In recent days oil has hit $100 USD per barrel. Coal, natural gas and oil shale are seeing similar rises in price. Resources are getting scarce, and this is fantastic if you already own some resources stocks, and may be a solid investment, but the growth potential isn't all that stellar. Besides, taking the long view, sooner or later these resources are going to dry up, no one knows when exactly, but it will happen. Alternative and green energy seem to be booming, but investment wise I don't see very many financially viable places to drop money yet, just a cavalcade of fantastic ideas. Cue the carney barkers with machines that turn water into electricity and the perpetual motion corkscrews.

Hamilton Sundstrand Corp. (NYSE: UTX) have a brilliant new idea for an alternative system to produce electricity,through the use of solar energy, molten salt and steam, that is already up and running, and seem poised for invenstors to get on board in a big way. In a press release today, Hamilton Sunstrand announced an exclusive partnership with SolarReserve (a subsidary of US Renewables) to sell this technology in the US. This is huge news, because this isn't some pipe dream idea, with technology under development. This is pret a porter energy, for the here and now.

The Nevada Solar One Plant, in Boulder City NV has been online since June of 2007 and is currently producing over 64MW of electricity and providing power to 40,000 homes.  Nevada Solar One uses an enormous array of parabolic troughs out in the desert to collect sunlight, and then uses molten salt to store this energy, which is later converted to steam in order to drive turbines and produce electricity. It even keeps working at night when the sun is down. Similar plants are currently under consideration in sunny Spain, and Israel, using the same green technology.

This new technology offers several great opportunities to sock away some cash. US Renewables Group, LLC manages several private equity funds running about $575 million USD, and invests in all types of alternative energies.  Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., a subsidary of United Technologies Corp., trades on the NYSE under the ticker symbol UTX, and since acquiring Rocketdyne owns exclusive access to this technology in the US.

In the current media climate, it's impossible to build a brand with advertising, but simple to build a brand through PR with great press.  Both Us Renewables and Hamilton Sundstrand are quickly becoming green darlings in the press, so I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more of these companies in the very near future. It strikes me that now would be a perfect time to throw some salt over your shoulder and pony up some cash to make a big score.

For the last few years, I've been following a really exciting project, called One Laptop Per Child. OLPC is one of the most forward thinking concepts to emerge in a long time, and it has finally come to fruition in the last few months. The concept is simple. Every school age child, everywhere in the world, should have a web capable laptop. On the surface, it seems like a no brainer, but upon further examination  the changes made possible by implementing this are nearly immeasurable. in 2008, a laptop is clearly much more than a computer, we all know that. It's a textbook that's always up to date. It's a scientific calculator that can crunch Pi out to more places than even a physicist can use. With the emergence of VOIP, it's a phone. It's a television. It's a jukebox. It's a cookbook. The list stretches into infifnity, with new uses emerging by the second.  There is no question in anyone's mind that this the way of the world.

The catch to altruism as always, is  finance. How can people, especially children, in the developing parts of the world, possibly afford to get connected? That's where One Laptop Per Child has truly made an innovation. In November, mass production of the Open Source, Linux Powered XO laptop began in earnest. Another laptop? What's so special about that? The XO costs just $199 USD to manufacture. It can be run on standard ac power, but can also be run by a hand crank for places where electricity just isn't an option. The extremely rugged XO can wirelessly spot other users near it, and form learning clusters and interactive networks. OLPC describes the XO as, 'a unique harmony of form and function; a flexible, ultra-low-cost, power-efficient, responsive, and durable machine with which nations of the emerging world can leapfrog decades of development'. With any luck, the manufacturing costs per laptop will be down to $100 USD sometime in the immediate future.

OLPC is a not for profit organisation, dedicated to providing computers to children the world over. So where's the investment hook here?  In the last few days, it was announced that OLPC's  Chief Technology Officer Mary Lou Jepsen, was leaving OLPC to take the ideas and technology she has developed and take them to the private sector. This is a rare chance to get in on the ground floor of an idea who's time is long overdue: The Everyman's Everything Laptop. Sure, picking the bones of a not for profit with a wonderful mission is a little harsh, but vultures have to eat too.  Keep an eye on Ms. Jepsen, because I guarantee you'll be seeing something groundbreaking from her in the next few months.