HardAssetsInvestor

Written by Julian Murdoch  |

August 02, 2010

Alt Energy: Win, Lose Or Draw?

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Nuclear

When I last looked at nuclear in March (How To Play Rising Uranium Demand), PowerShares Global Nuclear Energy ETF (NYSEArca: PKN) was the fund to beat. Not much has changed.

PKN is still the best performer compared with the Van Eck Market Vectors Nuclear ETF (NYSE Arca: NLR) and iShares S&P Global Nuclear Index Fund ETF (Nasdaq: NUCL). Of course, this time, rather than having the highest year-to-date gains, PKN is merely down the least:

But like solar and wind, nuclear had a relatively good July, with all three finishing the month up slightly over OIL:

So, compared to solar and wind, nuclear's a relative bright spot in the alt-energy space. And it's all because of China.

China is now apparently the world's largest energy consumer, a dubious title it took from the U.S. just last week. As Lara Crigger mentioned in last week's podcast, China has 24 nuclear facilities currently under construction, with more to come. The World Nuclear Association predicts that China will reach 200 nuclear reactors by 2030—up from just 11 at the moment. That's a lot of construction coming down the pipeline.