Amazing what gas at $3.50 a gallon will do. For starters, it might just be solving some of Puget Sound's chronic traffic woes. My main traffic guru, KCPQ-TV's Adam Gehrke, says he can't swear to it, but it certainly seemed during February and March, that traffic on I-5 was lighter.

"One contributing factor is certainly the cost of gas," says Gehrke (who is a wicked karaoke singer, by the way). "I definitely think folks are starting to change their driving habits."

High prices for petroleum-based fuel are also spurring a lot of research into alternatives.

Alternative energy is another one of those high-stakes games that's hard for most investors to play. There aren't many publicly traded companies, and while many of the private ones are eager for investment, you've got to be willing to risk a lot, says Rebecca Lovell at Seattle's Alliance of Angels. Most angel investors are investing $10,000 or $15,000 - the companies really need about $10 million. It's a high-risk field, she adds, and returns might be a decade away. "Capital intensive, time frame and high risk - it's just not the space for angels."

That said, there is an angel investment group - Northwest Energy Angels - that's focused on the sector. And if you've got a couple million to play with, and you'd like to save the planet - with a shot at a healthy ROI - there are a lot of Washington companies into various forms of the alternative energy business, which at least some Northwest investors think will be a recession-proof play.

Imperium Renewables is one, known for its Grays Harbor biodiesel plant, its collaboration with Boeing and Virgin Atlantic on biofuels for jets - and for last winter's surprising departure of CEO Martin Tobias, which was followed by a decision to withdraw a planned IPO.

And, recently, Infinia in the Tri-Cities also recently completed a $50 million financing package that will help it develop advanced solar-powered electrical generators.

Or the individual investor could invest in companies that touch on alternative fuels: like Weyerhaeuser, in a joint venture with Chevron to develop biofuel from wood waste (some pundits think that wood-waste technology has the potential to benefit many forest-product companies), or Florida Power & Light, which operates the huge Vansycle and Stateline wind farms near Walla Walla.

"The Pacific Northwest has a bright future in alternative fuel development," Cascadia Capital CEO Michael Butler said in a report last month he co-wrote with some of his staff. "Despite several misguided stumbles, we are still believers and look forward to the revenue and profits that Biofuel 2.0 is certainly capable of generating."