THE WILDER SIDE OF NEW ENERGY

The wilder these markets get, the better Robert Wilder's New Energy investment funds look.

Wilder has become an enormous success by appreciating simple truths. Example: Solar is a better investment than hydrogen fuel cells regardless of where the "fast" money is going.

Wilder is currently watching thin-film technology.

About his Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Project, he said: “I am not out to compete with any big hybrid companies but just to change perceptions…For years we have heard that plug-in hybrid technology ‘isn’t there yet,’ but that just isn’t true. We will be able to run this car for 20 miles on electricity alone (exclusively on solar if charged in the daytime) which is just fine for me because I don’t drive very far.”

Clean Energy Guru Takes On Wall Street; For his exchange-traded fund, Robert Wilder picks companies for their clean-energy technology, not their balance sheets
Susan Arterian Chang, November 2007 (IEEE Spectrum)

WHO
Robert Wilder, founder, WilderHill Clean Energy Stock Index (ticker symbol ECO); Diana Francis [Wilder], wife and former forest ranger; Joshua Landess, University of Chicago-trained economist;

Robert Wilder

WHAT
The WilderHill Index of New Energy and Clean Tech investment vehicles has risen 99.2% since it launched. From 1 year ago, it is up 33.4%. PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio (symbol PBW), an exchange-traded fund w/the same stocks in the same weights, holds $1 billion+.





WHEN
- The WilderHill Index launched 16 August 2004.
- PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio was named Best Exchange Traded Fund for 2007 by The Motley Fool.
- In 1999, Wilder and Landess collaborated on a stock index of low/zero-carbon technology companies.
- 2003: PowerShares backed WilderShares, the exchange-traded fund.
- Early 2006: Wilder/Landess and new Energy Finance collaborated on the first global clean energy index, WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation (80 to 90 New Energy/Clean Tech companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas)
- October 2006: The WilderHill Progressive Energy Index, companies w/emissions-reduction technologies
- 2007: PowerShares Global Clean Energy Portfolio (PBD) launched.

Also check the left hand column for PBW, PZD and PUW

WHERE
- These products trade on the American Stock Exchange. More recently, international funds and emissions-reduction companies were included and some of the funds began trading on the Chicago Climate Exchange.
- The Wilder/Landess work was posted on an internet site designed by Diana Francis [Wilder].

WHY
- To pick stocks, Wilder focuses on the company’s technology.
- His 1st venture in funds, the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, got 100,000 hits/month.
- WilderHill/WilderShares: 6 sectors, (1) renewable energy supplies, (2) energy storage, (3) cleaner fuels, (4) energy conversion, (5) greener utilities, and (6) power delivery and conservation.
- Each sector weighted according to technological relevance to clean energy and each company weighted by technology, regardless of market capitalization (unlike Standard & Poor’s 500). Wilder gives no stock more than 4% regardless of market cap size. Everything is updated at least quarterly.
- Wilder rarely visits companies. Instead, he studies science and technical journals.
- Example of a current pick: First Solar.
- Wilder’s home incorporates cutting edge New Energy and Clean Tech.

Wilder with the forest ranger/website designer and their solar panels.

QUOTES
- Wilder, on his years as a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara: “I was consciously and with great intent trying to be an okay student while motorcycling, playing soccer and lacrosse, and surfing. I was a nice Jewish boy from Baltimore living the California beach boy fantasy.”
- Wilder, on his academic work: “All my published papers were in environmental science and technology and marine policy…I wasn’t interested in researching or writing about voting behavior.”
- Wilder, on his first work with creating funds: “I felt I was a naturalist in the arena of science and finance…The beauty was [that] there was a lot of low hanging fruit. Typically the people running environmental investment funds at that time did not look at science and technology. They looked at quarterly earnings and ended up with the big waste-cleanup companies, with big earnings in very mature, noninnovative industries. And all the energy funds were oil, coal, or natural gas. Few of them were in solar or wind power or pollution prevention.”
- Wilder, on his research: “Many of our companies are close to the R&D phase and have an active portfolio of papers and articles on their emerging technology…”
- Wilder, on his home: “My wife and I embrace our nerdiness and our kids go along because they have grown up that way. It is nice to have a truly working knowledge.”