The global market for green energy is expected to grow to a value of $1.5 trillion by 2025.
When you consider the fact that this was a market that barely existed a few decades ago, it’s obvious that investing in green energy has made many people rich. It’s also going to continue making people rich for as long as the world needs renewable energy, which is likely to be forever.
The question, therefore, is this: what is the best way to make money from the green revolution if you’re new to the game?
Read on as we look at the answer to that question and set you on the path to becoming a profitable green investor.
The Different Ways of Investing in Green Energy
There are many different ways to get exposure to green energy. The right one for you will depend on your risk appetite, the amount you want to invest, and whether you want to be actively involved in the investment.
We’ve looked at the different options in more detail here.
Starting a Business
If you want to take an active hand in the green energy market, you could set up a business in the field. There are a few different options here.
Wind and solar energy are the two main forms of renewable energy in the world today. If you enter this industry, you’ll likely be setting up either a wind farm or solar farm.
This is, of course, specialized work. You’ll need an educational background in energy or physics, and you may need prior professional experience of working with renewable energy.
In order to produce energy on an industrial scale, you’ll also need to make a considerable initial investment. Solar panels and wind turbines are both expensive to buy in bulk. They also take up considerable space, which means that you’ll need to have a large plot of land to work on.
Buying Stocks
If you don’t want to set up a green energy company yourself, you could choose to invest in one that’s already in operation.
There are many different options here, from established energy giants to brand new operations. The latter will not feature on public stock exchanges, however, so you’ll need to look to different investment platforms for these.
If you invest in a new start-up while its shares are cheap and it goes on to create highly valuable energy solutions, you could end up multiplying the value of your investment many times over. On the other hand, if the company goes bankrupt, you’ll lose all your money.
If you’d prefer a lower-risk stock investment, it might be a good idea to look for a publicly-traded, blue-chip green energy company.
Investing in a Green Mutual Fund or ETF
This is similar to investing in green stocks. It will offer passive exposure to the green energy market, giving you financial benefits if and when the market as a whole improves.
The key difference between this and the option of buying company shares is the risk-reward profile. Because funds diversify your investment across a large number of ventures, you won’t lose all your money because of one company’s bad decisions.
However, you will also have a much more limited growth capacity.
There are a couple of important differences between an ETF and a mutual fund. Most significantly, a mutual fund is actively managed, which means that fund managers will pick up and drop stocks in real time on the basis of market trends.
ETF managers, on the other hand, pick a basket of stocks or index at the fund’s inception and leave them in place regardless of trends. Because of this passive strategy, ETF fees tend to be much lower.
Setting Up Solar Panels or a Windmill
This admittedly isn’t an investment in the business sense. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not a great bet.
Recent COVID-19-related dips aside, fossil fuels are getting more expensive. As oil-producing countries tinker with the supply chain and the reserves of natural fuel continue to dwindle, the price of non-renewable energy will eventually become unsustainable.
When that happens, the homes and businesses that are self-sufficient in terms of energy will be much better off. If you live in an area that gets a lot of sun or wind, this is something you should consider.
The Advantages of Investing in Green Energy
The main advantage of investing in green energy is the market outlook. There aren’t many industries with as bright a future as renewable energy.
Green companies also benefit from government subsidies and tax breaks in many areas. Because many places desperately need green energy, ruling bodies are happy to incentivize its development in whatever ways they can.
To make the most of this, you should research political attitudes to green energy in a given country before deciding to invest in a company from there.
Depending on the investment you make, you might also be helping to fund a company that makes a real breakthrough in the field of clean energy. There are countless capable energy specialists that only need start-up capital to start building the energy solutions of tomorrow.
Investing in the Energy Solution of Tomorrow
When it comes to investments with future value potential, you might find it difficult to come across a better option than green energy. Our planet’s energy requirements are massive, and continuously growing, while non-renewable energy resources continue to dwindle.
Investing in green energy is therefore likely to be a successful strategy. However, to make sure you take on an investment that suits your goals and outlook, you’ll need to do a little research on the various available options.
To learn more about investment opportunities, check out our finance section.
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