The movement founded by people pejoratively labeled as tree-huggers, enviro-Nazis and hippies has now been joined by governments, multinational corporations and the armed services. Here’s a rundown of recent news stories that demonstrate how Cleantech is moving forward, both as a concept and burgeoning industry.

Estimates from experimental tests indicate that the process can recover as much as 80 percent of original oil-in-place while partially upgrading the crude oil in situ.

To profit from the boom in deepwater spending, focus on Brazil, my favorite region in The Deepwater Golden Triangle.

But building a national Smart Grid is a very daunting task, but regional coalitions comprising industry, government and consumers are banding together to push for smaller, local Smart Grids.

Although natural gas prices recently hit a seven-year low on the spot market, the action in longer-dated futures and gas-related stocks suggests that a marked improvement is around the corner.

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of speaking the Indiana Energy Conference for the second consecutive year. I recap some of the highlights and share my take on climate-change legislation and its implications for investors.

The end of easy oil remains arguably the most powerful driver in the sector, though the unprecedented drop-off in demand that occurred in the wake of the credit crisis and resultant economic dislocation has obscured this long-term trend. But with the global economy and credit markets now on the mend, this theme should come back with a vengeance over the next few quarters.

All signs continue to point to a stabilizing US economy, with moderate growth potential in coming months.

The Middle Kingdom, its leaders focused on maintaining social order through managed economic growth, is deploying its vast excess currency reserves through SOEs such as PetroChina and sovereign wealth funds (SWF) such as China Investment Corp (CIC) to buy overseas commodity assets.

This “best of times” for the renewable energy sector, of course, corresponds to a challenging period for producers of conventional energy, particularly of the oil, natural gas and coal that fuel more than three-quarters of America’s power plants and nearly 100 percent of our transportation.