Jim Cramer, that wild man who vociferously picks or pans stocks on CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer,” says wind energy is a winner in his book of stocks.
This posting on TheStreet.com says the Mad Man calls wind power “the cheapest form of renewable energy out there”:
To help illustrate the many great companies involved in the wind power business, Cramer built a windmill from scratch, piece by piece, to show which companies make each component.
First, Cramer featured the wind tower business that makes the support structures for windmills. Here, he reiterated past recommendations of both Trinity Industries and Otter as the best stocks to own.
Next, Cramer featured the windmill blades, and said that Owens Corning has the best composite materials business for this high-stress application.
Cramer then focused on the nacelle, the structure that houses a windmill’s turbine. Here, he identified Woodward Governor, Thomas & Betts and Kaydon as the companies to own for turbines, bearings and the other components found in the nacelle.
Finally, Cramer said both MasTec and Thomas & Betts are the best companies for the wind power infrastructure needed to bring power from the mill to the grid.
Cramer put all of these stocks into the “Mad Money Wind-ex,” his index of wind power stocks. He also expects the upcoming American Wind Energy Association’s annual conference in Houston next week to have a lot of buzz about these same companies.
Members of the Canadian House of Commons have passed a nationwide biofuels standard that is expected to create demand for an estimated 500 million gallons of ethanol and 150 million gallons of biodiesel. The standard is noteworthy considering that Canada has oil reserves only second to Saudi Arabia and is the largest supplier of U.S. foreign energy sources (including oil, natural gas, uranium and electricity).
A $65 million combination biodiesel-soybean crushing plant is being planned for the area of Michigan known as “the Thumb.”
If the first phase of Moran’s biodiesel plant gets up and running, it could supply meal to the many large livestock farms in the Thumb, and sell the oil for use in food, depending on the market for biodiesel, [Keith Reinholt, field operations director for the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee] said.
Van Leeuwen and his team recently won the 2008 Grand Prize for University Research from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers for their work on the project.
“Instead of using ethanol as a scapegoat for increased food prices, we should be having a discussion about the business, economic and policy issues that are connected with the world of $130 plus per barrel oil,” said 
Stallman was joined by Tom Buis of the 
The plant began operation in October 2007 and VeraSun announced it would acquire the facility from ASAlliances in July 2007. The plant is one of 11 VeraSun ethanol production facilities currently in operation.
Organizers say the theme reflects the continued growing importance of corn as a keystone to a carbohydrate-based economy. The conference has been expanded to include new topics in wet milling, dry grind technologies, value-added products from corn and new uses for distillers dry grains (DDGs) that will be of value to ethanol producers and livestock interests.
Among the speakers will be 
Officials with 
While the rising price of crude oil might be taking a chunk out of your wallet, one analyst says it’s good news for ethanol and biodiesel.