There is a giant bull market that hardly anyone knows about.

It has people grappling for a scarce resource. It has businesses fighting for rights to it. It has pitted neighbor against neighbor, and state against state.

Blackstone, one of the largest U.S. private equity firms, recently announced it's lobbing over $1.5 billion at a German offshore wind farm.

They're not doing it because they feel all warm and fuzzy inside. They're doing it to turn a profit. And I think that we should be heeding their advice.

I seem to remember an e-mail going around not too long ago about different politicians and oil CEOs "going into the confessional," so to speak.

First up was ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) CEO Jim Mulva, who said he did not believe the global oil supply would ever surpass 100 million barrels per day because of production constraints and new laws limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

There's been growing clamor lately about BIPV companies and BIPV Stocks. Which technology is the best? Which company should be invested in? And, for some, what is BIPV? Let's try to clear this mess up.

BIPV stands for Building Integrated Photovoltaics and refers to solar energy technologies that are integrated into a building's façade or roof. The idea is that solar cells would not be an addition to a building, but rather incorporated directly into the building materials by way of shingles and glass (windows), although some BIPV components can be retrofitted onto a building.

The ethanol boom has come and gone. But if you think the opportunity to profit from biofuels has come and gone as well, you're sorely mistaken.

You see, corn-based ethanol turned out to be a bust for many reasons. Its feedstock was in direct competition with food sources, its lifecycle carbon reduction was constantly in question and the energy return on energy invested [EROEI] turned out to be less than desirable--meaning the net energy produced was hardly more than the energy used to produce it.

Solar stocks may go down in the short-term. There, I said it.

With that out of the way, let's analyze how lingering recession fears and an arsenal of overpriced solar stocks in a recession could provide savvy investors with a huge long-term upside.

Well, the totals for venture capital spending in 2007 are in. And, as was expected, the cleantech sector came out a big winner.

At just about $3 billion, VC funding for cleantech jumped 70% over 2006 levels, even though total VC spending only rose 9.4%--a clear sign of the bright future venture capitalists see for the cleantech industry.

It didn't take long. Just a few years into the "green" movement we're already hearing cries for a green economy.

With the expiration of Kyoto in 2012, the world is rapidly searching for substitute. That's why over 10,000 officials and scientists met in Bali last month. But nothing was really accomplished at that meeting, whose result was essentially laying a framework to lay a framework.

We're only in week two of the New Year, and from the headlines being generated in a multitude of financial news camps one would think the entire country made a resolution to convert to green investing.

However, as we all know, that's not the case. A better answer to why there's been seemingly endless new stories touting the myriad benefits--both ecological and economic--of renewable energy is that, well, it's a good idea.

In the rush of headlines about looming water shortages associated with climate change, increased population and falling water tables, many have been discussing options and looking to find the best investments to exploit the water crisis.

And, more times than not, desalination emerges as the potential solution to the world's water woes. But for all the hype and chatter surrounding this expanding industry, what, if any, are the best ways to play it?