A Good Week for Green Funds

With the holiday season upon us, it is important to recognize those people trying to make this world a better place. In honor of that goal, today's article continues my annual holiday tradition of reviewing the best- and worst-performing socially, religiously and environmentally friendly funds.

The best performer for the five trading days ending Dec. 20 is Powershares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio(PBW Quote). The exchange-traded fund added another 3.13% this week to an already phenomenal year.

Nearly half the fund is invested in alternative energy sources. The largest holdings include First Solar (FSLR Quote), Suntech Power Holdings (STP Quote) and Evergreen Solar (ESLR Quote).

Some of the biggest contributors to the fund's performance this week were two ethanol producing companies. As President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 into law, these companies' stock prices rebounded from what has been an abysmal year. The bill requires the quadrupling of alternative biofuel usage over the next 15 years. The fund's holdings of Pacific Ethanol(PEIX Quote) and Verenium(VRNM Quote) bounced 51.33% and 18.76%, respectively. ...