The image of the unemployed Australian who likes nothing better than surfing, beers and barbecue has been transformed by the strength of the economy, their currency and increasingly, a fast-rising alternative energy sector.

No question, Australian commerce has done very well over the last 10 years and no one seriously doubts that this will continue, pending the election on November 18th. We've all heard about the amazing mineral resources of this sparsely populated, continent-sized nation. Yet alternative energy investors should play close heed to their emerging alternative energy plays and also, assuming you're coming out of dollars, the ongoing strength of the Aussie dollar. That's because . . .

The AUD has just about doubled in value since April 2001 against the USD.

Anyway, here are those 3 new stocks (all listed on the ASX) and I have to say, they're a very eclectic mix;

Wind Hydrogen Ltd, which IPO'ed in September, has some proprietary technology for converting wind-powered electricity into hydrogen via electrolysis
ZBB Energy, which stands for Zinc Bromine Batteries - used in backup for intermittent renewables
Solco Ltd, which make solar heating, solar pumps and solar power products

Actually I hoped it would yesterday, because that was the condition for me appearing on Al-Jazeera TV and talking about it's impact on alternative energy etc. Perhaps it was too much to anticipate that on the day the IEA produced its annual World Energy Outlook.

Still, as I said in the Guardian;

"Higher oil prices always get more publicity, but since 2003, the cost of other energy commodities like coal, uranium and gas have risen much faster. All of these are far more powerful investment signals for alternative energy than the price of carbon ever will be"

Meanwhile, Altairnano, a company who's fast charging NanoSafe lithium ion batteries I greatly admire, has just been testing them out on a Fiat Doblo, pictured here. A Fiat by the way, is not highly rated for its reliability and consistently comes near bottom in customer service satisfaction surveys.