Alternatives like solar, wind, and geothermal simply couldn't compete with coal, oil, and natural gas on cost. But that's all starting to change...

I've just spent the past few days in Vancouver at the annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium. It's always an interesting conference.
This year, Jim Rogers, of Investment Biker fame, spoke at the conference. Rogers, as usual, predicted the bull market in commodities has much further to run. He likes cotton, sugar, and coffee – all are 60% to 80% off their all-time highs. He advised attendees to pocket those little sugar packets that hotels have lying around for coffee and tea.
I spoke as well. The big theme to cover was "Seeking Profits in a Time of Risk and Scarcity," which is something I focus on all the time in my advisories. We own a number of scarce assets – everything from water rights out West, to oddball industrial metals, to office space in Tokyo.
Energy, though, is always the big subject at conferences right now. I think we've reached a point in this investment cycle where the focus will now shift to ideas that ease the high cost of energy through new energy-efficient products and materials.
Alternatives to hydrocarbon fuels also get a lot of attention. Wind, for example, is getting a lot of ink lately thanks to T. Boone Pickens' forceful editorials supporting it. Pickens, who made billions in the oil and gas patch, has focused his latest efforts on water and wind.
To tell you the truth, I haven't closely investigated clean energy since I started investing two decades ago. Alternatives like solar, wind, and geothermal simply couldn't compete with coal, oil, and natural gas on cost. But that's all starting to change...