Energy Sunday

The NY Times has learned about the recent run-up in share prices of small companies that specialize in solar energy devices. These companies' prices are volatile and I would guess already too expensive, but finally attracting the attention of mainstream investors should be beneficial for the sector.

Also, with gas prices rising after the havoc on the Gulf coast, there is renewed interest in ethanol-gasoline blands, though this can only be cheaper than gasoline because of government subsidies. More exotically, scientists are looking at genetically engineering algae to release burnable molecular hydrogen when they split water molecules during photosynthesis (via PeakOil).