The United States fell to the third spot in the clean-energy investment last year, based on the report released by the Pew Charitable Trusts on Tuesday. It appears that lack of national energy policy displaced the country from its previous position in terms of investment.

The US, which held the top place in 2008 and the second place in 2009, was overpowered by China and Germany. The report showed that the United States made a total of $34 billion in private investments in clean energy last year.

Although it rose 51 percent from the preceding year, it was still lower than the $54.4 billion worth of investments made by China and $41.2 billion placed by Germany.

It shows that United States fell behind when there were increased appeals to justify investments in clean energy. Last July, a comprehensive energy bill also vanished in the U.S. Senate. Washington, as well, was not able to pass mandates for utilities that wold mandate a minimum quantity of clean power.

Some analysts and environmentalists say it would have had increased the confidence in alternative energy companies to investment within the country. These deficiencies in national energy policy impaired purchases of solar and wind power, including other technologies.

Still, the United States acquired the top spot in terms of energy efficiency with a total of $3.3 billion investment.

Also, the good news is that the overall clean-energy investment reached a record high of $243 billion. This shows that global investment in clean energy has improved from recession.

Banks repossessed a record of 2.87 million homes in US throughout the year 2010 as the two year-old mortgage crisis continued to be a burden in the economy, according to foreclosure specialist RealtyTrac.

Foreclosures reached 2.23 percent of all housing in the country, which is equivalent to one out of 45 homes. This increased from 2.21 percent in 2009, the RealtyTrac stated in its report for 2010.

However, the rate of foreclosures smoothened in the fourth quarter when banks received rising legal challenges form the owners who got mad because banks took their homes under a haphazard process.

The report showed that December’s 257,747 foreclosure filing were 26 percent lower than the number of foreclosures during the earlier period of the year, and were two percent low from month to month.

RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said in a statement that the total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have simply surpassed three million in 2010 if it was not for a fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity.

However, Saccacio predicted that the estimated 250,000 foreclosures halted during the fourth quarter would be reopened in early 2011.

Foreclosure rates have increased in three states namely, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada. These were the three Sunbelts states that had wide real estate overbuilding and speculative investment during the property boom in 2002-2007.

In Arizona, foreclosures reached 5.7 percent of all homes while Florida reached 5.5 percent. In Nevada, one in 11 homes or 9 percent of  all homes was hit with a foreclosure filing last year.

Arizona and Nevada filed lawsuits against Bank of America denouncing it of deceiving cash-strapped homeowners in the middle of the global economic downturn.