More In Store For Cleantech Investing

The question of whether or not investing in cleantech is going to maintain its pace seems to have been answered. Most analysts agree that cleantech investing is likely to continue unabated, and likely to go on unaffected or lightly affected by any US-based economic downturns because of the credit crunch.More pressing, then, is the question of how it’s going to happen and what technologies to look out for.Earth2Tech is passing on speculation that oil could double in price by the end of the year, a development that would almost certainly spur massive interest in cleantech, especially alternative fuels and next-generation automobiles. The question, of course, is how realistic is $200 per barrel oil? While it seems like an inevitability, demand would have to achieve a meteoric rise in a very short period of time to hit that kind of mark in just 12 months.Still, the true inevitability is that the price of oil will rise and any savings technology, alternative, or replacement is very likely to do well in the coming years. While our focus has always been on green building and cleantech, the automotive side of the equation is critically important to reduction of emissions and the easing of dependence on fossil fuels. Virtually anything that holds promise for development of a new standard for America and Canada’s roads are going to be surefire winners in the investment game in the coming years. The days are probably already numbered for corn-based ethanol, and maybe ethanol in general if hydrogen becomes easy to extract and distribute. Improved production of electricity on the grid could also finally herald the rise of effective electric vehicles.And speaking of grid technology, India’s Deeya Energy received $15 million in Series B financing to help develop and manufacture their L-Cell technology batteries. L-Cell appears to be a much safer, cheaper, and rapidly chargeable battery than it’s Nickel Metal-Hydride and Lithim Ion cousins, potentially changing the face of the battery game. While an obvious application is the aforementioned electric vehicles, which would benefit greatly from a cheap, quick-to-charge battery, there’s other sectors that are looking for a good storage solution.Alt energy is one of them, especially in the microgeneration market, especially for northern tier states and Canada. Right now the main problem is the inability to save the energy from abundant daytime sunshine and use it in the nighttime or winter; one of the favored solutions up to now has been hydrogen to drive a fuel cell and power the home, but virtually any amount of stored hydrogen poses some kind of danger. That danger is drastically reduced with the application of Deeya’s L-Cell. If it should prove successful in improving India’s infrastructure, look for American licensees to pick it up and run with it.In all, it looks like a good year for cleantech, and the clean automotive sector and energy storage are looking to be the next two big hitters in the field.

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