A year after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law it’s a good reminder that there’s opportunity in infrastructure investments in the U.S., particularly green technology or those that profit from the transition from fossil fuels to renewable-energy sources.
“This is a really good time to be investing in the sector,” says Michael McGown, head of North American infrastructure private markets at Mercer Alternatives. “There is a real need to transition away from carbon, and the fact that the U.S. government has gotten behind this makes it a win.”
Yes, there is some political pushback against the law—and there are still those who want to rely on fossil fuels and other traditional forms of energy production. But many experts point to the IRA’s transformative potential, and its impact on energy-transition spending in particular, as a good opportunity for savvy investors.
“I don’t think in my career I’ve ever seen a law have a greater impact on economic development in this country,” Gregory Wetstone, chief executive officer of the American Council on Renewable Energy, a clean energy lobbying group, said in July.
Wall Street agrees. Calling themselves “positive” on greentech opportunities, analysts at UBS wrote in July that they forecast US$40 trillion to US$50 trillion of global energy-transition investments in the years 2021–30, in support of net-zero efforts.
“We also expect to see technological developments and a broad-based move to global electrified vehicles (i.e., battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles),” the UBS team wrote in a note. “Such sales may account for a 30% share of the global market by 2025 and a 60%–70% share by 2030, in our view.”
Within the category of energy transition, there are some infrastructure themes that may appeal more than others, either because of their promise of innovation or potential monetary returns.
Mercer’s McGowan points to investments in carbon reduction and abatement, those dedicated to decommissioning old power plants to replace them with renewable or hybrid technologies, and investing in ammonia, which is often used to transport clean hydrogen.
More cutting-edge technologies are likely to offer investors better total returns, says Steven Novakovic, director of curriculum for the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association. In contrast, the more mature, stable, user-fee oriented investments are less return-oriented, but better bets for income investors.
“Generating, moving, or storing energy tends to be income-oriented,” Novakovic says.
Importantly, even though energy infrastructure may be capital-intensive, higher and rising interest rates aren’t likely to be a negative for the sector.
“High barriers to entry and the monopolistic positioning of many infrastructure assets tend to make them less sensitive to the economic cycle,” the UBS analysts said. “In addition, they can help stabilise income generation in a multi-asset class portfolio, particularly when accounting for long-term inflation. Since 2003, infrastructure has typically performed best when global inflation has been high (based on Cambridge Associates Infrastructure Index data).”
With interest rates higher across the board, some investors may simply choose to stick with safer fixed-income assets, Novakovic says. But, he says, “Ultimately infrastructure still has a diversifying effect for portfolios.”
Where to Invest
What are the best ways for investors to access the sector? Qualified investors, or those with at least a few million to spend, can put money directly into private-market plays, such as private-equity funds or even venture-capital funds, which are likely to pay the most in total returns.
There are, of course, typical concerns with private-market strategies, the UBS team said: “illiquidity, longer lockup periods, leverage, concentration risks, and limited control and transparency of underlying holdings. While risks can’t be fully eliminated, it is possible to mitigate them through strong due diligence and strict manager selection.”
They add a shout-out for global industrial stocks, writing that the “sector’s composition has become increasingly diversified and no longer behaves like a traditional cyclical play, in our view.”
In a July note to clients, J.P. Morgan Private Bank analysts wrote about the opportunities in the semiconductor industry driven by the IRA in addition to last year’s CHIPS and Science Act. Semiconductors, for instance, can be used in the process of decarbonisation, particularly for powering “smart” electric grids and other forms of infrastructure
“The semiconductor industry is poised for growth as chips penetrate the clean energy value chain: in photovoltaic solar cells, wind turbines, EVs, batteries, charging stations, and power grids,” the note said.
CHIPS alone allocates more than US$50 billion to subsidise domestic manufacturing of advanced semiconductors. “These government incentives, combined with the wide variety of uses for semiconductors, have pushed companies to ramp up supply,” J.P. Morgan said.
For investors who want to access a basket of energy-transition stocks, several exchange-traded funds may fit the bill. The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (ticker: LIT) “invests in the full lithium cycle, from mining and refining the metal, through battery production,” according to fund documents, while the Sprott Energy Transition Materials ETF (SETM) says it, “provides pure-play access to a range of critical minerals necessary for the global clean-energy transition.”
And for those who prefer bonds, or just want a more tax-efficient strategy, many municipalities are also issuing debt to fund cleaner energy. In June, the California Community Choice Financing Authority sold nearly US$1 billion in bonds to finance the acquisition of clean energy—including geothermal and solar-plus-storage—by the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California. The projects could affect as many as 3 million residents.
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The lunar flyby would be the deepest humans have traveled in space in decades.
It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.
On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.
The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment.
Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through.
“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.
“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.”
Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

What are the goals for Artemis II?
The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.
The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.
Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board.
SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission .
How is the mission expected to unfold?
Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.
The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon.
After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side.
Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego.

Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed?
Yes.
For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1.
Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II?
The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014.
Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before.
Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space.
Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same.
What will the astronauts do during the flight?
The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions.
Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.
On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks.
There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.
Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.
The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers.
What happens after Artemis II?
Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth.
NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible.
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