.b BRK.B +1.23% building products subsidiary: "A company must invest in the key ingredients of profitability: its people, communities and the environment."
Yep. At a time when so many conservatives see capitalism as a self-perpetuating money machine for the Super Rich, Buffett's vision of corporate responsibility to the public is not only refreshing, it's a new paradigm.
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Paul Farrell writes the column on behavioral economics. He's the author of nine books on personal finance, economics and psychology, including "The... Expand
Paul Farrell writes the column on behavioral economics. He's the author of nine books on personal finance, economics and psychology, including "The Millionaire Code," "The Winning Portfolio," "The Lazy Person's Guide to Investing." Farrell was an investment banker with Morgan Stanley; executive vice president of the Financial News Network; executive vice president of Mercury Entertainment Corp; and associate editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He has a Juris Doctor and a Doctorate in Psychology. Collapse
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