Was looking over a few watchlists I put together years ago and it appears the solar and wind sector have performed abysmally in the second half of this year.

Given a higher than usual level of risk inherent in the market with the European sovereign debt situation in 2011 I have not paid much attention to high beta flyers like wind and solar. I'm hoping someone can give me the scoop on why they're down so much this year.

It used to be these traded along with oil. As crude oil prices went higher so did alternative energy plays like wind and solar. Is the horrible performance of this sector simply a reflection of Europe and perhaps cut backs to government subsidies since Europe is the largest market for these two alternative energy mediums? Or, is there something else I'm missing?

Here are a few charts that show what I'm seeing:

Solar-
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=TAN...d=p19476234867

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=FSL...d=p48917564919

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=STP...d=p87113612075

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=JAS...d=p43461142513

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=LDK...d=p09497617176

Wind-
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=FAN...d=p52341878127

http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=VWD...d=p96909575363

You owe it to yourself to set aside 19 minutes to watch the following (pass it on):
http://youtu.be/jboTeS9Okak
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Perspective:
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreen....p_FrontPageMag
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/20...nta_claus_wins