The Power of the Angry Voter

Believe it or not, it looks as if the Democrats may finally be on their way to growing a pair and stepping up to the plate. Granted, their new Clean EDGE Act of 2006 predictably appears months before an election, but nonetheless offers the tangibility that the party desperately needs to induce a possible ‘changing of the guard’ in November.

Now certainly the GOP will point to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as proof of their commitment to foreign oil reduction in response to this initiative. But higher gas prices and a new game of ‘who will flinch first’ will most likely force Republicans to up the ante. And I don’t doubt for a second they will. At least if they want to maintain control.

Though regardless of who wins this one, you can be certain of one thing – renewable energy markets have more to gain from this next election than anyone. And as investors, we’re going to milk it for everything we can.

Over the past couple of weeks, the renewable energy sector has been given a healthy reality check. Ethanol stocks especially have been knocked down to levels we haven’t seen since the months before Bush made his famous ‘America is addicted to oil’ speech.

But let’s face it – since last Tuesday, few stocks were able to chug along unscathed.

Fortunately, now that the smoke is clearing, this is one sector that will be heading right back up – and with a vengeance.

And it’s all going to stem from the one thing that has the power to move mountains – angry voters!

There are a lot of them!

Whether its utility rate increases (In Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware, customers of Pike County Light & Power, Delmarva Power & Light and Baltimore Gas & Electric will soon be hit with rate increases of between 59 percent and 73 percent) or the always volatile and escalating cost of gasoline, Americans are impatiently seeking solutions from their elected officials.

But here’s the problem – there isn’t one bumbling bureaucrat that can magically make significant amounts of oil appear from thin air. I don’t care what Ted Stevens and his ANWR cronies say. Nothing short of conservation and investments in clean coal and renewable technology will secure America’s energy infrastructure from the cancer that is foreign oil.

Politicians with any sense of reality know this – and those are the ones that are now beefing up their election-time rhetoric with convenient photo ops and ‘sincere’ press conferences staged outside gas stations.

And who can blame them?

As we’ve already seen, the market will ultimately dictate the fate of renewables. DC mouthpieces will just help speed things along. And you can be certain that any politician who ever voted for even one renewable initiative will take credit for what the market provided.

But that’s okay. Because while our bullsh#% detectors are fine-tuned to pick up on this stuff, we know full well that every time these buffoons recite their ABCs of renewables, our renewable energy stocks go up just a little more.

And that’s fine with me!

Of course, the real question is which renewable sector will benefit the most from the coming election?

No Summer Vacation for Ethanol

It is becoming increasingly clear that ethanol will be a point of focus this summer. And this coincides, conveniently enough, with the summer driving season.

From the President singling out ethanol as a key component in a strategy to break America’s addiction to foreign oil to Senator Clinton’s latest call to reduce the consumption of petroleum by up to 4 million barrels per day by 2025 by converting from oil to biomass, both the jackass and the bloated elephant will be draped in ethanol banners this summer.

But again, while Washington provides the hype, the market that will dictate which ethanol producers come out on top.

And you better believe that this year, it’s all about those new production facilities setting up shop outside of the Midwest.

As I mentioned on Forbes on Fox last weekend, for states outside the Midwest, it’s costing a fortune to ship this stuff. And that’s why those ethanol producers embracing this regional production concept are the producers that will blow the lid off industry expectations.

One company that you’ve heard me mention before is Pacific Ethanol (PEIX:Nasdaq). This is the company that’s setting up a new regional facility in California – the belly of the beast!

This state consumes more ethanol than any other state in the country. In 2004, Californians consumed nearly 1 billion gallons!

Now a few months ago, Bill Gates invested $84 million in this company. The stock shot up and Green Chip investors who took my advice and got in before the deal went through watched shares of this stock go through the roof.

Take a look:

But this is just the beginning. Because Pacific Ethanol isn’t the only regional ethanol game in town.

In fact, just last week I recommended another ethanol stock to Green Chip subscribers that’s also tapping regional markets. But this one’s doing it with cellulosic ethanol. So not only is this company cutting shipping costs – it’s also doing away with corn costs altogether.

When the Lights Go Out, the Sun Will Shine

The solar industry has quite a bit to gain this summer too. Because not only are high gas prices provoking voters – increases in utility costs are putting them over the edge.

While utility companies are being persecuted for massive rate hikes, solar manufacturers are gearing up for what could be a blockbuster year.

Thanks to the President’s Solar America Initiative and utility rate increases exceeding as much as 70 percent, solar is all of the sudden proving to be much more competitive than it was just six months ago.

And this trend is likely to continue as we head into these hot summer months – and electrical grids get pushed to their limits.

Add high oil prices to the mix and you’ve got yourself one hot energy sector.

In fact, we saw a bit of this yesterday when the price of light crude oil hit $72.00.

Concerns of how Gulf Coast refineries will fare in this year’s hurricane season, sent oil prices – and solar energy stocks north.

Evergreen Solar (ESLR:Nasdaq) shot up nearly 3 percent in afternoon trading and SunPower Corp. (SPWR:Nasdaq) shot up 5 percent.

This is just a preview of what’s to come, folks. So I do hope you take the opportunity to pick up some of these renewable stocks while they’re back down to reasonable levels. Because they’re not going to be there long.

For more on the renewable plays with the most potential this summer, visit Green Chip Stocks .

Until next time,

Jeff Siegel

Managing Editor, Green Chip Stocks