The Best Alternative Energy Stocks to Buy Now

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Spending a Lot of Green

Obama has made no bones about his intention to transform America's energy infrastructure into a big, green machine. And with an overwhelmingly Democrat House and a supermajority in the Senate, the country's energy generation and delivery systems are likely to get greener and greener in the months and years ahead.

We've already seen a big push toward the creation of so-called "green jobs" in the latest vote by the House over cap-and-trade legislation, but the real sod on the green front can be found in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, i.e., the stimulus bill.

In February, the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. The bill included more than $70 billion in direct spending and tax credits for clean energy and transportation programs. In addition to the green spending spree, other legislation has been passed recently that's designed to help spur growth in the alternative energy sector.

Given the new green milieu in the country, the question for investors now becomes: How can we make money? Or to put it the way ChangeWave Investing founder Toby Smith once asked me, "How can we make green by being green?" That question led us to write an entire book on the subject, aptly titled Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution.

To be sure, conditions in the stock market, the alternative energy space and Washington, have changed a lot since the book's publication last year, but what hasn't changed is the need for investors to find the best-of-breed alternative energy stocks.

And with that in mind, let's take a look at five alternative energy stocks that just might make your portfolio a whole lot greener.

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