Get Your Feet Wet With Utility Funds

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a report Thursday calling for worldwide investment in renewable energy totaling $20 trillion over the next quarter century. Details of the report will be debated when the General Assembly meets Feb. 11 and 12 to discuss climate change.

The 52-page report refers to the building of green electric energy generation capacity as "the heart of the climate mitigation effort." A new agreement among the 192 member nations is needed to prepare for the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

Leading the charge toward zero-emission electricity, the California Public Utilities Commission approved for construction a five-megawatt photovoltaic solar power plant to be built by Cleantech America Inc in Mendota, Calif. This facility is scheduled to begin providing emission-free renewable energy, during peak hours of electric demand, in the spring of 2009.

In a week when interest rates were lowered again by the Federal Reserve, investors sought the protection of dividend-paying utility stocks. As the U.S. dollar continues to slide, utilities denominated in foreign currencies looked especially attractive. ...