Whether from the Pickens Plan or CNGNow commercials, you've probably heard the relatively new buzz surrounding compressed natural gas, or CNG.

This could undoubtedly prove an immediate and viable solution for our petro-needs, as just about any automobile can be converted to a Natural Gas Vehicle, since the gas is abundant in the US - no dollars need travel overseas.

While it's slightly less efficient than refined sweet crude, the simple fact that it's almost 50% cheaper completely offsets this concern. From a consumer standpoint, I think what I like most is this: I could have a little home refueling station in my garage that would work for me, filling up my happy little Honda while I slept.

At this very moment, Canadian residents can travel down to a certified conversion center, pay the money necessary to convert their automobile, and be on their way. In the US, however, we’re not so lucky. It's taking a grassroots initiative -- one that I'm very proud to be a part of -- in order to ease the bottleneck holding up this not-so-new innovation.

For more on new sources of energy -- and obstacles to their adoption -- check out Alternative Energy's Looking a Little Green.




To participate in what may ultimately be a very robust industry, investors have to do a little digging in order to find the pure-play stocks. The 2 most popular are Fuel System Solutions (FSYS) and Clean Energy (CLNE); however, there's a little-known Canadian company now trading on the NASDAQ that's a better play than both of these put together - at least in my opinion.

Like finding a hidden nugget of gold, the lack of traction in this recent US IPO is a direct result of it being undiscovered - and therefore under-followed.