Does Obama's win spell victory for ethanol and carbon trading?

As Democrat Barack Obama handily won the U.S. presidency Tuesday night, cleantech insiders began projecting corn-based ethanol, carbon trading and transportation as winners too.

Obama and opponent John McCain were both considered as having favorable policies toward cleantech, said Neal Dikeman, founding partner at Jane Capital Partners.

"With McCain or Obama, we'd have a president with some level of appreciation of clean technology," Dikeman told the Cleantech Group. "There will be no long-term effect on energy policy with an Obama win because, quite frankly, they're not that far apart."

Dikeman said neither candidate took a strong-enough stance on energy independence. But some differences exist, Dikeman noted, including Obama's longstanding support for corn-based ethanol.

Of the two candidates, Obama has also advocated a more-aggressive climate plan with a massive carbon-trading system, Dikeman said. It seemed unlikely late Tuesday (before all results were in) that Democrats would pick up the 60 votes needed to ensure a filibuster-proof Senate for a climate change bill, and Dikeman said he thinks Obama would likely have to scale back some of his policies to get a plan adopted.

However, Josh Becker, a founder of venture firm New Cycle Capital and co-chair of Cleantech for Obama, said he thinks the Democrats can easily pick up the extra votes across the aisle in order to get significant legislation passed on climate change.

"I feel these issues are bipartisan issues," he said. "If we can't get some Republican support then we’re not doing our job."

An Obama victory also bodes well for transportation technologies and nationwide renewable portfolio standards, which mandate that utilities produce a certain amount of energy from renewable sources by a given date, he said.

Becker said an Obama presidency could give more-consistent government regulations for the sector, potentially by extending the current one-year tax credit for wind power.

Obama officials said late Tuesday that the president-elect planned to announce his chief of staff by noon Wednesday. The names of other cabinet members could be soon to follow, but Becker said it's too soon to be discussing names.

"We're very confident as a community that Barack Obama will appoint people who want to see renewable energy flourish, both from the private and public sector," he said.

Although Cleantech for Obama will cease to exist after the election, the group plans to help fill seats in the administration, Becker said.

Becker complimented the job done by former Assistant U.S. Energy Secretary Andy Karsner, who resigned in August, and said an ideal administration would invest more in national laboratories to develop technologies that can be commercialized.