In the waning days of the Great Depression, FDR Signed the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 into law, heralding a new era of growth and prosperity for the nation’s heartland. While electricity was generally available in cities and towns, it was nearly unheard of on farms, ranches and other rural areas. The REA brought electric power to these sparsely populated Midwest farms and ranches. Today the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.

As President-elect Obama toots his green-energy horn, the smart money in Silicon Valley is reversing its position on the moneymaking potential of wind, solar and geothermal power sources.

Alternative-energy investors have pointed to China as the fastest way on the planet to make money in the green revolution. I guess they never went beyond the executive summary of a recent report titled “The Green Evolution – Environmental Policies and Practice in China’s Banking Sector.”

Jim Nelson says savvy investors can make huge profits in the first 100 days of the Obama presidency. Three sectors facing a makeover under the new administration are biotechnology, renewable energy and defense. Jim says new legislation and funding could mean big gains for these three companies…

In the age of the sound-bite, when one of green energy’s high-profile advocates backs away from a $2-billion project, you know that alternative energy is on life support.

Martin Hutchinson analyses what a Democrat landslide means for investors. He says nuclear and clean energy stocks, auto manufacturers, generic drug producers and muni bonds are a “buy”. But fossil fuel companies and financial institutions should be avoided.

How will the stock markets respond to a new US president? Martin Delholm says the impact will be less than some people expect. But some sectors will benefit from a regime change. With Obama the clear favourite to win, Martin recommends three clean energy stocks likely to gain from new subsidies.

The British government gave a huge boost to wind energy stocks this week, opening bidding for offers to build up to 25 gigawatts of offshore wind turbines by 2020 — triple the amount previously planned.

The European Union has set a target date of 2020 for 20% of its energy to come from renewable sources. The British Wind Energy Association said Britain will contribute 15%, meaning up to 40% of the country’s power will come from wind energy by the target date.

“The richest investment opportunities can be found in the fast-emerging alternative energy sector,” says Mike Burnick in The Offshore A-Letter.

T Boone Pickens’ recent oil price forecast — he sent oil surging last month with a forecast of oil at $150 a barrel by the end of this year — may not have come true yet, but that diminished the legendary oilman’s status as oil oracle among investors.

When he’s not making oil price forecasts, Pickens is busy investing in energy. He recently announced that his investment vehicle Mesa Power was putting $2 billion into a Texas wind-energy project, boosting clean energy stocks in the process and delighting the wind-energy lobby.

The PowerShares Clean Energy ETF (PBW) debuted in April 2005.