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US venture capitalists target green energy investments
They are backing projects in sectors such as offshore oil and gas, aerospace and in-home power generation.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 June 10, 2007
San Francisco: US venture capitalists are targeting green energy investments in high-tech insulation, powerful light-weight batteries and other cutting-edge niches beyond headline grabbers such as solar power and biofuels.
Venture capital executives gathered at a clean technology investment conference in San Francisco this week said they are backing energy-efficiency projects in sectors such as offshore oil and gas, military and aerospace, television broadcasting, emergency response, and in-home power generation.
In the first quarter, venture capitalists invested $264 million in US clean technology such as alternative energy, pollution and recycling, power supplies and conservation, according to a MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. It was based on data from Thomson Financial.
That was a 41 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of last year, while so-called cleantech investments were $1.5 billion for all 2006.
"Cleantech had a coming of age in 2006," said Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner at Technology Partners in Palo Alto, California.
Ehrenpreis said environmentally friendly technology, products and services have "a global scope, not just in Silicon Valley. The European Union, for example, is leading the charge on climate change".
Chuck McDermott, general partner of Boston-based RockPort Capital Partners, said at a panel on "sustainable investing" that his firm is including in its portfolio new industrial processes for the energy and power industries.
McDermott cited Aspen Aerogels Inc, a Massa-chusetts-based nanotechnology company that has developed new insulating materials to better control temperatures to keep oil and gas flowing in offshore production fields and deepwater pipelines.
Aspen is weighing a possible initial public offering of shares and "sees 2008 as a target year for us, a logical year for us to take the company public", Donald Young, president and chief executive, said.
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