Taking Stock of Green Energy Options

It’s easy for eco-focused investors to get drawn into the hoopla. A scan of the landscape of publicly traded alternative-energy companies shows thrilling and exotic possibilities. Depending on which eco-conscious pundit is talking, an investor is bound to wonder if the U.S. economy might one day run on wood chips, algae, corn, hydrogen, manure, clean coal, the tides, or heat generated beneath the surface of the earth.

As with biotech, it can take seven or eight years to see whether a technology will win acceptance from the market. Then, even if the investor has backed the right horse

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