It’s the oil industry’s version of War and Peace.

I’ve spent this week poring over the 2009 volume of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook.

Last Sunday morning, I embarked on a spirited 60-mile bike ride with a few like-minded 50-somethings. Our route took us along the beautiful Delaware River. The Delaware – named after the Indian tribe that crossed its waters – defines the north-south border between New Jersey and my home state of Pennsylvania. As we stopped to enjoy the view, we heard the unmistakable whistle of a steam locomotive. We looked up and there it was – New York, Susquehanna and Western’s number 142 – a steam locomotive pulling a line of cars along the Delaware.

One hundred years ago, engines like this – and the rails they ran on – were the backbone of the railroads. When it came to freight and passenger transportation in the United States, railroads were the only game in town.

New York City has a problem.

In addition to other hazards, the threat of another terrorist attack is an obvious, ongoing danger to one of the most populated cities in the world. But that’s not what I’m talking about here.

What do your cell phone, a Euro banknote, superconductors, fiber-optic communications systems and the motor for your car’s windshield wiper all have in common? They (and thousands of other everyday products) contain minute quantities of some of the most obscure chemical elements on the planet.

They’re known as “rare earth metals” or simply “rare earths.”

It’s one of the fiercest debates in the world – both politically and economically.

That’s because it concerns the world itself – namely, how to protect it from harmful environmental emissions and global warming.

What do Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), [[IBM]], AT&T (NYSE: T) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) all have in common?

The obvious answer is that they’re four of the most successful technology companies on the planet.

The “Smart Grid.”

You may have heard the media toss the term around recently. But ask the next 10 people you meet to tell you something… anything… about it, and I’ll wager that you’ll get deafening silence.

Hawaii: Pristine black sand beaches… surfing… spectacular volcanic eruptions… and miles of pineapple plantations. If you are like me, this is what comes to mind when you imagine Hawaii.

What may not come to mind, though, when you think of America’s 50th state are its energy resources – and specifically, the fact that it gets 77% of its power from oil-fired power plants. That’s a unique statistic within the United States. Coal-fired plants provide 14% of power, and the remaining 9% comes from renewable sources like wind and solar energy.

We’ve all heard this from our parents: “Spend what’s left after saving, instead of saving what’s left after spending.”

Or perhaps this was drummed into your head: “Always save for a rainy day.”

Every country needs a few basic ingredients in order to achieve healthy, sustained economic growth.

• Reliable sources of energy.
• A modern, efficient infrastructure, consisting of a good road and rail system, reliable power grids and high-speed digital communications networks.

And if a country wants to be considered a “global economic powerhouse,” it’s nearly impossible for it to do so without these critical building blocks.

Back in February in this column, I reviewed Praxair (NYSE: PX), one of the dominant players in the specialty gas sector.

You may recall that Praxair – a global, Fortune 300 company – is the largest industrial gases company in the Americas, and the world. With 27,000 employees in 30 countries, Praxair supplies its products to a wide array of customers around the globe.

Competition – as I used to say to my sales force – has a way of keeping competitors honest. The real beneficiary of a healthy business duel, however, is the customer. Particularly when the competition gets down to price.

Nowhere is that more apparent right now than in the solar energy industry. Over the past few weeks, solar panel and module prices have been dropping through the floor. The reason can be summed up in just one word: China.

Regular readers, my colleagues and just about everyone else I come in contact with know I’m a big fan of Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). I’ve written about it here on several occasions, my family and I own a number of its computers, and we’re all “packin’ iPhones”.

So when it comes to reporting on it, you could easily come to the conclusion that I’m about as far away from an unbiased journalist as you can get.

Ten years ago, it would be hard to imagine a more stable investment than timber, or those Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that bought millions of acres of harvestable trees.

The 1990s were an ideal period to have timber as an investment:

Sometimes, all the reasons others are shunning a company are the same reasons to initiate a position in it.

Take Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED), for instance, a deep-discount retailer with 600 stores in 15 southeastern states. Investors have punished the stock, sending it to levels that value it less than half of its competitors.

Taxes are going to go up. I’m not happy about it, and I’m sure most Americans are as steamed as I am.

But here’s the stark reality: The money Uncle Sam gets from personal taxes, payroll deductions, corporate taxes and various other duties is a little more than half of the money it’s spending. The difference (deficit) has to be made up either by reducing spending, increasing taxes, or both.

Much has been written about the benefits of owning oil and gas Master Limited Partnerships, or MLPs as they’re commonly referred to.

They trade just like stocks, but are structured as limited partnerships instead of as corporations. Buyers purchase “units” instead of “shares”. This is done primarily to avoid corporate taxation, and allows more of the MLPs profits to be passed onto the unit holder.

Flying home from our conference in Victoria, and looking out the window of the airplane taking me home, I begin to understand the vast opportunity we have by looking over the rooftops of homes and business parks alike.

The thought that jumps to mind is that solar power isn’t going to be “alternative energy” for much longer.

Around my circle of friends, I’m known as “Mr. Fixit” – of course, when your house is 200 years old, you almost have to be.

Fortunately for me, taking things apart and putting them back together again – in working order, of course – is something that comes naturally to me. Most of the time, I have the tool or tools to handle the job. If not, I’ll either buy it or rent it, depending on the likelihood of my ever needing it again.

Lots of Gas, Lots of Profits

Inergy, L.P. (Nasdaq: NRGY) – one of the fastest growing limited partnerships in the country – distributes, markets and supplies propane at both the retail and wholesale levels. It also owns and operates two natural gas storage facilities, an LPG storage facility and a natural gas liquids business.