We know by now that one of the main reasons for oil's recent dramatic rise was the weakening dollar.

Until September 2007—as Chris Nelder pointed out the other day—oil was rising for fundamental reasons, like tight supply or low reserves.

But we now know that a weakening dollar was more than partly to blame, and that oil's price had to increase merely to retain the same level of worth.

Simple logic, then, would deduce that same phenomenon is occurring across multiple sectors.

But as you'll see, that's simply not the case.

Weak Dollar Doesn't Affect Solar

Many armchair pundits have assumed that a depreciated dollar would impact the profitability of solar cell makers in the first quarter of 2008.

And yet, for the past week or so, many solar stocks have simply blown it out of the water.

Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTI), for example, climbed from $8.02 on March 20^th to $17.10 on March 31^st—a 113% run in just eight trading days.

Spire Corp. (NASDAQ: SPIR), for its part, climbed from $10.36 on March 20^th to $17.35 on March 27^th—a 67% explosion in only six sessions.

Rest assured that those types of advances aren't just to cover a dwindling dollar. They were rising for a reason.

Many solar cell makers have boasted that the dollar's waning simply hasn't had an impact on their core businesses.

Since the word's largest solar markets are abroad—Europe and Japan—many of the payments are made in currencies other than dollars.

On the other hand, the largest market for oil is—no surprise here—the United States.

Essentially, the oil market is spinning its wheels, charging higher prices for the same amount of product while the cleantech industries—solar in particular—pass them by.

Ironically, the same thinking that has led the U.S. to be a slow adopter of clean energy is now also causing acute inflation of oil prices. And prices aren't the only thing increasing. So is consumer disgust with the oil companies.

International investment guru Sam Hopkins is revealing his 3-pronged strategy for a China Olympic stock market surge. It's something you won't hear anywhere else, and it's only going to a select group of Global Growth Stocks readers. Don't miss out, join GGS today!

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Solar, Cleantech and Big Oil

By now, you're in tune with the groundswell against Big Oil. But you may not know that growing distain is translating into increased dollars for the cleantech industry.

And not just the cleantech industry, but the products being used a bridge to it—natural gas, carbon capture and more efficiency.

Just last week we saw truckers ride their brakes to show their aversion to high diesel prices.

But more and more, truckers and trucking companies aren't just slowing down to show their concern. They're beginning to pour millions into more efficient engines, hybrid big rigs and engines that run on alternative fuel.

We've also recently seen Congress grill Big Oil execs on their companies taking record profits while Americans struggle to keep their tanks full. A reoccurring theme during that questioning was why a greater share of their profits weren't directed toward cleantech investments.

And the most revealing news of late is a survey conducted by the Economic Development Authority in Fairfax, Virginia in which respondents actually preferred and energy solution to a cure for cancer.

The growing uproar against oil and for cleantech is now dictating cash flows as well.

Last week, 18 states opted to sue the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to limit greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning cars and trucks.

The same week, two new efforts to extend the solar Investment Tax Credit were introduced in the House and Senate. The extension of those tax credits would do wonders for cleantech profitability and stock prices.

In fact, just the introduction of one of those bills sent the entire industry soaring last Friday.

And the uptick continued today. Some cleantech plays flew 10% or even 15%.

Folks, you may be paying significantly more for the same amount of oil, but the cleantech industry is the exact opposite.

Oil companies now have to spend more to find every drop of oil they produce because, let's face it, we're running out.

In cleantech on the other hand, production costs are coming down. And you can still get good deals on many of the associated stocks that are ready to blow it out of the water.

Until next time,

Nick

PS. There are many technologies involved in building the bridge away from coal and oil. Pure green technologies like wind, solar and geothermal are delivering valuable solutions as well as hefty returns. And so are the stop-gap technologies like natural gas engines, energy efficiency and carbon capture. The Alternative Energy Speculator is profiting from all these angles. And my latest recommendation is up 85% in three weeks. To learn more about the Alternative Energy Speculator, click here.

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You forgot to say that most international Oil company are selling their products to Europe because they get more money ( in Euros than in the US $. Biodiesel is exported more ( >50% production) to Europe because Diesel has to contain at least 5% Biodiesel ( for emission control) in the EU. The Biodiesel industry is not more subsidized in Germany so some equipment has been sold to the US, The shortage in EU, the new environmental laws, and the lower price in the US “force” EU companies to buy it in the US.
Thanks, Bernd Soltmann

The sort of engines your article mentions have been around forever. back in the 1970's I installed large natural gas engines supplied by Caterpillar and Waukesha Corporations for total energy systems during the so-called energy crisis. These were basically converted diesels, and I am sure either company still knows how to do it if worthwhile.

Nick,

just wanted to express my opinion regarding te letter, and that I really enjoy the email and the info that it comes with, great work and keep it come in; many thanks from a loyal reader.

Regards,
Luis A. Tellez

4/8/08 Most of your letter is correct. Our weakening dollar has
very little to do with oil. OPEC sets prices. Most OPEC nations
do not like the world. They treat us as customers and they hold
oil for ransom dollars. I have been watching South Americal.
There oil is sold to us at $8.73 a barrel. So our big oil is
mixing this in the OPEC prices and selling us $8.73 barrels for
$109.00 a barrel. The excess monies never reach our shores. Solar
technology will replace oil as the solar industry grows. Our oil
companies started OPEC for a reason. Lock in all the Oil. They
never put one part of the puzzel together whereas they were
shooting off their own foot. The major reasons why oil cost so
much, is because of our presents in the middle east and emerging
solar technology. So far solar is only good for generating
electricity. This represents a total of 3% of oil imports.
Weaking dollars are all over the world not just the United
States. I call this dirty money for dirty oil. Nothing will
change unit we stop thinking about oil. The true answer is to
eliminate the use of oil world wide. No demand causes no need for
price!

hello. i'm fairly heavily into uranium stocks, because i believe that if it was good enough to provide the fusion necessary for the 'big bang', then it should be good enough, if handled properly, to provide the the nations of this earth with the realistic power that they need, from such a tiny power source.

Your article sounds like a rant against big oil. Now, I don't like big oil (I dislike many big companies) but the oil price is set by the market. I don't recall people expressing sympathy with oil companies in the days when oil was plentiful and the oil price was driven down so far that many oil exploration areas were abandoned because they had become uneconomic.
Sure, the oil companies are cashing in now, that's what businesses do.

A more constructive line to take would be to point out the virtues of a high oil price - nothing can compete with a high oil price, as a way of making alternative energy viable and getting us off dependence on oil. If you believe what you are saying then you don't have to demand that big oil put their money into alternative energy - the simple fact is that if they don't they will lose out. Let the market do its work, it can be a pretty brutal place.

Your article sounds like a rant against big oil. Now, I don't like big oil (I dislike many big companies) but the oil price is set by the market. I don't recall people expressing sympathy with oil companies in the days when oil was plentiful and the oil price was driven down so far that many oil exploration areas were abandoned because they had become uneconomic.
Sure, the oil companies are cashing in now, that's what businesses do.

A more constructive line to take would be to point out the virtues of a high oil price - nothing can compete with a high oil price, as a way of making alternative energy viable and getting us off dependence on oil. If you believe what you are saying then you don't have to demand that big oil put their money into alternative energy - the simple fact is that if they don't they will lose out. Let the market do its work, it can be a pretty brutal place.

It is estimated that as a stand alone source, the Bakken formation has enough shallow, sweet crude to fully fuel America's requirements for roughly 40 years - and all for $16/per barrel to extract.

Why not include this fact as part of your article's insights? I would also like to know why quality manufacturing groups selling HHO clean-fuel generating technology for gasoline & diesel powered vehicles are not being talked about in your newsletters.

Thanks.
Duane J. David