Identifying winners in the 'clean tech' stock market: SunPower, Covanta, Cree, Comverge .....

If you follow energy stocks, and have some money invested, these are interesting times (risky too) for anyone trying to guess which stocks look best in the long term.

When oil hit $75 a barrel in 2005, many "experts" predicted the price would quickly drop back to the $40 a barrel range. For that reason they argued that ethanol-blended fuel and other alternatives would struggle to compete with traditional fossil fuels. Well, they were wrong, and the future has never looked brighter for renewables.

Even so, working out which options are best - solar, wind, biofuels - and which companies have the best business plans, is no easy task.

I don't consider myself an "expert," so I won't hazard a guess. (I just hope my 401K managed fund is doing the right thing and has identified some good investments).

Instead, click here for a recent clean tech stocks analysis from The New York Times. The article features several companies including solar cell manufacturer, SunPower Corp, waste-to-energy electric company, Covanta Energy, LED lighting manufacturer, Cree, and Comverge, which provides power companies with electricity demand reduction technology.

- David Adams