As President-elect Obama toots his green-energy horn, the smart money in Silicon Valley is reversing its position on the moneymaking potential of wind, solar and geothermal power sources.

The pullback by Silicon Valley’s venture-capital elite is part of a complete overhaul of its investment criteria. The big surprise is that green investments are on the hit list along with other high-tech innovations — a reversal of the save-the-planet culture that has emerged in this Mecca of libertarian funding.

An article in today’s New York Times revealed that Silicon Valley VCs are now turning to shorter term opportunities versus the long-term returns that exemplify a healthy investment climate.

Alternative energy will get more critical assessment along with the Web 2.0 hype (think social networking), cell-phone advertising, massive enterprise software development and other long-term, big-ticket products.

Silicon Valley’s turn-around on green infrastructure comes at a time when the incoming Obama administration is pushing alternative energy as

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We had a chance to ask Randall Swisher, Executive Director of the American Wind Energy Association some questions about what he is seeing in wind energy trends and his overall outlook.nbsp;nbsp; Aspire: What surprised you about the renewable energy/clean tech markets in 2008? Were there any significant developments (political, technological, consumer-driven and/or industry-driven) that occurred which you werenrsquo;t anticipating?nbsp;nbsp; Swisher: Wind has been growing at such an explosive pace these last several years that I donrsquo;t think 2008rsquo;s record numbers are a big surprise, but they are notable.nbsp; This year, we expect about 7,500 megawatts of new wind capacity to be built in the U.S. which will make 2008 another year of 45% growth for the wind industry.nbsp;As this growth has occurred, wersquo;ve seen an increasing need to expand the supply chain for wind, including domestic manufacturing capacity.nbsp; This year, AWEA made a conscious effort to encourage new growth in this segment ...

December 15, 2008 ndash; We recently had the opportunity to ask Darryl Nakamoto, CFO of Hoku Scientific some questions about what he is seeing in the solar sector: Aspire: What surprised you about the solar markets in 2008? Were there any significant developments (political, technological, consumer-driven and/or industry-driven) that occurred which you werenrsquo;t anticipating? Nakamoto: We were pleasantly surprised by the extension of the Federal Renewable Energy ITC. We did not foresee its inclusion in the legislation aimed at stabilizing the credit markets. In our local market, we were also very pleased by the progress represented by the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which lays out a specific plan of action for the broad and rapid deployment of renewable technology throughout the state.nbsp; Aspire: Solar/PV energy costs between 21 and 38 cents per kWh to produce. We are still a ways off from reaching grid parity. When do you think that happens? And ...

Alt Energy and Clean Tech Markets 2008 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2009 Interview with Steve Strasser of Power Efficiency, December 10, 2008Steve Strasser is Chairman and CEO of Power Efficiency (OTCBB:PEFF), a technology company focused on developing energy efficiency solutions for electronic motors for industrial and appliance applications. Aspire: What surprised you about the renewable energy/clean tech markets in 2008? Were there any significant developments (political, technological, consumer-driven and/or industry-driven) that occurred which you werenrsquo;t anticipating? Please briefly explain.nbsp;nbsp; Strasser: I was surprised by the renewal of the tax credits. In addition, there we have a new administration and leadership in Congress that will make a greater effort to promote this industry, and energy efficiency in particular.nbsp;nbsp; What I am seeing with energy efficiency is that people and businesses have always been very interested in energy efficiency but the problem from an economic standpoint for businesses, as new technologies ...

Independent Investor Research Tools; Be ready for 2009 with Water Stocks Directory, Renewable Energy Stocks Directory, Insiders Corner and Weekly Top 25 Search Trends POINT ROBERTS, Wash., Delta B.C., December 15, 2008 - www.InvestorIdeas.com, one of the first online investor resources providing in-depth information on renewable energy, greentech and water, provides independent investors access to research tools for making investment decisions moving into 2009 with a new Obama administration. With Obama’s mandate for renewable energy and infrastructure spending and job creation, investors researching the sectors can use the stock directories and resources at Investorideas.com to make their investment decisions. Investorideas.com has upgraded memberships to include access to restricted content at the water stocks directory, the Michael Brush Insider’s Corner, the Complete Renewable Energy Stocks Directory and inside access to weekly top 25 investor search trends. The water stocks directory is part ...

Swiss industrial electrical giant ABB (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ABB"ABB/a) is at the heart of the infrastructure discussion right now. They also should be at the heart of discussion of solutions for energy efficiency and sustainability. The combination of the two puts ABB in a great position moving forward.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"A bit about the company/span:br /br /-span style="font-style: italic;"ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people/span.br /br /They operate in five segments: Power products, power systems, automation products, process automation, and robotics. a href="http://www.abb.com/cawp/abbzh252/a92797a76354298bc1256aea00487bdb.aspx"Click here for a description of each/a.br /br /ABB has attracted a lot of attention within the past couple of years because of its global reach, particularly in emerging markets. According to their website, in ...

Dayton, Ohio-based DPL Inc. (DPL), a diversified energy utility, sells electricity through its two principal subsidiaries: Dayton Power and Light Company (DP&L) and DPL Energy, LLC. DPL owns approximately 900 megawatts (MW) of natural gas and diesel peaking generation, and 2,850 MW of coal-fired generation.

DPL continues to benefit from its stable regulated electric power operations. The first nine months of 2008 saw gains on the sale of emission allowances, rein in of fuel cost through scrubbers, higher rates mainly in the retail and wholesale segments, and focus on debt reduction. However, increased purchased power costs, a renewable energy thrust in the new Ohio electric energy bill, and uncertainty over the successful allocation of new capital towards greater earnings power remain a concern.

Accordingly, we maintain a BUY recommendation on DPL common stock with a six-month target price of $23.00. Price appreciation to our near-term valuation target, coupled with the recently

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With the price of oil plummeting nearly $100 a barrel since July, people have something to feel good about during this difficult economic time period; however, it may lead to the dismissal of the peak oil theory. For those not familiar with peak oil, it is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached. After this point in time, the rate of production begins to steadily decline.

With the relatively cheap oil prices, the cost of bringing new oil into production is too expensive. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) has repeatedly warned for more than a year, excessively low prices will discourage investment in production, especially with the steadily rising costs of extracting and processing oil from increasingly difficult places. This lack of sufficient investment has serious consequences for the future supply once the global economy recovers from its current

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If there’s ever a reason why you should avoid investing in the electric-car revolution it’s a start-up called Better Place L.L.C.

Based in Silicon Valley, the company is negotiating with governments and car makers to set up networks of charging systems for electric-car batteries.

The New York Times ran a story today about how Hawaiian Electric Company endorsed the Better Place system of rechargeable stations and swappable batteries. Better Place already has garnered endorsements from Israel, Denmark, Australia, Renault-Nissan and a coalition of Northern California.

In essence, the endorsements constitute permission for Better Place to install its system.  Here’s how Better Place makes money for investors:

Drivers pay to access a network of charging spots and conveniently located battery exchange stations powered by renewable energy. – Drivers pay for the miles they drive. – Cars are made much more affordable—even free in some markets—by the business model’s financial and  environmental incentives to add drivers

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December 3, 2008 ndash; We thought we would publish this question, and our response, related to geothermal and the fact that it doesnrsquo;t get the same attention in the media and amongst investors that solar and wind seem to get:nbsp;nbsp; Question to Small Cap Pulse: Why is geothermal never mentioned when these folks speak of alt. energy options? Current administration has said they are behind Geothermal so folks should start to recognize and seek out those investments. Thanks.nbsp;T he reader referred us to an article ldquo;Alt-Energy Firms Sink with Prices, Credit.rdquo; Here is our response: nbsp; There is a bias in the media regarding geothermal, which seems to get looked at as more akin to hydropower than the more 'sexy' wind and solar sectors, while biofuels (at least in the U.S.) have a black eye. The lack of mention has more to do with the fact that the authors of these essays are ...