While braving the Washington, D.C. icebox for seven hours on Inauguration Day, I had the fortune to get an inside look at Cleantech and Green Business for Obama.

If you're unfamiliar, they're a network of new energy high fliers who are ready to implement the 44th president's ambitious energy goals.

I shuffled along for several hours with Jeff Cramer, Executive Committee Coordinator for Cleantech and Green Business for Obama (CT4-O). The lines stretched as far as we could see and moved at a snail's pace. But even when a thousand or so of us realized we had just spent 90 minutes in a line that went in a circle, everyone kept their cool. There in the bone-chilling cold, Jeff and I swapped ideas about investment opportunities that are already developing in the new administration.

As the President said in his inauguration speech, "each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet." He went on to promise newly built electric grids, and that we would "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

Jeff told me that CT4-O has inspired the creation of a new bipartisan organization called the Clean Economy Network. The CEN will engage cleantech and green business leaders from around the country to connect to politics and inform federal leadership to accelerate the development of the clean economy. Among other concrete steps, CEN's knowledge will contribute to pending energy and climate change legislation and action by the Obama Administration. 

The network will act on a local, state, and regional level as well as national, recognizing that most of the best ideas and solutions are developed and tested in cities and states before they necessarily reach D.C. decision makers. 

The network will connect local leaders to Washington to help replicate and expand the best approaches for the reinvigoration of America's economy through cleantech.

As it already stands now, CT4-O is made up of overachieving individuals who all see the same big picture the new leadership sees...

Investing in CleanTech and the Stimulus Package

As you know, the national grid is in danger of severe transmission failures and capacity shortfalls in the near future. So cleantech startups and traditional utilities are looking forward to maximizing $11 billion in smart grid funding that House Democrats want to include in an upcoming stimulus package.

President Obama was scheduled to meet with House Republican leaders on Thursday to nudge them towards agreement on stimulus plans, and we hope they don't buck too hard when it comes to cleantech funding. The reasons are partly selfish if you think as an investor, but as a concerned citizen it's even more pressing to get underway quickly.

As it does with defense firms, telecommunications companies, and Big Pharma, the prospect of government spending projects helps cleantech venture capitalists justify more outlay. They're spending more on R&D that will bring the best ideas to government bidding contests, and creating successful companies in the process.

V.C. Capital Infusions Anticipate Government Spending

In 2008, venture capitalists poured nearly $9 billion into cleantech hatchlings, and the 2009 totals may be higher. Even though bank credit is tight, serial entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and elsewhere are using their own liquidity to invest in energy efficiency advances and new fuels.

We should note, however, that investments in cleantech in this turbulent economy should be made with care. Throwing every half-baked idea up on the NASDAQ is a recipe for disaster whose results we've already had to digest once this decade.

Green Chip Stocks and CT4-O are not promoting cleantech because it's hot on CNBC or because it's an in-and-out "inauguration play." Those who glom onto momentous developments like renewable energy grid parity, only to drop them at a whim, are completely missing one of the key points on why Obama got elected.

The people voted, among other reasons, for a collective and sustained effort to change the nature of America's consumption culture. Former Merrill Lynch head and Bank of America short-timer John Thain got shoved out of his position Thursday, which in turn is a sign of changes in the way money moves in this country.

Add a full-scale energy transformation into the mix, and you realize that this week's inauguration was only the crest of a tidal wave that is about to break.

Regards,

Sam Hopkins
International Editor,
Green Chip Stocks

P.S. My colleagues, Jeff Siegel and Nick Hodge, will be speaking at the World Money Show in Orlando from February 4-7. Coincidentally, one of their session topics is the benefits of an Obama administration on the cleantech industry. Click here to see how you can attend today.