Japan nuclear crisis prompts surging investor confidence in renewables

The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan, will profoundly change public – and investor – perception of nuclear power. Photograph: Abc Tv/EPA

As Japan's nuclear crisis unfolds, energy and environmental experts said that investor confidence in the technology was already beginning to wane, with renewable energy and fossil fuels the likely beneficiaries.
"Shares in renewable energy industries yesterday rose while most other energy stocks fell," said Clare Brook, fund manager of leading green investment group, WHEB, in London. "This tragedy comes on top of the oil price rise, the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and unrest in the Middle East, all of which has made renewables more attractive. We would expect investment in renewables, especially solar, to increase. Nuclear has become politically unacceptable," she said.
Rupesh Madlani, a renewables analyst at Barclays Capital in London agreed. "At the very least, we would expect significant investments in nuclear power to be delayed, or deferred, for one to two years."
But some leading environmentalists who have backed the technology as a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels said the accident should not slow new nuclear investment.

Read more : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/15/japan-nuclear-explosion-energy-renewables