This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"If there ever was an opportunity to move energy efficiency strategies into the top-tier of national and industrial policy, it's now," says Toby Smith, referring to President-elect Obama's stated focus on renewable energy.

In his industry-leading ChangeWave Investing, which focuses on isolating emerging, long-term investment trends, he states, "The question isn't really if solar companies will benefit, but when." As a favorite idea for 2009, he looks to SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA).

"President-elect Obama seems to be the right person to push energy-efficiency initiatives through -- especially since he is preparing a massive stimulus program that will be unleashed soon after his inauguration on Jan. 20.

"The core of Obama's economic policy appears to be a strategy to transform the United States into an economy mostly powered by renewable and low-carbon energy generation by mid-century. This includes everything from solar to natural gas to nuclear.

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt has sung the praises of many things in the past: consumer experience, mobile product offerings and even Google's philanthropic efforts. At the same time, Schmidt has made sure Google has evolved into a ruthless competitor that has really blindsided the internet marketplace in so many ways so fast that it caught most of us off-guard.

But can Google seriously save the world? Although tech pundits sometimes state that in tongue-in-cheek fashion, Schmidt is dead serious about it. Google's massive global infrastructure requires a ton of energy to operate. As we all know, energy costs are not exactly low. Although newer Google data center sites are chosen partly for cheap energy proximity, that's not enough. The company wants to fix the energy problem in the U.S., and they have a plan.