On the plane back from the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference, my fellow columnist Nick Hodge was in a heated debate with another traveler about the logistics of ethanol . . . and it was driving me mad.

After four days of that talk I wanted nothing to do with anything alternative . . . at least just for just a few hours.

So I begrudgingly sprang for the $5 headphones to watch the in-flight movie and I’m glad I did, because a line in “Miss Potter” summed up the whole conference in a concise and eloquent way far beyond my linguistic ability.

“The most delicious part of writing is the introduction, because you never know where it will take you.”

Brilliant!

That’s exactly what green investing is all about.

While we may have some pretty good ideas about what will dominate the transportation market in ten or twenty years, we still really don’t know whether it will be all electric, hydrogen, ethanol, compressed natural gas or maybe some far out “When Santa Claus Attacked Mars” zero point energy gadget.

But, while all those lofty goals are down the road, we have some very serious peak oil issues that simply can no longer be ignored.

On April 5, it was announced that Mexico’s super giant Cantarell oil field was dying faster than believed. Cantarell is dropping production so fast analysts believe that Mexico will be an oil importer within the next eight years.

Keep in mind, Cantarell, once the world’s second largest oil field, produces one out of every 50 barrels of oil in the world and has only been online for a few decades.

The impact Cantarell’s decline will have on the world’s economy will undoubtedly be nothing short of devastating.

And if the potential for $70, $100 or even $300 oil isn’t bad enough, the impact it’s having on our environment is even worse.

I’m not talking about global warming, either.

While everyone seems to be moaning on and on about whether it’s caused by humans or a natural phenomenon, many are missing the point entirely.

There’s a much more immediate consequence to our oil consumption, and it’s not getting heat stroke in Greenland.

Did you know that spending one hour on LA’s 405 freeway exposes you to the same amount of ultra fine particulate matter--the carcinogens that won’t leave your lungs--as you would be exposed to in 23 hours off the highway?

Just one hour!

Mind you, some kids in California are faced with three hours on the bus every day sitting in traffic.

Taking your kids from West Palm Beach to Disney World in Orlando is the same as making your five-year-old man the barbecue with a Lucky Strike dangling from his lip.

So, while there’s a lot of debate going on about whether natural gas, biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol or whatever will be our long term solution, the bottom line is, something must be done now--and what can be done, beyond basic conservation, is hybridization.

I think Roger Slotkin, CEO of Odyne Corporation, put it best when he said, “In our world, plug-ins are already here.”

That’s right, here and now.

Nothing to debate, no new infrastructure, no need for CIA spies to infiltrate Santa’s North Pole testing grounds. (I can just imagine the PR nightmare of five civilian elves taken out by a breaching shotgun blast.)

It is true that the batteries could be better, but they are good enough now to do the job at hand.

That’s been proven across the board by companies like Enova (ENA:AMEX), Odyne Corp. (ODYC.OB), Advanced Technologies, Phoenix Motorcars, Tesla and Zap (ZAAP.OB).

From small neighborhood electric vehicles to hybrid busses, when those companies presented at the conference they attracted droves of fleet vehicle managers.

Probably more than I’ve ever seen at any of these conferences before.

And I’ve been to a lot!

In one heavy duty hybrid seminar there were at least twenty big-time fleet managers looking at purchasing test bed hybrid buses, trucks and conversions.

It’s getting serious folks, and the gatekeepers and decision-makers are finally getting serious about fixing what is definitely broken.

They don’t have a choice. They simply can no longer afford to do anything but embrace this technology.

Their jobs depend on it!

And that’s why we’re banking on big bucks this year from this sector.

In fact, by the time summer driving season begins, I’m going to present you with a list of hybrid and electric vehicle-related stocks that I believe will deliver the biggest profits for savvy investors who know how to profit from a coming crisis--before, during and even after!

So keep your hopes on the future but your sense in the present.

Field Palmer