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.

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.