Chris B

Stocks to Benefit from a 'New Energy Economy'

LSB industries might be a better pick than waterfurnace because it is more diversified and larger than its pink sheets competitor. It has also been taking advantage of the credit crunch, using its healthy earnings and cash position to buy up its own convertable debt at a 40% discount. A few tax incentives or a drive to use their products on federal buildings could be a big boost.

"Nuclear, while non-polluting..."

Nuclear energy produces tons of radioactive waste that will be deadly for thousands of years, which I would certainly call pollution. A case could be made that this waste is easier to recover and store than the mercury and arsenic blowing out the smokestacks of coal-fired plants, but the additional downside of a statistically probable Chernobyl-scale accident or terrorist attack every couple decades more than makes up for that benefit. The off-balance-sheet taxpayer dollars required to protect nuke facilities, regulate their safety, and store their waste for thousands of years makes nuclear energy unaffordable.

Geothermal electricity generation by companies like Ormat, Western Geotherm, or Razer is the only "non-polluting," non-intermittent baseload option besides, arguably, hydroelectric.