info:doi/10.1038/440407b 2006-03-23T00:00:00Z 2006-03-23T00:00:00Z Colin Macilwain © 2006 Nature Publishing Group Nature 440 7083 407 407 0028-0836 1476-4679 (?-mix:\s+\W+|\W+\s+|\s+|\/) says March energy fell 2005 partly United investment "In which States But company clean-energy although back Wilder their he index Bush's Energy January 125-million than thinks go somewhat State going years third slip level at ten Union fundamentals Robert WilderHill German fivefold Distributed cashing address wholesaler listed clean board source power head profits companies before won powerful Shares all sector slipping W there issued sources featured member financial weak rose compiles enjoyed strong 7 whose shares month Michael firms then reached 8 progress sector's president bullishly more slump 15 exemplified can time 2001 stock Systems earnings highest Finance direction shareholders quarter strength. contract speech since unexpected index's significant growth firm tracks advisory George 2006 Liebrich renewable early said London-based Massachusetts they Connecticut-based endorsement markets integrates He forecast different about grow around worldwide US$44 sees remain billion through Solar New after due Evergreen solid (?-mix:\.\s+(?=[A-Z])) And although Wilder sees Bush's speech as significant, he says that solid financial progress — exemplified by the $125-million contract that Evergreen Solar of Massachusetts won from a German wholesaler on 15 March — is the source of the sector's strength. Bush's State of the Union address, they then fell back somewhat But Michael Liebrich, head of London-based New Energy Finance and a member of the index's advisory board, says the fundamentals of the sector remain powerful. "In 2005, there was US$44 billion of investment in renewable energy worldwide — about 7% of all energy investment," he says bullishly. "In which direction is that going to go?" He thinks it can grow fivefold in ten years But although shares in clean-energy companies reached their highest level since 2001 around the time of George W January 2006 featured an unexpected endorsement of clean energy by the president of the United States Robert Wilder, whose company compiles the index, said that the slip was due partly to shareholders cashing in their profits, and partly to a slump at Distributed Energy Systems, a company that integrates power from different sources Shares in the Connecticut-based firm fell by a third on 8 March after it issued a weak earnings forecast The WilderHill index, which tracks clean-energy firms that are listed on stock markets in the United States, enjoyed strong growth through 2005 and rose by more than a quarter in the month of January, before slipping back in early March 0