Publisher's Note: This week, Green Chip Review's Nick Hodge and Sam Hopkins are on the research trail. Nick is in the San Francisco area at the GreenBeat 2009 venture capital conference, and Sam will be rubbing elbows with policymakers on Capitol Hill on Friday during the American Council on Renewable Energy's Phase II Policy Forum. They'll both have special reports for you next week. Today, though, Sam takes you inside a "green" infomercial that could lead millions off the track of real clean energy investment profits.

Good investing,

Jeff Siegel

Publisher, Green Chip Stocks

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The Truth Behind this "Green" Media Scam 

We've gotten a lot of questions at Green Chip Stocks lately about the "Green Millionaire" ads running on TV and online.

Namely, people ask, "Is this 'Green Millionaire' thing for real?"

The answer:  Lowercase "green millionaires" are very real. They're entrepreneurs and investors who have sown their own money and harvested value from the global transition to clean energy.

The uppercase "Green Millionaire" you see on the web and during commercial breaks on CNBC is, by contrast, an insulting fraud.

Now, we're not territorial about the word "green."  But a simple search reveals that the big book being touted in the Green Millionaire ads isn't a book at all — it's an e-book: more like a pamphlet you download from the net.

Second, the tips that could make you a millionaire by using that book are more Benjamin Franklin than Nigel Williams, the man behind the media campaign. If you drive less and insulate your home, you'll save money. If you buy a diesel car and convert fry grease to biodiesel, you'll save money.

Brilliant, right?

But where does that get you?

From all indications, reading those exact tips in the Green Millionaire book will get you nothing more than an e-mail subscription and recurring billing that is — by several published accounts — difficult to cancel.

People who want to save money (and yes, even make money), while doing their part to contribute to a cleaner energy economy, can invest in a plethora of listed companies.

The information that the "Green Millionaire" site and book claim to break as "hot tips" is neither hot nor tip-like in nature. Readers don't gain an edge, and they have no real interactive relationship with the Green Millionaire setup. This is public information, available all over the internet at government websites like www.epa.gov and even at Google's corporate Green Initiative site.

Green Chip Review, on the other hand, is a free e-mail newsletter delivering information about what kinds of investment opportunities are out there in cleantech, renewable energy, water, and infrastructure — information we provide without a bogus $1 processing fee for you to download a PDF or receive an e-mail.

We have a broad web presence on www.greenchipstocks.com, www.twitter.com/greenchiponline, and in all of the websites and newsletters that pick up our material on a regular basis.

Green Chip Stocks, Green Chip International, Alternative Energy Trader, and Alternative Energy Speculator are all stock recommendation services that you can choose to subscribe to in order to receive timely, specific information on carefully selected companies and their shares.

You can learn more by checking out our subscription services here: Green Chip Premium Portfolios.

Or, just keep reading Green Chip Review at no cost whatsoever, and we'll keep you supplied with top-notch market info.

As one GCR reader summed it up after a recent report:

"Great article and summary. What's really sad is that I have been getting better background information from you guys than I have from the news media and our elected leaders. Keep up the great work." 

You can let your friends who are interested in green investing know to steer clear of the Green Millionaire scam by forwarding this e-mail.

Regards,

Sam Hopkins