It wasn’t that long ago that nuclear energy was a pariah, politically and environmentally.

But with climate change and and energy crisis headlining our political campaigns and agendas, nuclear energy just might be back on the table… And not only here in the U.S., either.

France’s GDF Suez (GSZ:Paris), newly-formed energy group, and Spain’s Iberdrola (IBE:Madrid) just announced that they will join forces to build nuclear plants in the United Kingdom… As have German companies RWE (RWE:Hamburg) and E.ON (EOA:Hamburg).

But friendly European countries teaming up to build nuclear power plants isn’t the only card in play. Nuclear energy is on the table in Russia, China, and Iran.

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For those of you that remember me from my days as editor for Material Profits, the commodity-based newsletter that has since evolved into Christian DeHaemer’s BreakAway Investor, you will also remember that I had quite the “green crush.”

My first international trip for Taipan Publishing Group was to a tiny island off the coast of Denmark called Samso. It had won a contest to participate in a ten-year race to become 100% renewable energy-based.

This year is the tenth year, and the tiny island has been more than successful. It now sells electricity back to the mainland.

So you can say that I was duly enthralled, and my model portfolio was packed full of alternative energy companies… most of which performed extremely well. (To be fair, some did perform poorly.)

My recommendations didn’t make me many friends…

I remember fondly the insults slung via email calling me a leftist treehugger that should just stick to investment picks instead of researching and recommending pie-in-the-sky renewable energy companies.

Well, as climate change and energy independence have headlined a number of events during the past two years of presidential campaigning, I’m happy to see alternative energy back in the investment ring.

Surprisingly, many top-notch European companies see the U.S. as a major growth region for the renewable energy business, and they are coming over in droves to set up shop.

Let’s take a look at just one of the technologies that’s already being employed around the world: wind power.

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On Monday, September 1, 2008, the lights in Caracas and eight surrounding states in Venezuela went out.

An 800,000-volt transmission line failed, and five gigawatts of power were eliminated from the powergrid. A press report said that Zulia, the Venezuelan state a the heart of the oil industry, was “the state most affected by the blackout.”

Now, the national power company, Corpoelec says it will spend $13 billion in power investments for thermo and hydro plants. More than 30 new projects are expected to be funded.

Transmission and distribution networks will account for roughly half the number of new projects. But there are some rumors of diversification in the OPEC member’s power generation. In fact, Menpet, Venezuela’s energy and oil ministry, has installed 779 solar panel systems and is planning a solar panel factory.

And last year, Chavez said he would use oil money to build an offshore wind farm on the Caribbean coast.

Turns out, Venezuela is not alone when it comes to renewable energy investments…

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