Clean Energy ETFs to Make Your Earth Day

By Eric Dutram of ETF Database

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Alternative energy remains a fast growing market segment not only in the world of ETFs, but in terms of total investment as well. Since 2005, investment in clean energy increased by 230% to $162 billion in 2009. Echoing similar trends occurring throughout the global economy, emerging markets have stepped up their push to become leaders in the development of alternative energy technologies. Last year alone, China invested $34.6 billion in clean energy, while the U.S. added $18.6 billion.

In addition, the World Bank recently released a report saying that the six major East Asian economies will together need roughly $80 billion in investment per year in order to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Despite these large numbers, clean energy only produces 6% of the world's power suggesting that there is still plenty of room to run for this up-and-coming industry. While there are a multitude of clean energy ETFs currently on the market, they can really be broken down into four general types; wind, solar, broad clean energy, and nuclear.

In the following pages, we profile the ETFs that fall into each of these categories, as well as the some of the miscellaneous clean energy funds: