A Climate Change for Renewable Energy? (Business Week)

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http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2006/pi20061114_378683.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_investing

Congress on Nov. 7, companies across the alternative-energy spectrum saw a pop in their share prices—a preview, they hope, of gains to come. Conventional wisdom holds that Dems are more sympathetic to developing alternative power sources and may crack the whip on fossil-fuel companies. After all, oil and coal outfits overwhelmingly favor Republicans with their political contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But the green-power brigade may be getting their hopes a little too high. New sources of energy may eventually pay off handsomely, but since many of the most exciting renewable-energy technologies are still in development or deployed on a limited basis, it remains a tricky bet.

The Democrats have done plenty to encourage alternative-energy bulls. A pre-election paper released by House Democrats calls for the audacious and improbable goal of "energy independence for America by 2020," a strategy that would depend heavily on new sources of energy. But with solar, wind, ethanol all growing in importance—and lesser known power sources like geothermal and ocean power elbowing in—investors have barrels of options.

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