Clean technology investment leaps 83% in year

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle, 08-05-08:

U.S. venture investments in clean-technology companies climbed to a record $961.7 million in the second quarter of 2008 - up 41 percent from the first quarter and 83 percent from the same quarter last year, according to a new report.

"We expect to see robust activity" in the future, said Jeff Grabow, head of Ernst & Young's clean-tech unit for the Pacific Northwest, which issued the report based on numbers from Dow Jones VentureSource. "It's not just energy - there are a host of markets, from fuels to electricity to storage to efficiency to water treatment."

Just over half the clean-tech investments in the second quarter went to companies that generate electricity or other forms of energy.

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Companies focused on energy efficiency accounted for 20 percent of investments, down slightly from the first quarter, and alternative fuels fell 44 percent to 13 percent of investments. That market ebbs and flows based on the price of commodities, Grabow said.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/05/BUQE11TFP5.DTL