Clean Tech Investment Still Going Strong

Who knows what the 4th quarter will bring, but clean tech’s still got it going on, at least for now:

Venture capital investments in US cleantech companies reached a record $1.6 billion in Q3 2008, up 55% from the previous quarter, according to an Ernst & Young LLP analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource. A total of $3.3 billion was invested in the first three quarters of 2008, surpassing the figure for the same period last year by 71%. [...]

“In light of challenging economic times, the US cleantech market may be entering a transitional period. However, the structural market drivers of the cleantech sector remain intact, suggesting that the prospect for long-term market development is positive,” says Joseph Muscat, Americas Director of Cleantech and Venture Capital, Ernst & Young LLP. “Factors such as technological advances, consumer demand and programs at both the federal and state-level help to create the conditions needed for long-term growth in cleantech.”

The “structural market drivers” will only become stronger with Obama implementing policies to encourage green growth. (No doubt many in the clean tech biz already know this.)

UN Calls for ‘Green New Deal’

Perhaps Al Gore could deliver a few fireside solar panel-side chats?

The United Nations today called for a refocusing of the world’s economy towards investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures such as forests in a Green New Deal that could revive the stumbling global economy, combat climate change, and cut poverty.

The UN’s Environment Programme (UNEP) said the financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 highlighted the need for an innovative approach similar to the state-funded scheme used by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, in response to the Great Depression. [...]

“Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken,” said Achim Steiner, the US undersecretary general and UNEP executive director.

“The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems,” he added.

Like, California’s WAAAY Efficient, Dude

California’s been pushing strict energy efficiency standards for decades…and it’s paid off:

California’s energy-efficiency policies created nearly 1.5 million jobs from 1977 to 2007, while eliminating fewer than 25,000, according to a study to be released Monday.

The study, conducted by David Roland-Holst, an economist at the Center for Energy, Resources and Economic Sustainability at the University of California, Berkeley, found that while the state’s policies lowered employee compensation in the electric power industry by an estimated $1.6 billion over that period, it improved compensation in the state over all by $44.6 billion.

“I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plug-Ins.”

Jeffrey Leonard, CEO of the Global Environment Fund, doesn’t think much of the presidential candidates’ plans to spend heavily on domestically produced liquid fuel–whether it’s oil or ethanol. Instead, Leaonard pushes for big investments in electric cars. From his article, “The Plug-In Revolution“:

In the film The Graduate, Walter Brooks famously gives Dustin Hoffman a one-word piece of career advice: “Plastics.” At the risk of sounding similarly glib, let me nevertheless suggest a one-word answer to our multifaceted energy problems: electrification.

The basic idea is very simple. Over the next few decades, government policies should advance the aim of replacing oil and most other liquid fuels with electricity. It should also ensure that the way we generate electricity gets steadily greener and more efficient. Since about three-quarters of our oil goes into our cars, this means favoring policies that will encourage phasing out the internal combustion engine in favor of the electric engine — a direction in which many automakers are already headed.

Electrification as a rallying cry for American energy policy isn’t perfect, but in my view it’s the best and perhaps only way to get us to a clean and secure energy future.

The major automakers–like Chevy and Honda–are already racing to develop the first mass-produced (and hopefully affordable) plug-in hybrid vehicles. Now it’s time for DC to catch up with policies that keep this progress going.

(HT: Political Animal)

A Little Optimism from Lord Stern on Clean Energy Sector

“Will the Fiscal Crisis Hobble the Clean-Energy Industry?” the folks at Green Inc recently asked. They found that “there appears to be some alarm among experts in environmental finance.”

But Lord Nicolas Stern, whose “Stern Review” predicted that climate change will have a devastating effect on the world economy, is pretty optimistic about the future of clean tech:

[T]he current problems could help boost investment in tackling climate change because they have highlighted the dangers of not tackling global risks early enough, and could create much more international cooperation.

There were also more incentives to invest in energy efficiency during a recession and high oil prices, and spending on renewable and other low-carbon industries could help stimulate the economy, said [Lord] Stern.

“We’re going to have to grow out of this and have to create growth opportunities for long-term sustainable investment, and this is an area which looks as though it could well grow strongly and with the right support could be one of the major engines of growth,” he said.

Stern’s comments will be echoed today by the government’s Technology Strategy Board, which will warn businesses it would be a “terrible mistake” to cut investment in new technology during the downturn.

“We will come out of this downturn and when we do it will be the businesses which held their nerve and continued to invest that will come out of the downturn first [and] emerge stronger and better equipped to face the challenges of the future,” Iain Gray, the board’s chief executive, will say.

Clean Tech Pops the Bubbly

I failed to mention the great news from late last week, when Congress passed renewable tax credit extensions as part of the larger bailout bill:

After months of frustration, Silicon Valley scored a major political victory Friday as Congress and President Bush extended renewable-energy tax credits that, just days earlier, seemed doomed to expire at the end of the year.

The news triggered a wave of celebration and relief within the companies that make solar cells and high-tech windmills. Some executives hauled out Champagne. Solar power advocates in San Francisco threw an impromptu party at a downtown bar.

“It’s a fantastic day for the renewable-power industry,” said Julie Blunden, vice president for public policy at SunPower Corp. of San Jose, after picking up a bottle of bubbly. “This is one of those few times when you can tell you’re at a turning point.”

Unfortunately, the wind industry probably should leave the Champagne corked. They only received a one year extension on the Production Tax Credit, which will have to be renewed again next year.

And with the credit crisis, it may become more difficult for solar and wind companies to raise the capital they need to build the enormous installations theyplan to build in Arizona and Texas.

Dilbert Doesn’t Think Much of Corporate “Green Directors”

At least I now know how to get that dream “green” job–fail at my previous position! (or so says Dilbert):

Pimped Out Hybrids

The new Honda Insight looks pretty sweet (and it’s affordable at $19K):

Though perhaps not as sweet as this Lamborghini:

I can’t stop drooling…

Energy Efficiency: A Sure Investment in Turbulent Times

A picture’s worth a thousand words. The return on investment for energy efficiency upgrades is clear—higher than stocks during the booming 90s. Plus, there’s no volatility like we’ve seen in the stock market lately. Energy efficiency’s one of the surest bets out there:

VC’s Still Pouring Money Into Clean Tech

From Greentech Media:

Venture capitalists invested a record $2.8 billion in greentech in the third quarter, according to a Greentech Media report scheduled for release Wednesday.

It’s the largest quarterly total since the Venture Power Report began tracking renewable-energy deals in 2004, according to the report. The amount is more than double the $1.3 billion total for the second quarter, which was the previous record quarter, and brings total VC investments in greentech so far this year to a whopping $5.09 billion.