Opportunities In Cleantech

There seems little question that cleantech investment is on the rise, and should continue along a significant upward trend. As we’ve said often enough here, there’s potentially unlimited upside to cleantech–as eventually, it seems all tech will be “clean,” and all building “green” and so on. That, really, is the ultimate goal, and when you look at the trillions being poured into fossil fuel energy today, it seems like a no-brainer that diverting those trillions into cleaner, infinitely renewable energy is going to benefit consumers, investors, and business owners alike.The reality of electricity too cheap to meter, for instance, seems like it is quite a ways off, despite the promise of solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal energy sources. A lot of money is going to have to be poured into these techniques and technologies before the price on centrally generated electricity starts to drop again, but even if a switch to clean energy brings an increase in prices commensurate with the current trends on traditional energy sources–or better yet, a freeze at current price levels–the trade is still going to be worth it for the energy security that such a move provides.Microgeneration–and local, collective minigeneration–could for the first time put individuals and neighborhoods in direct control of the energy that powers their high tech lives. The closest we come to that today is with smart gridding and energy cooperatives, but literally putting the means of lighting and heating a home or business into the hands of the owner is a much more powerful thing.So it’s no wonder at all that analysts continue to see what we’ve been saying all along, that there’s continued room for growth in cleantech investing. They temper their analysis, of course, with wise words from legendary VC Vinod Khosla, who insists that the growth of cleantech is entirely dependent on government policy. One of the items pointed to is cleantech VCs’ support for a carbon/emissions tax or cap-and-trade program, which is also a bit of a no-brainer. Government-driven spikes in fossil fuel prices will only make cleantech issues that much more attractive, insuring a return on VC investment. But if you regard the move to cleantech as critical, then such policy is also critical in motivating the consumer to make a switch. The critical element, of course, for investors is still going to be the worthiness of the business model. Barring divine intervention in the global climate situation, the need to reduce emissions and move to renewable energy is only going to grow from this point forward. But potentially questionable business models and products are still going to crop up, and still attract VC dollars. The question every investor needs to ask is: “will this further the move to make all tech into cleantech, or is it snake oil?”

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